Integrity

bolderado

 

Jul 9 |22:45

in·teg·ri·ty

[in-teg-ri-tee]  Show IPA

–noun

1.adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moralcharacter; honesty.
2.the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preservethe integrity of the empire.
3.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship’s hull.
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OK, this word has been working itself through me the past few days.  Weird, but I think it is possibly one of the most important words there is, English or otherwise.  I’m sure that other languages have an equivalent.    Before I talk about it further it will help to look at the root:

in·te·gral

[in-ti-gruhl, in-teg-ruhl]  Show IPA

–adjective

1.of, pertaining to, or belonging as a part of the whole; constituent or component: integral parts.
2.necessary to the completeness of the whole: This point is integral to his plan.
3.consisting or composed of parts that together constitute a whole.
4.entire; complete; whole: the integral works of a writer.
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Integral, I have been focussed on definition #4:
4.    entire; complete; whole: the integral works of a writer.
Entire, complete, whole.

What does it take to make a whole, complete person?  What makes you whole?  How do you become whole?
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Ah, isn’t that perhaps the most important question of your life?    Put another way, what other question do you need to have answered before you die?  If you die as a whole person is your life complete?  Have you been satisfied?
So for me Integral is about putting all of the puzzle pieces together. becoming whole.  So if that is the case,  Integrity is the state of being whole.  Check definition #2:

2.  the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.

So integrity is the state of being whole, entire or undiminished. WoW!!!

Ok, some may say you skipped over #1.  What about the moral and ethical principles? Well, what about them?  Morals and ethics have to do with societal standards right?  There is no doubt that as a society we must have moral and ethical standards.  However I am an individual and I need to find the pieces that make me whole.  In fact, I think that societal standards sometimes get an individual off course.   Of course there is nothing wrong with “love thy neighbor”.  But what about creating standards for what it meand to be successful?  My idea of success might e very different than my son’s or daughter’s.  Is my idea better?  Is it right?  It may only be right for me, but society looks for conformity.   I say integrity is individual, which is why I like definition #2.

The reason I love the word integrity is that is is about being genuine, or being true to yourself.  The state of being whole is about being true to yourself.  Of course it implies that you know you you are and are in touch with your inner being, your core.  Your inner being speaks to you and provides guidance.  If you are Christian, this might mean accepting Jesus Christ and allowing the holy spirit to provide you with guidance.  How you get there is not important.  If you value being whole and want to live with integrity you will find this guidance system within.

So to be clear, I believe in eternity, I believe that we all re-incarnate and I believe that we progress from one life to the next.   Sometimes, we get into a situation where we regress.  When we live without integrity, we regress.  If we murder or hurt people or live with hate we regress.  If we live with love, with integrity we progress.

In any case, the key to evolution  and progression is living with integrity.   However, integrity by definition is about creating a whole person and clearly each person is different.   And therefore what is integral to one may not be to another.  Why?  My belief is that we all have different things that we must work through in order to progress to the next life.   My challenges and issues might be different than yours.  Therefore the pieces that make me whole night be different than the pieces that make you whole.


This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Features, RokStories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.