World English Dictionary

integrity (ɪnˈtɛɡrɪtɪ)

n 1. adherence to moral principles; honesty

2. the quality of being unimpaired; soundness

3. unity; wholeness

It seems to me like a lot of people talk about Integrity without realizing what it means...or should I say, what it takes to have Integrity.

To me, having Integrity or living your life with Integrity is more complex than most people might think.  One person might feel like if they are honest, they have Integrity.  To me, that's makes  them an honest person...and being honest is most certainly one of the characteristics of somebody who lives their life with Integrity, but there is more to it than that.

See the above definition from the World English Dictionary.  I chose the definition from this dictionary because it was the definition that most closely represents what I believe Integrity means. Oh, other dictionaries has similar definitions, but they all did not have a word that I would almost consider a synonym for Integrity and that word is “wholeness.”

Not just being honest; not just being sincere...but many other qualities are required for you to label someone (or yourself) as having Integrity.

In my ever so humble opinion, here is a list of qualities or characteristics one has to have in order to have enough “wholeness” to consider themselves to be living with Integrity.  I also took the liberty of including only “some” of the World English Dictionary definitions of each of these words to be clear of what it requires to fulfill each of these qualities. Some of the definitions of these words are going to be slightly ambiguous, but upon examination there are at least some subtle differences in all of them. I am only choosing “some” of the specific definitions because I don't want to bore you with definitions that really are not applicable to what I'm writing about; and secondly, because this is my post and I can do whatever I want to do with it. 

whole (ness)

— adj 1. containing all the component parts necessary to form a total; complete 2. constituting the full quantity, extent, etc 3. uninjured or undamaged 4. healthy

unity  

— n  , pl -ties 1. the state or quality of being one; oneness 2. the act, state, or quality of forming a whole from separate parts 3. something whole or complete that is composed of separate parts 5. uniformity or constancy: unity of purpose 7. the arrangement of the elements in a work of art in accordance with a single overall design or purpose

unimpaired  

— adj not reduced or weakened in strength, quality, etc

moral

— adj 1. concerned with or relating to human behavior, esp the distinction between good and bad or right and wrong behavior: moral sense 2. adhering to conventionally accepted standards of conduct 3. based on a sense of right and wrong according to conscience: moral courage ; moral law 4. having psychological rather than tangible effects: moral support

candour or Candor

— n 1. the quality of being open and honest; frankness 2. fairness; impartiality

forthright

— adv 2. in a direct manner; frankly 3. at once

goodness

— n 1. the state or quality of being good 2. generosity; kindness 3. moral excellence; piety; virtue

honesty  

— n  , pl -ties 1. the condition of being honest 2. sincerity or fairness 3. archaic  virtue or respect

honourable or honorable

— adj 1. possessing or characterized by high principles: honourable intentions 2. worthy of or entitled to honour or esteem 3. consistent with or bestowing honour 

incorruptible

— adj 1. incapable of being corrupted; honest; just

principle

— n 1. a standard or rule of personal conduct: a man of principle 2. ( often plural ) a set of such moral rules: he'd stoop to anything ; he has no principles 3. adherence to such a moral code; morality: it's not the money but the principle of the thing ; torn between principle and expediency 4. a fundamental or general truth or law: first principles

purity

— n 1. the state or quality of being pure

pure

— adj 3. free from moral taint or defilement: pure love (love that one) :)

righteous

— adj 1. a. characterized by, proceeding from, or in accordance with accepted standards of morality, justice, or uprightness; virtuous: a righteous man

sincere

— adj 1. not hypocritical or deceitful; open; genuine: a sincere person ; sincere regret 2. archaic  pure; unadulterated; unmixed 3. obsolete  sound; whole

straightforward

— adj 1. (of a person) honest, frank, or simple

character

- n 1. the combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing 2. one such distinguishing quality; characteristic 3. moral force; integrity: a man of character 4. a. reputation, esp a good reputation

virtue

-n 1. the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness 2. a particular moral excellence: the virtue of tolerance 3. any of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) or theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) 4. any admirable quality, feature, or trait.

Quite the tall order, eh?  It's not only about having a couple of these qualities in order to have Integrity. Integrity is the proverbial meaning of wholeness.  I mean, look at not only the 17 different qualities it takes to have Integrity, but the dozens of characteristics within the qualities that makes Integrity what it is.

The Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy States the following observation about Integrity:

"Integrity is one of the most important and oft-cited of virtue terms. It is also perhaps the most puzzling. For example, while it is sometimes used virtually synonymously with 'moral,' we also at times distinguish acting morally from acting with integrity. Persons of integrity may in fact act immorally-though they would usually not know they are acting immorally. Thus one may acknowledge a person to have integrity even though that person may hold importantly mistaken moral views.

When used as a virtue term, 'integrity' refers to a quality of a person's character; however, there are other uses of the term. One may speak of the integrity of a wilderness region or an ecosystem, a computerized database, a defense system, a work of art, and so on. When it is applied to objects, integrity refers to the wholeness, intactness or purity of a thing-meanings that are sometimes carried over when it is applied to people. A wilderness region has integrity when it has not been corrupted by development or by the side-effects of development, when it remains intact as wilderness. A database maintains its integrity as long as it remains uncorrupted by error; a defense system as long as it is not breached. A musical work might be said to have integrity when its musical structure has a certain completeness that is not intruded upon by uncoordinated, unrelated musical ideas; that is, when it possesses a kind of musical wholeness, intactness and purity.

Integrity is also attributed to various parts or aspects of a person's life. We speak of attributes such as professional, intellectual and artistic integrity. However, the most philosophically important sense of the term 'integrity' relates to general character. Philosophers have been particularly concerned to understand what it is for a person to exhibit integrity throughout life. Acting with integrity on some particularly important occasion will, philosophically speaking, always be explained in terms of broader features of a person's character and life.

What is it to be a person of Integrity? Ordinary discourse about integrity involves two fundamental intuitions: first, that integrity is primarily a formal relation one has to oneself, or between parts or aspects of one's self; and second, that integrity is connected in an important way to acting morally, in other words, there are some substantive or normative constraints on what it is to act with integrity. How these two intuitions can be incorporated into a consistent theory of integrity is not obvious, and most accounts of integrity tend to focus on one of these intuitions to the detriment of the other.

This philosophical definition of Integrity from Stanford University somewhat backs me up with my definition. 

A more simple definition of Integrity is doing the right thing even though nobody is watching.

Bottom line is... to me, having absolute Integrity is something that I am always striving for.  I mean, I try. I think I do pretty darn good most of the time, but to say I have every one of these definitions covered all the time would be a lie...and if I were to lie, it would mean that I'm not acting with Integrity Right?

How do our elected officials rate with all this criteria?  Do you think your friends and business associates have these covered?  Your spouse?  Your parents? Your children?   How do you measure up?  How do any of us measure up?....

Only one person that I've heard of that has all these qualities covered.  To live with all these qualities is a lofty goal, but one worth pursuing.



Peace and success,