How shall we be in integrity while holding power? And what does that mean? That’s the question.

Transcript
Leela Sinha:

So I've been thinking about vows. I've been

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thinking about vows because one of my teachers had us go through

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this process where we released vows that were not serving us,

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that we might have made by inadvertent processes in the

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early parts of our lives. And, whoooo, was that powerful? I

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wasn't surprised, of course, it was powerful. How could that

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work not be powerful. And, you know, sometimes when you release

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something, you can just let it be released. And that's it, it's

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like a bird, it flies away, no problem. Other times, when you

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release something, you're left with something, you're left with

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a hole, it removes itself from a space, and you have to decide if

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that space is just going to get kind of healed over. Like if you

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have a tooth pulled, or if you're going to put something

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back in that space. We learned in science when I was, I don't

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know, in seventh grade or so that nature hates a vacuum. As

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it turns out, that's very true. Any open space will eventually

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be filled in by something. And so the question that I've been

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thinking about and wrestling with and praying on this morning

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is what happens when we release some of those really deep,

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ingrained vows, especially ones around things like money and

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power. And specifically, I got to thinking about vows of

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poverty. Now, vows of poverty, historically, very connected to

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religious practice, across different faiths, many vowed

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religious people make a vow of poverty, and they make a vow of

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poverty, to devote themselves more fully to the work of the

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Spirit. That's, that's the usual shape of the thing. And the idea

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is not that they are so poor that they can't eat or can't

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have a place to sleep. The idea is that the church, the

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religious institution of one kind, or another, takes care of

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them. And they, in turn, devote their time and energy and

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talents and spirit, to the relationship with the sacred.

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And to this kind of religious leadership. And there are lots

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of good reasons why that's true. It's easier if you don't have

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any other commitments, to devote yourself to a community or to a

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tradition. And it does sort of help focus you because there's

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nothing else. Right. So there are things that people do, there

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are reasons that people make, deliberate vows of poverty that

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makes sense in context. So I'm not, I'm only thinking about

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those as the beginning point. Because I think, I know I have,

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I know a lot of other people, especially people, liberal

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people, have made similar vows, but kind of by accident; looking

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around seeing at the kinds of destruction that wealth and

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power have wrought on our world. And deciding that, you know, in

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the, in the common parlance, "eat the rich," right, that that

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there is some level of wealth above which wealth is immoral.

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And I don't actually have an argument with that, I think

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there is a level of wealth above which, there's no way to have

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accrued it without causing immense harm. And I don't want

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to be part of something that causes immense harm. However,

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there's a lot of space between that and poverty. And we live in

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a world at this point where nobody, and I mean, nobody

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should be going without housing without food, without clothing,

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without their basic needs met, like that should just be a

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given. And it's not. And that, that's a gut punch every time I

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think about it. And also, there are a lot of people who are

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between those two poles.There are a lot of folks who have

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some, but not really enough to get by. They're making it but

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they're making it by the skin of their teeth. And I have been in

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that position in my lifetime over and over and over. So I'm

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thinking about this in a very personal way. Well, what does it

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mean? What does it mean to accidentally swear that you're

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never gonna be rich, because rich people are bad? Because

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that's what we do. And then I was thinking about, well, there

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must be, as there are, right, when I think about intensives

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and expansives, I figured out who intensives were and then I

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was like well, there must be another end to this spectrum. So

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if there are people who inadvertently make vows of

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poverty, there must be people also in our world who are

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inadvertently making vows of prosperity,

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and I don't mean Prosperity Gospel, like, let's just not

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even, I'm not even going there. You can look it up on Wikipedia

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if you want. But that is not what I'm talking about. But,

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people who, in the going about their lives, either because

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their families were prosperous, or because their context was not

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prosperous, and they were not doing that, make a vow of

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prosperity, they make a vow that that is never going to be them,

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that they are going to rise up from that position, to a place

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of prosperity. And stay there. I think a lot of immigrants do

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this. I'm pretty sure my father did this. But I think a lot of

