Institution or Institutionalized

Corporate greed .......... steroids in sports ............ abuse in the churches .............. cosmetic plastic surgery ...................... a gang of thugs in Washington ..................... newspapers, TV, radio spewing propaganda................... what do all these have in common? They are all manifestations of corruption today.

The word "corruption means deterioration, the breakdown from a functioning, ordered state." Corruption has multiple applications depending upon the context in which it is used. These relate to political office, morality, decay, language, and data.

Each of the above mentioned organizations (yes an individual getting plastic surgery is an organization of one) has been institutionalized in each of our minds and hearts. We have been raised to believe in our "institutionalizations" in primary and secondary school education that politicians, great men of the business world, sports heroes and of course the media are all acting out of concern to the highest good of all. They are working for us! What a great system!

While we have all been served that meal through learning our history as a country, or the ethics of business practice, not all of us have apparently eaten the meal. The fact is, many if not all of us want to believe those we admire, elect or trust and they are in fact acting out of their best integrity. I think it is important to hold such space within ourselves, such possibility that it might be true, so we don't create a culture of cynics. But there does come a time when the balance in a society is tipped gradually over the course of many years until finally it becomes defined as corrupt (or in integrity) due to the prevelance of it through the spectrum of a society.

In our current paradigm, the scales have been tipping for decades to this very point in the spectrum where graft, greed and appearances are the order of the day. Image is everything, substance is secondary.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Barry Bonds, Ken Lay, Bernard Ebbers, Mark McGwire, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Karl Rove (and many more) all have one thing in common. Corruption.

The corruption they have been labeled with isn't really fair as I see it, as they are not alone in this. While that does not obsolve them of responsibility, the real underlying fact is that the fabric of our culture is where our leaders and icons are born and raised.

When the institutions of our culture are peopled with corruption it is being put on display before all of us so we can take a look at ourselves and consider who we are and what drives each one of us to be the person we present to our family, friends and the world at large. Of course the choice is also present to follow their example and grab all we can as well.

There isn't a whole lot of distance between the crimes of George Bush or those of Barry Bonds when viewed from the level of motivation in each one. There is where the corruption lies. It is in the shadow of the inner realms and manifests in as many ways as there are people under the illusions these shadows project. There lies the disease and sickness of a collective culture that implants silicon, clamps stomachs, implants hair, creates news not for news sake but as advertising to sell news.

Both Barry and George crafted and utilized their respective talents based upon an inner foundation where the message "at all cost" prevails. Truth, where real substance resides, is the sacrificial lamb and is not part of the decision making process. As I say, the real gold we can find in our current reality as a society is that all our ills are firmly placed before us in our public figures. So too are the cures. And while it does seem for the time being that balance has dipped into the pool of corruption, it gives cause for hope as well. We are seeing the ills and injustices, we see where the adjustments need to be made both in ourselves and in our society.

We are each empowered to manifest our own integrity. When we define who we are by the substance of our commitment to living a life born out of integrity, balance begins to be restored.

All right, for years I have arm-chaired my exulted thoughts about life on this little blue ball, noticing such a variety of opinions,viewpoints and solutions passing through consciousness, but never sharing them. My Sound was OFF.

One day recently I realized that the simple act of voicing me into the virtual world of cyberspace, is voicing myself into the very collective consciousness where we all have access. I am doing this more for myself as my voice needs to be spoken more than it needs to be heard. I am simply turning my sound ON. I am activated. I am joining the matrix.

I have been around too long to think I have anything new to offer under the sun that hasn't been spoken, written or thought already before. But what is unique to all this is the fact that there is only one of me, and that me, puts thoughts and words together uniquely as well. So why not speak directly into the mind and heart of humanity? Why not declare in this day and every day who I am?

The screen I sit in front of is my portal into the world. My digital signal will be added to the other countless digits flying through our collective web.And yes, the message from me today as I speak into the body of mankind can simply be: "I want to acknowlegde the pain and fear, the hurts, dismemberment and abuse that has accumulated within our body of humanity. And in that acknowledgement, I want to extend a blessing, a boost if you will, that healing can come, that all is not lost."