How shall we be in integrity while holding power? And what does that mean? That’s the question.
Transcript
So I've been thinking about vows. I've been
Leela Sinha:thinking about vows because one of my teachers had us go through
Leela Sinha:this process where we released vows that were not serving us,
Leela Sinha:that we might have made by inadvertent processes in the
Leela Sinha:early parts of our lives. And, whoooo, was that powerful? I
Leela Sinha:wasn't surprised, of course, it was powerful. How could that
Leela Sinha:work not be powerful. And, you know, sometimes when you release
Leela Sinha:something, you can just let it be released. And that's it, it's
Leela Sinha:like a bird, it flies away, no problem. Other times, when you
Leela Sinha:release something, you're left with something, you're left with
Leela Sinha:a hole, it removes itself from a space, and you have to decide if
Leela Sinha:that space is just going to get kind of healed over. Like if you
Leela Sinha:have a tooth pulled, or if you're going to put something
Leela Sinha:back in that space. We learned in science when I was, I don't
Leela Sinha:know, in seventh grade or so that nature hates a vacuum. As
Leela Sinha:it turns out, that's very true. Any open space will eventually
Leela Sinha:be filled in by something. And so the question that I've been
Leela Sinha:thinking about and wrestling with and praying on this morning
Leela Sinha:is what happens when we release some of those really deep,
Leela Sinha:ingrained vows, especially ones around things like money and
Leela Sinha:power. And specifically, I got to thinking about vows of
Leela Sinha:poverty. Now, vows of poverty, historically, very connected to
Leela Sinha:religious practice, across different faiths, many vowed
Leela Sinha:religious people make a vow of poverty, and they make a vow of
Leela Sinha:poverty, to devote themselves more fully to the work of the
Leela Sinha:Spirit. That's, that's the usual shape of the thing. And the idea
Leela Sinha:is not that they are so poor that they can't eat or can't
Leela Sinha:have a place to sleep. The idea is that the church, the
Leela Sinha:religious institution of one kind, or another, takes care of
Leela Sinha:them. And they, in turn, devote their time and energy and
Leela Sinha:talents and spirit, to the relationship with the sacred.
Leela Sinha:And to this kind of religious leadership. And there are lots
Leela Sinha:of good reasons why that's true. It's easier if you don't have
Leela Sinha:any other commitments, to devote yourself to a community or to a
Leela Sinha:tradition. And it does sort of help focus you because there's
Leela Sinha:nothing else. Right. So there are things that people do, there
Leela Sinha:are reasons that people make, deliberate vows of poverty that
Leela Sinha:makes sense in context. So I'm not, I'm only thinking about
Leela Sinha:those as the beginning point. Because I think, I know I have,
Leela Sinha:I know a lot of other people, especially people, liberal
Leela Sinha:people, have made similar vows, but kind of by accident; looking
Leela Sinha:around seeing at the kinds of destruction that wealth and
Leela Sinha:power have wrought on our world. And deciding that, you know, in
Leela Sinha:the, in the common parlance, "eat the rich," right, that that
Leela Sinha:there is some level of wealth above which wealth is immoral.
Leela Sinha:And I don't actually have an argument with that, I think
Leela Sinha:there is a level of wealth above which, there's no way to have
Leela Sinha:accrued it without causing immense harm. And I don't want
Leela Sinha:to be part of something that causes immense harm. However,
Leela Sinha:there's a lot of space between that and poverty. And we live in
Leela Sinha:a world at this point where nobody, and I mean, nobody
Leela Sinha:should be going without housing without food, without clothing,
Leela Sinha:without their basic needs met, like that should just be a
Leela Sinha:given. And it's not. And that, that's a gut punch every time I
Leela Sinha:think about it. And also, there are a lot of people who are
Leela Sinha:between those two poles.There are a lot of folks who have
Leela Sinha:some, but not really enough to get by. They're making it but
Leela Sinha:they're making it by the skin of their teeth. And I have been in
Leela Sinha:that position in my lifetime over and over and over. So I'm
Leela Sinha:thinking about this in a very personal way. Well, what does it
Leela Sinha:mean? What does it mean to accidentally swear that you're
Leela Sinha:never gonna be rich, because rich people are bad? Because
Leela Sinha:that's what we do. And then I was thinking about, well, there
Leela Sinha:must be, as there are, right, when I think about intensives
Leela Sinha:and expansives, I figured out who intensives were and then I
Leela Sinha:was like well, there must be another end to this spectrum. So
Leela Sinha:if there are people who inadvertently make vows of
Leela Sinha:poverty, there must be people also in our world who are
Leela Sinha:inadvertently making vows of prosperity,
Leela Sinha:and I don't mean Prosperity Gospel, like, let's just not
Leela Sinha:even, I'm not even going there. You can look it up on Wikipedia
Leela Sinha:if you want. But that is not what I'm talking about. But,
Leela Sinha:people who, in the going about their lives, either because
Leela Sinha:their families were prosperous, or because their context was not
Leela Sinha:prosperous, and they were not doing that, make a vow of
Leela Sinha:prosperity, they make a vow that that is never going to be them,
Leela Sinha:that they are going to rise up from that position, to a place
Leela Sinha:of prosperity. And stay there. I think a lot of immigrants do
Leela Sinha:this. I'm pretty sure my father did this. But I think a lot of