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people who aren't immigrants do this, too. I think that there is

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a stratum where about half the people make a vow of poverty

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because they're so hurt and angry at what wealth has done in

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our world, and the other half make a vow of prosperity because

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they are not about to get trapped under the boot of class

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inequality. So I've been thinking like, what would it

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mean for me to take a vow of prosperity? What would it mean

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for me to take a vow of prosperity? And by thinking I

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mean, it came to me in prayer, and then I had to think about

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it. But you don't have to arrive there that way. You can get

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there by straight-up logical means. What does it mean to take

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a vow of prosperity. And this got me thinking about power and

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the intersection of power and money, which, as some of you

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know, is a big deal to me, I think about it a lot. When you

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take a vow of poverty, you are relinquishing access to a

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particular kind of power. Not all power, but you are

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relinquishing access to the power that comes with having

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money in what we live in, which is a capitalist society. You may

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be gaining other kinds of power, or not, depending on your

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community, depending on the context of power. But you're

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definitely relinquishing access to that particular power that

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comes with wealth. So when you take a vow of prosperity, first

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you have to define prosperity. Is it about money? Is it about

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other kinds of resources, social prosperity? Is it about... is it

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about resource prosperity? What is the vow really? Because

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prosperity is this kind of amorphous word where we

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understand poverty to be very closely linked to money, we

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don't really think about what that means on the other side. So

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first, I'm thinking about like, what would prosperity mean to

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me? I have so much prosperity already. I have lots of

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prosperity, just not to do with money. But I have prosperity

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when it comes to that kind of prosperity when it comes to

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social context. I have prosperity when it comes to

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resources. I have prosperity when it comes to the resources

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that come from social context. I have deep and abiding

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relationships that help to hold me up, that offer me shelter,

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that offer me care, that offer me a buffer that other people

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don't have. So what would prosperity mean? What would a

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vow of prosperity mean? How would it be different from

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what's happening right now? Where would I be directing it

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and then, and then it's about thinking about this power piece.

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Because if you vow, poverty, you're removing something. But

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when you vow, prosperity, you're vowing access to, whether or not

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you access it, you're vowing access to that particular kind

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of power that comes from prosperity. You're vowing access

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to resources, you're vowing access to a bunch of stuff. And

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most of us who make inadvertent vows of poverty, do so at least

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in part, because we don't want to be like somebody else, or

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some other institution, or some entity that we've seen be evil

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with power that we perceive having come from money. So what

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happens instead, when we vow prosperity, and access to those

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kinds of power, whether we choose to access them or not.

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We're vowing access to those kinds of power. And immediately

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it becomes obvious to me that you can't make that, I can't

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make, a vow of prosperity in integrity, in isolation. Because

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prosperity happens in community, prosperity happens

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as a result of community, of interaction of resources, of

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things that are not actually mine. But things that I might

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have access to for a while. And prosperity brings with it this

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power. And so there needs to be a vow, or several vows, that go

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with it. Vows like integrity, vows like kindness, vows like

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generosity, in order to ensure, to the greatest extent possible,

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that prosperity is not a corrupting force. Because I

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think that's what we're mostly afraid of, is that we will be

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corrupted by it. We will be corrupted in its presence. We

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will be corrupted, and then we will wield the power that we got

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from the prosperity for less good ends, or for bad ends. And

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the only way, the only way to mitigate that possibility,

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because it's a real possibility, we can't turn away from it. When

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we are deliberately accruing power in some way or other,

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including via prosperity, then we have to engage the questions

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of kindness and generosity. We have to engage the questions of

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integrity, how will we stay in integrity when we have power?

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And that's the question isn't it? So often, when people rise

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to power their integrity cracks, and people who were amazing lose

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some of their shine. I don't know a single person who wants

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to be that person. I do know people who have been that

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person. I don't want to follow in their footsteps. So

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how, how will we stay in integrity? How shall we be in

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integrity while holding power? And what does that mean? That's