Integrity

Dictionaries:

1. Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.
3. A sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.
4. The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
5. The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.

“Integrity is not a bunch of values or ethics. Integrity is the coherence between how you are, how you think, and how you act.” - Sadhguru 

"Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny." - Lao Tzu

Integrity is often defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It is the state of being whole and undivided, and of being in accordance with one's moral values and beliefs. People who have integrity are known for being trustworthy, reliable, and consistently acting in accordance with their principles and values. Integrity is often considered a fundamental quality that is essential for healthy and successful relationships, both personal and professional. It is a trait that is highly valued in many cultures and societies, and is considered essential for building trust and credibility.

I define Integrity as the alignment and convergence of all dimensions of a person's life into one's true essence. This includes but is not limited to; the spiritual dimension, physical dimension, psychological dimension, and behavioral dimension. Most people define Integrity from the behavioral dimension, as in how your behavior affects others; but integrity is deeper than that. Integrity starts in a person's heart and soul and resonates outwards from there and affects their entire life. Integrity is not a facade of being a righteous person. Integrity is not doing something because it's perceived as the right thing - that might be the opposite of Integrity - or “opportunism”. Integrity is doing the right thing because you couldn't perceive not doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is who you are, not who you want to be. 

“Integrity is connectedness and a relatedness between all aspects of our lives, both internally and externally; a meeting place where we can define our autonomy and yet at the same time stand vulnerable in the uncertainty that surrounds us, trusting in our inner knowing and responding intuitively and organically to our daily life experiences.”

Integrity is all paths leading to the same road. All paths merging together into one energetic direction like tributary rivers merging into a mighty delta. 

Integrity is not something that can be turned into an algorithm like a code of ethics, but it does require some values and principles. After you have your values and principles, you then have to be willing to pay the cost to enforce them. 

Integrity is ultimately about how the psyche behaves, about the psyche being whole rather than fragmented. There are different degrees of holism or fragmentation, some people are so fragmented they have a split personality, resulting in self-sabotage and collateral damage in the environment around them; a lack of Integrity causes suffering. On the other end, is a whole psyche energetically moving in one direction, gaining momentum.

Integrity is knowing what you are about and being incorruptible in your adherence to those values and self. Integrity is being true to oneself, authenticity, not resisting any part of yourself. Integrity is being honest with yourself, you can't be integral if you are living through a non-real filter. Integrity is a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive. Integrity is never cutting corners. Integrity is maintaining conscious actions adherent to your values and principles.

Integrity is the ultimate version of what people call “realness”. When people say “I’m real” integrity is the ultimate/actual version of what they are referring to. 

Integrity pays dividends over the long run, but the truly integral person does not do it for the dividends. 

Opportunism, Corruption, & Hypocrisy are the opposites of integrity.

Integrity is not dishonesty, opportunism, corruption, devilry, sin, villainy, wickedness, badness, hypocrisy, bullshit, willingness to lie, cheat, steal, exploit, deceive, mislead, manipulate, cut corners, or be untrustworthy.

A person over-identified with their ego will not be integral because they will be able to justify any action they perceive as benefiting their ego or survival. A person of low integrity is corrupt and has a fragmented psyche and this fragmented psyche has serious consequences, it creates a lot of suffering, both to oneself and the collateral damage to others as this fragmented psyche expands through life.

“A person with no integrity (a sick fragmented psyche) is seeking wholeness in twisted ways. The way a fragmented psyche tries to heal itself, is itself, broken. So it's applying brokenness on top of brokenness and it never really integrates and it never really heals. To truly heal requires consciousness and a willingness to accept and to face the costs of integration. And so a fragmented psyche is constantly at war with itself, and it's at war with the world, and it creates polarity and division as it interacts with the world.” (link)

The Human mind likes to make everything black and white, but integrity is a level of degree. Most people are going to suffer from a relative lack of integrity as they elucidate, discover, or create their own values and build their lives around them. There will be inconsistencies everywhere in that process. Over time, an integral person will correct these inconsistencies. But it is highly unlikely that someone will achieve 100% integrity unless they quit life and become a monk; life is too messy.

Developing integrity is hard in today’s society. The world tries to lure you away from integrity with shortcuts and traps. Marketing tries to trap children into habits of eating the wrong foods. The education system tries to trap 18 year olds with $200,000 of non-bankruptable debt for a degree not in demand. Instagram gets paid for trapping your attention. Cigarettes and alcohol are cheaper than insulin and available at every corner in just the right size an addict can afford with their last dollar. Hierarchical structures all try to trap you into unquestioning loyalty. 

There are many traps to steer one away from an integral life. Since the ego's survival depends on a lack of integrity, people easily fall into these traps as these traps prey on the ego. Integrity is more difficult than opportunism, opportunism is all about short term survival, and most people are wrapped up in short-term societal survival. This is why integrity is a rare thing.

Integrity starts with being honest with yourself, discerning from experience and contemplation what you value, making the conscious decision to adhere to those values, and building the goal tracking infrastructure necessary to track your adherence to and deviation from those values.