Leela Sinha:people who aren't immigrants do this, too. I think that there is
Leela Sinha:a stratum where about half the people make a vow of poverty
Leela Sinha:because they're so hurt and angry at what wealth has done in
Leela Sinha:our world, and the other half make a vow of prosperity because
Leela Sinha:they are not about to get trapped under the boot of class
Leela Sinha:inequality. So I've been thinking like, what would it
Leela Sinha:mean for me to take a vow of prosperity? What would it mean
Leela Sinha:for me to take a vow of prosperity? And by thinking I
Leela Sinha:mean, it came to me in prayer, and then I had to think about
Leela Sinha:it. But you don't have to arrive there that way. You can get
Leela Sinha:there by straight-up logical means. What does it mean to take
Leela Sinha:a vow of prosperity. And this got me thinking about power and
Leela Sinha:the intersection of power and money, which, as some of you
Leela Sinha:know, is a big deal to me, I think about it a lot. When you
Leela Sinha:take a vow of poverty, you are relinquishing access to a
Leela Sinha:particular kind of power. Not all power, but you are
Leela Sinha:relinquishing access to the power that comes with having
Leela Sinha:money in what we live in, which is a capitalist society. You may
Leela Sinha:be gaining other kinds of power, or not, depending on your
Leela Sinha:community, depending on the context of power. But you're
Leela Sinha:definitely relinquishing access to that particular power that
Leela Sinha:comes with wealth. So when you take a vow of prosperity, first
Leela Sinha:you have to define prosperity. Is it about money? Is it about
Leela Sinha:other kinds of resources, social prosperity? Is it about... is it
Leela Sinha:about resource prosperity? What is the vow really? Because
Leela Sinha:prosperity is this kind of amorphous word where we
Leela Sinha:understand poverty to be very closely linked to money, we
Leela Sinha:don't really think about what that means on the other side. So
Leela Sinha:first, I'm thinking about like, what would prosperity mean to
Leela Sinha:me? I have so much prosperity already. I have lots of
Leela Sinha:prosperity, just not to do with money. But I have prosperity
Leela Sinha:when it comes to that kind of prosperity when it comes to
Leela Sinha:social context. I have prosperity when it comes to
Leela Sinha:resources. I have prosperity when it comes to the resources
Leela Sinha:that come from social context. I have deep and abiding
Leela Sinha:relationships that help to hold me up, that offer me shelter,
Leela Sinha:that offer me care, that offer me a buffer that other people
Leela Sinha:don't have. So what would prosperity mean? What would a
Leela Sinha:vow of prosperity mean? How would it be different from
Leela Sinha:what's happening right now? Where would I be directing it
Leela Sinha:and then, and then it's about thinking about this power piece.
Leela Sinha:Because if you vow, poverty, you're removing something. But
Leela Sinha:when you vow, prosperity, you're vowing access to, whether or not
Leela Sinha:you access it, you're vowing access to that particular kind
Leela Sinha:of power that comes from prosperity. You're vowing access
Leela Sinha:to resources, you're vowing access to a bunch of stuff. And
Leela Sinha:most of us who make inadvertent vows of poverty, do so at least
Leela Sinha:in part, because we don't want to be like somebody else, or
Leela Sinha:some other institution, or some entity that we've seen be evil
Leela Sinha:with power that we perceive having come from money. So what
Leela Sinha:happens instead, when we vow prosperity, and access to those
Leela Sinha:kinds of power, whether we choose to access them or not.
Leela Sinha:We're vowing access to those kinds of power. And immediately
Leela Sinha:it becomes obvious to me that you can't make that, I can't
Leela Sinha:make, a vow of prosperity in integrity, in isolation. Because
Leela Sinha:prosperity happens in community, prosperity happens
Leela Sinha:as a result of community, of interaction of resources, of
Leela Sinha:things that are not actually mine. But things that I might
Leela Sinha:have access to for a while. And prosperity brings with it this
Leela Sinha:power. And so there needs to be a vow, or several vows, that go
Leela Sinha:with it. Vows like integrity, vows like kindness, vows like
Leela Sinha:generosity, in order to ensure, to the greatest extent possible,
Leela Sinha:that prosperity is not a corrupting force. Because I
Leela Sinha:think that's what we're mostly afraid of, is that we will be
Leela Sinha:corrupted by it. We will be corrupted in its presence. We
Leela Sinha:will be corrupted, and then we will wield the power that we got
Leela Sinha:from the prosperity for less good ends, or for bad ends. And
Leela Sinha:the only way, the only way to mitigate that possibility,
Leela Sinha:because it's a real possibility, we can't turn away from it. When
Leela Sinha:we are deliberately accruing power in some way or other,
Leela Sinha:including via prosperity, then we have to engage the questions
Leela Sinha:of kindness and generosity. We have to engage the questions of
Leela Sinha:integrity, how will we stay in integrity when we have power?
Leela Sinha:And that's the question isn't it? So often, when people rise
Leela Sinha:to power their integrity cracks, and people who were amazing lose
Leela Sinha:some of their shine. I don't know a single person who wants
Leela Sinha:to be that person. I do know people who have been that
Leela Sinha:person. I don't want to follow in their footsteps. So
Leela Sinha:how, how will we stay in integrity? How shall we be in
Leela Sinha:integrity while holding power? And what does that mean? That's