Integrity

Many intelligent authors have mentioned that in order to do good in the world you need to be “you”. Trying to be someone that you are not, will not work. One needs to know oneself in order to act and perform in a way that has no contradictions to what one says and to what one appears. I would call this an integral way of being.

In his book The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer mentions how good teachers are authentic, and how good teachers base their pedagogical techniques on some knowledge of who they are. I can extrapolate that idea to every single walk of life. A good mechanic is one who is grateful for her/his skills and happy to do the job; as a good baker is too. And so on.

Of course, there are cheaters who can take advantage of people by pretending that they are someone they are not. In general, these cheaters don’t last long as their lack of integrity sooner or later will throw them into ruin.

Integrity, like all the other virtues, is not isolated. There is always an overlap between virtues. You can’t have kindness without integrity or integrity without courage. All require a deep sense of self and an understanding of our limitations as well as the limitations of our relationships. After all, when we think of being an integral human we see it in relationship to the others in that humanity. The is no sense in talking about the integrity of an isolated individual.

Considering that the goal in life is to live with peace of mind, in the pursuit of happiness, being an integral person is indispensable. False, hypocritical personalities are always in conflict as they can’t have a single undisputed baseline, a reference to which adhere. Having an integral life means that one has a set of moral references that are unchangeable. Even though in some cases these reference frames may have complex definitions. For example, when we say “Liberty and Justice for All” Although it sounds simple, we will find deep complexities when we think about it.

One can change opinion, without breaking one’s integrity. In fact, it might happen that because of one’s integrity, we have to change our opinions based on new evidence, new circumstances, or because we learned that one had the wrong opinion. People without integrity often stick to their opinions, even when facing the reality of being wrong, even when presented with the truth that doesn’t support their opinion, because they want to appear as if they were “integral”. People wanting to appear integral is the first indication of their lack of integrity. Integrity is not an appearance. When someone starts a conversation by saying “Let me tell you the truth” you can be suspicious because that sentence indicates that the normal situation is that they do not tell the truth”.

Like when someone tells you: Believe me! Do not believe it!