For most of us, there's a significant gap that exists between what we claim to value and how we actually live our lives. If we're interested in genuine growth and transformation, integrity is vitally important to cultivate because it means we are willing to make the effort to shift our life choices to line up more closely with our highest ideals, whatever those might be. Without making the effort to close this gap between our values and actions, our development will be stunted, as our actions will likely end up being a reflection of the values of the culture around us more than anything else, which is not helpful if we're try to move those values towards something higher and greater.
Of course, integrity itself is not enough - if we're interested in the process of development - as a baby may have complete integrity but incredibly limited and self-centered values. Along with integrity, we also need to create space for higher values and ideals to emerge within and between us. From this perspective, the cultivation of integrity is a significant part of the process by which these ideals are birthed into existence. Integrity isn't an end in and of itself because it doesn't, by itself, lead anywhere. Integrity alone doesn't offer direction, it's merely the vehicle for higher values to be expressed in the world through our conscious choices. Someone still needs to steer the car.
As an example, a cat will always, in one sense, have more integrity than me but it will never be able to live out the values that I'm capable of living out. Why? It can't recognize them, with or without integrity. So even if I have, from this perspective, less integrity than a cat (because a cat is always living out exactly what it understands to be most real and true), I have a greater capacity for understanding and expressing higher values that reflect more of what is most real and true than what a cat perceives.
This is the beauty of being a human being. Theologically speaking, we could say that we reflect more of God than anything else on this planet.
"So then why is the world so messed up?" Good question!
The crux of this is our free will: we don't HAVE to act on what we perceive to be higher values.
This is the great perennial challenge for humanity. We may discover higher values but we are not necessarily prepared to live them. We often face a not-so-small gap between our values and actions and to try and make sense of this can be very confusing and frustrating. But being aware of this gap in our own lives is essential if we wish to close it. The tendency we have, especially when we become aware of very high ideals, is to attempt to close the gap superficially by searching for reasons that validate its existence. We find ways to explain why living up to such ideals is unreasonable at best and impossible at worst.
Such explanations can vary immensely but essentially what they all have in common is the perspective that there must be something in our way that is preventing us from living out these values, whether that be cultural conditioning, psychological trauma, our 'fallen' state as human beings, etc. Whatever explanation we choose, the onus is removed from us and the task becomes trying to get rid of the perceived obstacle or deciding that it's too big to move and instead using our energy to find a comfy place to sit down and relax. After all, there's nothing more we can do. We're only human.
Unfortunately, if we're genuinely interested in our own individual and collective growth and development then this will not do. Yes, there are some things we are incapable of as limited, finite human beings. But any values that we become aware of, either intentionally or not, we become capable of expressing. That's a bold statement, I know.
Whether you agree with this or not, the question I pose is what keeps us from living a life of significant integrity, where our actions consistently reflect our highest values?
I think we need to understand, to some degree, how and why this 'integrity gap' is present in our lives if we wish to have any success in closing it.
Of course, integrity itself is not enough - if we're interested in the process of development - as a baby may have complete integrity but incredibly limited and self-centered values. Along with integrity, we also need to create space for higher values and ideals to emerge within and between us. From this perspective, the cultivation of integrity is a significant part of the process by which these ideals are birthed into existence. Integrity isn't an end in and of itself because it doesn't, by itself, lead anywhere. Integrity alone doesn't offer direction, it's merely the vehicle for higher values to be expressed in the world through our conscious choices. Someone still needs to steer the car.
As an example, a cat will always, in one sense, have more integrity than me but it will never be able to live out the values that I'm capable of living out. Why? It can't recognize them, with or without integrity. So even if I have, from this perspective, less integrity than a cat (because a cat is always living out exactly what it understands to be most real and true), I have a greater capacity for understanding and expressing higher values that reflect more of what is most real and true than what a cat perceives.
This is the beauty of being a human being. Theologically speaking, we could say that we reflect more of God than anything else on this planet.
"So then why is the world so messed up?" Good question!
The crux of this is our free will: we don't HAVE to act on what we perceive to be higher values.
This is the great perennial challenge for humanity. We may discover higher values but we are not necessarily prepared to live them. We often face a not-so-small gap between our values and actions and to try and make sense of this can be very confusing and frustrating. But being aware of this gap in our own lives is essential if we wish to close it. The tendency we have, especially when we become aware of very high ideals, is to attempt to close the gap superficially by searching for reasons that validate its existence. We find ways to explain why living up to such ideals is unreasonable at best and impossible at worst.
Such explanations can vary immensely but essentially what they all have in common is the perspective that there must be something in our way that is preventing us from living out these values, whether that be cultural conditioning, psychological trauma, our 'fallen' state as human beings, etc. Whatever explanation we choose, the onus is removed from us and the task becomes trying to get rid of the perceived obstacle or deciding that it's too big to move and instead using our energy to find a comfy place to sit down and relax. After all, there's nothing more we can do. We're only human.
Unfortunately, if we're genuinely interested in our own individual and collective growth and development then this will not do. Yes, there are some things we are incapable of as limited, finite human beings. But any values that we become aware of, either intentionally or not, we become capable of expressing. That's a bold statement, I know.
Whether you agree with this or not, the question I pose is what keeps us from living a life of significant integrity, where our actions consistently reflect our highest values?
I think we need to understand, to some degree, how and why this 'integrity gap' is present in our lives if we wish to have any success in closing it.
2 comments:
Well, I'm glad there was a second part to "Integrity pt.1." Integrity as you are defining it (actions expressing values) is no kind of virtue in and of itself. We're agreeing on that, I think.
I suppose I'm still left wondering: where do we get/find these "highest values?"
Oh yes, there's an "Integrity pt.3" coming up, and probably another one to focus on your question.
In short, we get our values from a lot of different places and how we determine what is of greater or lesser value is dependent on our level of development, our worldview, cultural conditioning, personal experience, etc.
It's a great question, to which I assume you have your own answers, also. Where do you think we get/find these "highest values"?
Note: I do think values can evolve and develop, though I'm unsure if there's a ceiling somewhere...perhaps?
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