Corruption

Corruption

The concept of corruption is a topic for discussion throughout the world. Every day, we hear about the corruption of society, our politicians. our families, and our communities; as common a concept as this is, I find it fascinating that we all seem to know so little about how corruption affects our own lives.

If we are to make the concept of corruption truly personal, first we must explore what corruption is so that we will be able to avoid it in the future. A saying at The Earth Center is "Corruption Always Goes Downhill". This saying reminds me of the second law of thermodynamics. This law, succinctly stated, is that the entropy (the measure of how "mixed-up" something is) of any closed system always increases. In other words, things get more "mixed-up" all the time: colors bleed together, ice melts, water evaporates, mountains erode, and rivers become swamps.

"So," one might ask, "what does this have to do with corruption?" I'm getting to that. 

Corruption is that which destroys purity. Anything that is no longer pure must therefore be mixed up with something else. We have to be careful when we talk about purity, as this is a concept that has been manipulated throughout history. For our purposes, purity is harmony and order. In corruption, this is what is destroyed - the entropy is increased.

Consider democracy, In its purest form, democracy guarantees the right of each citizen to participate in the decisions that affect society. In this way, the needs of the individual can be balanced with the needs of the many. This concept is very easily corrupted - if any one citizen refuses to participate, the actions of the society no longer reflect the true will of the people, and the concerns of that individual could be ignored. The choices of the individual will then be made without consideration of the affect that they will have on the whole. Each person begins to act in his or her own interests alone, and the harmony of the whole begins to break down. Social entropy increases with the apathy of the individuals that compose a democratic society, and soon the government takes on a life of its own, acting in its own interests and ignoring the interests of the citizens it serves.

Is this personal, though? Certainly, it is. It is the individual citizens of our society who are responsible for understanding the importance of the issues that surround them. It is the duty of each individual to investigate the people who hold themselves as representatives. This is not easy - it is an uphill struggle to stay current and decipher the truth from the lies so that an intelligent decision can be made. It is easier to coast along (downhill, mind you) and let others do the investigation and abdicate our responsibility for the actions of our government. Corruption goes always downhill.

By Raymond Frost, Hat-Myee 

The methods society uses to corrupt the minds of people are many. Some are subtle and some are blatantly exposed to the logical mind. Two methods of corruption used by society include illogical reasoning and the dissolution of the family.

Illogical reasoning is thinking that does not make sense or when the result of the reasoning is a detriment to the individual. Take, for instance, the government's rehabilitative plan for stopping the spread of the AIDS virus among drug abusers. They have set up clinics that dispense clean needles to prevent the user from sharing dirty needles. What insanity! What happened to helping the individual to stop using drugs altogether and assisting him with a life change? Another example of illogical reasoning is vaccinating a child to prevent a disease by giving him the very disease you are trying to prevent. Instead of focusing on the real cause of the disease such as a dirty environment, health, nutrition, etc, the system would rather expose a person to harmful diseases.

Another way to ensure disharmony is the breakup of the We know that the welfare system began as a way to help struggling families. The government then changed the criteria - now the man must be out of the house and not a part of the family before the family can get benefits.

Instead of assisting the man in finding employment or vocational training to make him independent, restore his shattered self-esteem, and keep the family intact, the system encourages the breakup of a family. Another example is making it legal for a new mother to abandon her newborn at a fire station, police station, or emergency room. Instead of ensuring that all mothers get prenatal care, family counseling, financial counseling, support, child development training, and other necessities to become a positive parent and role models, the system encourages her to abandon her child.

The goal of these forces is to foster and spread the destruction of the mind and eventually the destruction of humanity as a whole. Because there are so many ways to do this, it is easier to see the whole man-made system as corrupt.

