Look Closer

By Tamela Thomas, Wellness Manager

We live and work in a world where morals are slowly eroding away. The change may be so gradual that we haven't noticed ourselves rationalizing behaviors or actions that, only a decade or two ago, would have struck a barrier inside us and prevented us from going there. These actions are so common today that we are sheltered from self-examination by the acceptance in societal consciousness.

This month's article brings us to the mirror and urges us to study the subject. It also reminds us of the rewards of living with our integrity, for without it we are not whole. In essence, this article is a warm reminder that spirit is a part of the foundation of Wellness—without it, the mind and body cannot balance.

As you read this article you will come to understand why they call Aadil Palkhivala, JD, the "teacher of teachers." Aadil is the founder and director of the nationally recognized Yoga Centers in Bellevue. Having begun his formal study of Yoga with B.K.S. Iyengar at the age of seven, he was awarded the Advanced Teacher's Certificate at the tender age of 21. Aadil holds several certifications including degrees in law, physics and mathematics. Most recently, Aadil has been touring the U.S. training medical staff in alternative healing methods as well as body-mind-spirit integration for healing.

Integrity & Wholeness

By Aadil Palkhivala, JD, Yoga Centers

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our lives, in modern society, often leave us with a strange sort of emptiness that is most evident in the few quiet moments we give ourselves: the time before sleep and the moments upon arising. To avoid confronting this emptiness, we tire ourselves out with intense business effort, jog endlessly to run away from ourselves, gossip lest we say the truth, or hypnotize ourselves with television so that we fall into a stuporous sleep. We wonder when things will change and get better and hope that someday, when luck strikes and magic is in the air, something will happen from outside to make our lives happy, meaningful and contented. We wonder if, when we die, humanity will be any better off for our having lived.

The truth is that nothing around us will change unless we change ourselves. Since the world is kind enough to reflect to us who we are, the pleasures, the pains and the emptiness of it all are just a reflection of the emptiness within.

This gnawing emptiness is the result of living in illusion—living a lie. What do I mean by living in illusion? First, we must realize that we deny who we really are and what we believe deep inside so that we can fit into the norms and decorum set up by society, institutions and families. This is often an unknown and mostly an unwitting denial—since we seldom stop in silence long enough to listen deeply enough—to discover our true inner-voice and covert identity. However, this repressed identity is constantly nagging deep inside, and though we may have hidden it well enough not to hear its call or believe it exists, our subconscious certainly feels the conflict and we feel the drain of energy that is all conflict's dubious endowment. Despite the inner call, we continue to live "normal" lives, satisfying the illusion of what our past has led us to believe we are. Thus, we are at discord with ourselves on a moment-to-moment basis, and wonder why we are tired, and feel that life is not full of joy and light. This discord is what I call living in illusion.

To satisfy ourselves that the illusion is the reality we must do things that make us feel good on the outside such as wear fine clothes to cover weak and maligned bodies, put on a mask of make-up to hide weary skin, give to charities to feel better about making money, talk about honesty when it benefits us, drink coffee and eat sugar so we can no longer feel how tired we really are, and have the trappings of temporary prosperity around us. Not that some of these things are undesirable, but when the reason for doing them is to hide the pain inside, it benefits us not.

I have had deep discourse with super-successful people who have attained all that they set out to attain, met all their goals, and then have no idea why they did it all or what to do next. They have fulfilled every desire and met every want, but still feel empty. As the Canadian poet, Robert William Service put it:

The alternative is living in integrity. This is the state of fullness. The state when we feel life is joyous, that things fall into place, and that there is an unlimited stream of energy, wisdom and power at our disposal. This state of integrity is achieved when our outer life matches our inner life. To wit, integrity is being lived when our deepest beliefs and thoughts intermesh perfectly with our daily words and actions. As Socrates said, "Integrity is better than charity. The Gods approve of the depth and not the tumult of the soul."

Knowing this, what must we do? First we must discover what our innermost beliefs are, and clearly realize that, as The Mother of Pondicherry so aptly put it, "Each one of us has a work to do, a role to fill, a place which we alone can occupy."

In silent moments when we are still—or involved in inner exercise such as yoga—we must take our awareness inside to listen to the truth that aches to manifest. In yoga, it is called Dharma. In the West it is often termed "life mission" or "purpose." Unless we answer the two questions, "Who am I," and "Why am I here," with deep inner honesty and conviction, all of our words and actions must come from a mental fabrication and dishonesty to hide the fact that we do not really know why we are doing what we are doing, or why we are going where we are going. As I have learned and taught throughout the international business world: Teach people how to answer why, and the how will take care of itself.

Once we have a sense of the reason for our life, and decide to take the steps to live it, effort will seem effortless, passion will invade each action and we will feel in concord with our selves, our work, and our mission. We will feel full again. We will look at all around us as an inspiration, and all around us will look to us as theirs. We will empower each word and action with the foundational strength of inner conviction and belief. We will, at long last, be able to live in integrity.

Having lived a life of integrity, when the last call is heard and the last trumpet blown on our wakefulness, when the Greater Kindness calls us back to our Soul, we will sleep with the deep satisfaction that we have served our purpose, that the living has been of value, and that we leave behind a humankind better for our having been a part of it.