A couple of days ago, I received the following e-mail from someone who sounds like a well-intentioned American.

It provides a great example of not only the Crisis of Discernment but of the difficulty so many people have with understanding what serves Collective Highest Good.

Please read the e-mail. Then read below that my responses. I look forward to you posting your perspective about my responses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may have heard in the news that a Couple of Post Offices in Texas has been forced to take down small posters that say “IN GOD WE TRUST.” The law, they say, is being violated.

Anyway, we heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write “IN GOD WE TRUST” on the back of all our mail. After all, that’s our National Motto, and it’s on all the money we use to buy those stamps.

We think it’s a wonderful idea.

We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed.
If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of “writing or stamping” IN GOD WE TRUST” on our envelopes.

Sounds good to us. WE’RE HAVING A STAMP MADE TOO!

It’s been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, we have a very hard time understanding why there’s such a mess about having “In God We Trust” on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to “sit down and shut up”?

If you agree, pass this on. If not, delete.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY RESPONSE

I have a different perspective.

> Could it be that WE just need to take action

Sure! Absolutely. Those of us who believe in this should certainly write “In God We Trust” on our envelopes.  Those who don’t should likewise be encouraged to write on their envelopes “In _____ We Trust,” filling in the blank with whatever is true for us.  BUT, this encouragement needs to occur within the larger message that ALL of us need to stop insisting we’re right and therefore they’re wrong.  This is coercion not collaboration.  The majority has no more right to coercion than does the minority.  Coercion is immaturity.  It reflects the absence of integrity not the presence of it.

> And tell the 14% to “sit down and shut up”?

This kind of antagonism fuels hatred and threatens to repress contrary perspectives. Even though this was written by an American, to me this is an attitude that is both anti-democracy and un-American.

> If you agree, pass this on, if not, delete

Unteachability means refusing to recognize the consequences of our actions or inactions. Refusing to recognize the impact of the consequences of our actions on others compounds our Unintegrity and makes it very difficult for others to hold us accountable for being unreliable.

Example of Unintegrity Through Unteachability: Global Warming

Global Warming is a phenomenon that took a long time for enough decision-makers (ad the general public) to understand well enough to pressure world leaders to accept and do something to reduce. Profoundly compelling data confirming the dangers of global warming and the man-made sources contributing to it have been known about for years by both scientists and those in power. But, yielding to the greed of mass consumption without regard to it interfering with serving highest good, resulted in leaders refusing to be teachable. As a result, they have not taken action in a timely manner to reverse the human contributions to global warming.

The release of the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in the summer of 2005, helped begin to change this. This movie helped people become more teachable. As a result of seeing this movie, more citizens, business leaders, social advocates and political leaders then ever recognize not only that global warming can have potentially devastating worldwide consequences during the 21^st century and beyond, but that there are realistic things we can do to prevent this from occurring.

Another Example of Unintegrity Through Unteachability: Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq

People who are attached to their preconceptions are not only not teachable, but they will lie in order to justify sticking to their preconceptions despite evidence to the contrary.

The primary reason used to persuade governmental officials to support the invasion of Iraq that put an end to Saddam Hussein’s rule was that Hussein had developed and stockpiled weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

In the years following the invasion, what came out was that some who advocated it were so intent upon it occurring that they actively suppressed intelligence information reporting that Hussein did not have a WMD arsenal.

I offer you a couple of warnings before I launch into the examples:

1. This is Not About Blame: As I said above, the purpose of this chapter is not to lay blame but to expand your awareness of the range of ways in which Unintegrity expresses itself. Because I see the Unintegrity Pandemic as a systemic problem, I hold to blame no one individual, culture, religion, organization, business, profession, political party, governmental agency, country and organization of countries. I propose instead that each one of us has a huge role to play in solving this problem. Each individual, culture, religion, country, organization, business, profession, political party, governmental agency, country or organization of countries. So, as you read the rest of this chapter, I ask you to not dwell upon the question of who is at fault. Rather, simply open your eyes to how pervasive the Unintegrity problem is, so you can begin to focus on the solution (an integrity revolution), instead of continuing to view each of these illustrations as separate problems needing to be addressed separately.
2. Refrain From Despair: While it might be tempting to throw your hands up in despair as you read about the magnitude and pervasiveness of the Unintegrity Pandemic, please keep in mind that this book is about a solution to this problem. Only this chapter is about the problem itself. I therefore urge you to treat this chapter as a call to consciousness and as a means to motivate, not as an invitation to despair.
3. Examples Cross Categories: I have placed the examples you are about to read into individual categories to make it easier to understand each category. In reality, though, most of these Unintegrity illustrations could just as easily have been used to illustrate other categories as well. So, if you find yourself thinking, “This example could have been an illustration of arrogance as greed,” that is probably true.