By Cynthia Allison, Hat-Myee

One of the deepest ways that corruption has weaseled its way into our psyche is under the guise of things that liberate us. Take the Women's Liberation Movement, for example. This is a hot topic because anyone who would dare question such a movement would instantly be categorized as either stuck in the dark ages, against equality, just plain old-fashioned, or a male chauvinist. However, when we look at the differences in the lives of women and in the lives of all the people who have been affected by the movement, we begin to wonder whether our lives are better. Are women's lives better? The role of women in society before the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s had already grown away from the traditional role of women in indigenous cultures around the world, however, it did more closely resemble that role than the role of women we see today in modern society. The woman was the one who cared for the children, household, and husband, the woman was encouraged to defer to the husband as the respected leader of the family and support him in the decisions that he made trusting that they held everyone's best interest in mind.

By the 1960s, some of these aspects were already corrupted in the family. There was more dysfunction between the husband and wife, parents and children than in previous years. Values had already been contaminated by the propaganda of the "world wars". National values were being propelled towards the intensely materialistic forms of capitalism that we see today. The Women's Lib Movement encouraged women to be more independent of their husbands, to seek work outside of the household, and to share the leading role in the family with the husband. The movement asked women: weren't they good enough to hold jobs like their husbands? Shouldn't they be allowed to work? It began to seem as if life inside the house and with the children was like some kind of prison or some kind of punishment. Through this newfound freedom and independence, women began to break free of this ownership that they imagined society and their husbands to have over them. A woman began to see her body as her property instead of as a spiritual part of herself, a value that in my mind became very destructive to the lives and well-being of women.

As women began to "own" their own bodies, it seems that they began to see them as some sort of commodity. As women, we demanded the right to flaunt our sexuality. We demanded to sell our bodies and our image for a high price. We demanded our right to surgically remove a fetus from our body and to put our children in daycare so that we could pursue a career like our husbands. Women began competing with men, not only for their jobs but also for their role in the family. This has led to an intense power struggle within the modern family structure and, as a result, to the ever-increasing divorce rate. Women, in their hunger to have everything men have, now make choices that we formerly saw unattractive These days, women are more likely to have an affair than men and more likely to sleep around. We even see women in the modern world who use abortion as birth control and a reason to be careless (or "free" or "independent") about who they have sex with. Many women never understand the depth of the fact that sex is the act that produces children because they have never dealt with the consequence/gift of a child.

Thirty years later, the results are overwhelming. It is easy to see that there are more divorces, more single parents, and more children who are raised by those other than their mothers and fathers. Nowadays it is perfectly normal for both parents to have careers, and for a third person to raise their children.

Did we ever consider that there might be a more important role for women than the one we are pursuing? When we look closer, we see that there has been a benefactor in all of this: the capitalistic system in which we live has nearly doubled its workforce with the presence of women in it. So, have we benefited as women and as a community from the Women's Liberation Movement? Have our families benefited? Or, have we allowed ourselves to become even more corrupt under the guise of freedom? We must ask ourselves these questions and examine our roles for how we can be the best for ourselves, our families, our communities, and ultimately our civilization. 

By Khefira Ha-Sati, 3rd Generation Initiate

Many realize that there is corruption everywhere in a capitalistic society. Capitalism is based on corruption, and anything including dishonesty and manipulation is fair game. Though we may not notice all of the attempts to mislead us about a product or idea, many of us are able to see that the American conscience is under attack. Advertisers, politicians, entertainers, and even the medical and education systems are fighting with ulterior motives to control our consciousness toward supporting them. Those of us who become aware seem to think that our awareness alone gives us immunity against the corruption facilitated by the hands of the system. Therefore we put our energies into exposing whichever plot against our well-being we've uncovered.

The notion of corruption is an interesting and complex thing. Corruption is defined in the dictionary as the act or fact of making, becoming, or being corrupt; evil or wicked behavior; bribery or similar dishonest dealing or decay; putridity, rottenness, or an improperly altered word or text. These definitions are widespread yet individually seem clear. A discrepancy arises in how many different definitions are given as well as how we perceive evil or wicked. Today, the difference between good and evil becomes an emotional choice of what we like or dislike. For example, the war on terror by the US was started because of an act of warfare. Most of us can agree that any act of warfare is an evil act. President Bush was seen on TV after the events of 9/11 accusing the assailants of evil. Since we have added to America's history of warfare by attacking Iraq. President Bush has promoted the idea that what we are doing is necessary and even virtuous. If war is an evil act, it should be evil no matter who does it. The line between the good and the evil becomes dangerously blurred when it is treated subjectively. For example, in terms of modern-day religion, to blaspheme against the God I have chosen is evil, but to judge and speak against a different God whom I have not chosen is seen as good. It seems that we are misled into doing evil for whoever succeeds in controlling our consciousness. This is a clear form of the corruption we face.

