Looking further at faith coming from existence, we see that at its core is integrity. We expect integrity within and from those to whom we look for knowledge. We also expect, and require, integrity within the processes essential to our wellbeing… educating of the children, governing, banking, transporting, etc., integrity within the systems we construct to support and serve essential human/life processes. As integrity diminishes, so too does faith, that which we put faith in. As faith begins to diminish and disappear, we find ourselves on the inevitable path of becoming a faithless people… a people void of faith, and all the obvious consequences of that.
Now is the time of unfolding potential… a time for moving towards wholeness, away from that which divides… a time for taking up pursuits that work for all children, all children in the world… and a time for regenerating the essential ground of human life… a time for developing a here and unfolding now faith-based culture… a culture with sufficient integrity that faith, ableness to put faith in, is a reality… a practiced and experientially validated way of living and working… not only with regards to ourselves, but with regard to the whole of life as well.
Continuing on with our reflection on a here and unfolding now faith-based culture, we begin to see a more wholistic expression of integrity… integrity encapsulated within intentional ethics (It is useful to remember that during times of unfolding, the essence of the truths of the previous are enfolded within the unfolding, emerging as higher order, deeper, more whole expressions of truth).
Intentional Ethics: The pursuit of right and good, sustaining an aim of congruence with intent, harmony with intended ways of working. In this context, we can see integrity – which has the character of completeness, of wholeness – upwardly shifting to a life of the whole perspective… a perspective that is fully inclusive of the truths of human centeredness, but uses the larger whole of life for both orientation and direction… our way of being and doing, what we pursue.
What emerges through the development, understanding and practice of intentional ethics is the regeneration of faith, not so much in terms of what was, but rather in terms of what is needed… what is critical and necessary at this time. So now we look to living systems – our own as well as those related to the whole of life – in terms of integrity… of our maintaining ethical integrity with regard to all living systems, with essential life processes… an intent on our part that is greatly enabled by conscientious attention to what works for all children in the world – now and in the unfolding future.
Further thoughts bring forth the Common Law of Earthly Life: Ultimately, the perspective we hold, where we start our thinking from, determines the path we take, the direction we move in, what we move towards, what we move away from. We can see in the working of intentional ethics/integrity, guided by a life of the whole perspective, that which truly enables our moving towards wholeness, away from that which divides.
Reflecting further on our current culture brings to mind the common and active start points of legality, economics and rights. We notice the natural diminishment of ethics, ethical pursuits as legality – being safely legal – becomes more and more predominant… engendering a diminished platform and basis for life, for living… one that moves in the direction of decreasing faith. We also notice the potential that becomes possible as rights are enfolded into the unfolding… emerging as pursuing the right and good – right for the whole of humanity and good for the whole of life – intentional ethics. In a similar sort of way, we see economics emerging as wholistic economics, reciprocally nourishing economics anchored in and built around virtue-based values. Thus economics shifts from a start point to that which is necessary to sustain the advancement and realization of virtue.
Finally, we see within intentional ethics, a power not only to halt the current disintegration of faith in our systems, but also the power to bring into being that which is beyond the current – that which reflects the intended unfolding. Laws, at this time of potential, do not disappear; rather they take up their intended work with regard to integrity.
