integrity
Pronunciation: \in-ˈte-grə-tē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English integrite, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French integrité, from Latin integritat-, integritas, from integr-, integer entire
Date: 14th century
Definitions: 1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility 2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness 3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness
Some years ago, my company was undergoing a reorganization and there was an effort to indoctrinate everyone with a new way of "embracing change". We all underwent a series of mandatory EST-like re-education sessions and there was a new kind of language that started to be used in corporate meetings.
Thankfully, that era passed and we are back to using intelligence and common sense. However, there is an interesting phenomenon of rejecting everything from those sessions as by definition, false. Of course, some of the ideas and concepts had value.
In particular, the notion of INTEGRITY.
The word "Integrity" was used in a very specific way. Rather than Moral Value (1) or Unimpared Condition (2), we discussed Integrity in the sense of undividedness (3). I think this has a lot of value as a guiding principle for how one makes personal life choices at all levels of importance.
If I live in or with integrity then my aspirations,thoughts, intentions, actions and reputation are all consistent and aligned. Note that this spans an arc to the future (aspirations) from the past (reputation). Frankly only one of these moments, action, are real. All of the rest are simply mental constructs-the fine line between dreams, plans and memories. Nonetheless, it takes strength and focus to constantly do things there are consistent with our intentions. Assuming that somea mount of planning is given to understanding intentions and aspirations, it means that you have to constantly examine actions to make sure they agree with who we really are.
Its not easy.
The hardest part of this is that these types of evaluations and assesments can be made without assigning moral evaluations or judgement. We can examine the integrity of our actions without thinking "Good" or "Bad". They are what they are.
Pronunciation: \in-ˈte-grə-tē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English integrite, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French integrité, from Latin integritat-, integritas, from integr-, integer entire
Date: 14th century
Definitions: 1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility 2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness 3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness
Some years ago, my company was undergoing a reorganization and there was an effort to indoctrinate everyone with a new way of "embracing change". We all underwent a series of mandatory EST-like re-education sessions and there was a new kind of language that started to be used in corporate meetings.
Thankfully, that era passed and we are back to using intelligence and common sense. However, there is an interesting phenomenon of rejecting everything from those sessions as by definition, false. Of course, some of the ideas and concepts had value.
In particular, the notion of INTEGRITY.
The word "Integrity" was used in a very specific way. Rather than Moral Value (1) or Unimpared Condition (2), we discussed Integrity in the sense of undividedness (3). I think this has a lot of value as a guiding principle for how one makes personal life choices at all levels of importance.
If I live in or with integrity then my aspirations,thoughts, intentions, actions and reputation are all consistent and aligned. Note that this spans an arc to the future (aspirations) from the past (reputation). Frankly only one of these moments, action, are real. All of the rest are simply mental constructs-the fine line between dreams, plans and memories. Nonetheless, it takes strength and focus to constantly do things there are consistent with our intentions. Assuming that somea mount of planning is given to understanding intentions and aspirations, it means that you have to constantly examine actions to make sure they agree with who we really are.
Its not easy.
The hardest part of this is that these types of evaluations and assesments can be made without assigning moral evaluations or judgement. We can examine the integrity of our actions without thinking "Good" or "Bad". They are what they are.
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