In the traditional perspective of spirituality, the line between good and evil is clear. The Divine World, or the World of the Gods, presented humanity with its perfect model. It is every individual's duty to evolve towards this perfect model. Therefore anything that takes us toward our goal and the divine world is seen as good or holy and anything that leads us astray is seen as bad, evil, or wicked. This was the first concept attached to the dualism of good and evil. Corruption, then is anything that leads us astray from living our life in the image of the Gods, or anything that confuses this process. This is why decay and rot are seen as evil. Gods are pure beings. Any form of decay is bringing us farther away from Gods.

Sadly, with the modern perception of evil being more of a question of preference, the individual turns self-righteous. Each individual takes it upon himself to accuse others of evil, depending on what that individual perceives of the world without first working to end the corruption within himself. This is how each individual is led into doing evil by whichever system has convinced him of who he should see as evil. 

This is a very dangerous misconception held by the individual raised within the modem systems. The battle against corruption must begin within the self to be successful. Without starting the fight from the proper position and perspective, one will spend their whole life fighting before they realize it was for the wrong side. My master always tells me corruption comes in many forms, and it always comes in the form you least expect. Maybe we all should take a closer examination inside for the evil we are fighting before we turn to fight outside of ourselves. Any behavior, thought, speech, action (or lack of) that are deterring us from humanity's goal is corruption. Any time we are putting our energy into something that is not taking us towards our destination is a form of corruption. Laziness, discouragement, depression, frustration, irritation, impatience, and anger are forms of corruption. Even the arrogance that is felt after one is complimented for being uncorrupted is corrupt if the individual slows down their defense against corruption. We cannot look over these to charge others for what they have done. Before we fix our character and perception we could very easily be misdiagnosing another's.

By Nehez, Meniooh, 2nd generation Initiate

Those of us who choose to challenge ourselves to become a better person often come across the realm that dictates our potential growth or our regression. This challenge to our becoming (growth) has been described by some as the battle we all face to defend truth and reject corruption. Corruption is defined as something morally debased and evil: to make or become corrupt.

When addressing corruption, we must first look at ourselves and what is becoming corrupted. Why is corruption such a challenge to those on the path of becoming, the path set by our ancestors and the Deities? It is said in the initiatic schools "It is good that is sacred and evil that is dynamic". The path of righteousness is the one that is thin like a tightrope one must balance themselves upon. Understanding this principle, we can easily see that corruption is all those things that are off the path of the tightrope. Falling off the tightrope is akin to a choice of inappropriate behavior and or decisions.

An example of corruption would be our failure to think about the consequences of our actions. Since our creation, we have sought to separate ourselves from animalistic behaviors that have detailed our regression into the bastion of negativity. The lack of using our thought process degrades us to the world of an animal. We react to stimuli like rats in a science project. Maybe we are the rats that have been trained to operate like savages in order to forget the path that we are supposed to walk on. How many times have we said or done things with the purpose of hurting someone else only to later realize that we have somehow hurt ourselves? The path of righteousness dictates that we do not lose our composure (thou shall not become angry). If we do, then we risk losing our balance on the tightrope and falling from the standards that our ancestors have set for us. The corruption comes from our own lack of discernment and disregard for whatever comes after we have been antagonized. As a youth, I was taught that when one calls me out of my name, call that person out of their name. This description sets a very interesting cycle. When we are taught to behave like animals as children, unless we are brought out of this belief, then we behave like animals as adults. This is the corruption that is so deplorable. The human being who behaves like a snake is being tempted by a charmer. Corruption dictates that we leave the codes of human behavior set by our Deities and fall victim to the devilish behaviors of ourselves. What could be more corrupt?

By Bikdeni Inejnema, Herpw,

1st Generation Initiate

At its core, a human being is a corrupt entity. The simple fact that the human being possesses and is contained inside a physical body is a valid reason why the Gods dare not come close to us; the Gods cannot risk their purity by risking that they become contaminated by our corruption, and the human body naturally emits corruption by way of passing gas, sweat, oil, and all other excretions or involuntary emissions. If the packaging of a human being is fundamentally corrupt, what, then, can be said for his thoughts, actions, and social structures?

Corruption is something that a spiritual person always battles, and the battlefield is not always obvious. In the case of the physical body, one can easily sense when one's body has become corrupted simply by observation or awareness of the self. While the dirtiness of the body can easily be rectified by doing ablutions, or spiritual cleansing (for more information, please contact The Earth Center), it becomes more challenging to become aware of the corruption that surrounds us constantly, both inside and outside of our "selves".

Corruption and evil can always be found holding hands with emotions, and this makes the human being extremely vulnerable to corruption and its seductive pleasures. The modern education has taught us that we must "follow our heart" and "live for today"; we learn that life is short and that we need to live every day to its fullest and get the most out of life that we can! We are taught that our emotions are the most important thing and should be protected and worshipped.

The system has succeeded in its attempt to turn us into unintelligent, illogical monsters who base our actions purely on how we feel at any particular moment. We no longer think or reason, for we have been conditioned to base our choices and behaviors on our feelings. This enables us to hurt anyone while keeping the feeling of being a good person. In other words, we can be immersed in corruption while still thinking that we are on the path toward the Divine!!

The examples of this internal corruption are endless, and this corruption of the mind is much easier to notice in others. It is a challenging task to pinpoint this mental and spiritual corruption within our own minds and behavior. The corruption happens so easily! It takes only our involvement in a difficult situation to which our emotions are tied, and we immediately begin to make decisions based on how we feel rather than on logic and reason. We hurt those around us (even those who have nothing to do with the original situation) with our behavior and attitudes which we think are reasonable because we are thinking with our emotions rather than with reasoning. Meanwhile, our attitudes and behaviors are inappropriate, hurtful, and destructive to those Who are at the mercy of our emotions, but we cannot see beyond the tip of our noses and the depth of our feelings. This is corruption! This is the work of Set the aggressive God working towards destruction), and when we allow ourselves to become pawns of him, we fool ourselves into thinking that we are a victim or are "right"

It is so easy for a human being to become corrupt! Everyone has their price, and Set makes it his job to find our weaknesses and exploit them. For some, money is what will make them dance; others may be moved by material, or beauty, sex, food, love, drugs, emotions, pleasures…

Is it any wonder that commercials on television aim to elicit an emotional response rather than a logical one? Or that the president of the country uses rhetoric to make us feel confident, happy, and secure in his decisions despite the fact that his actions are based on emotion and personal agenda rather than logic? The president of the United States could gain the support of his citizens to go to war based on unproven "facts" and speculation by using media (showing the towers falling over and over), fear (terrorist, unsafe, biological warfare, nuclear weapons, etc) and manipulation, and he is the leader of an entire country. What, then, can be expected from his blind followers or from those whom he is supposed to be leading?!

When one lives in a country that was based on (and continues to exist because of corruption and deceit, it becomes a daunting task to see the corruption that surrounds and consumes us. It is only by taking a step outside of one's environment that one can begin to notice the evil in which one has been living. Looking from the outside in is necessary for true understanding and change.

If one is to advance spiritually, one must first become aware of the corruption around and within oneself. One of the most difficult tasks a human being can face is looking honestly at himself, especially when he is raised and surrounded by a world that mandates the opposite! It is a necessary task, however, if one wishes to be considered by oneself and others as a stable and reliable person who is not dangerous to himself or his surroundings. One's ancestors will not be able or willing to assist him if he does not keep himself clean and pure, both in the body and heart.

By Bouneith Inejnema Naba, Herpw,

Ist Generation Initiate