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Thursday, July 23 2009 | Conciousness

Is my life an example of the highest integrity?

Recently I read the book “The Life You Were Born To Live” by Dan Millman and was prompted to answer the question: “Is my life an example of the highest integrity?”.

Finding the answer lead me on the following path. I found some answers to my internal questions in my myriad of dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopaedia and quotation books. I would like to acknowledge that these are not my words, and at this point I am unable to reference these accurately. I have italicised my own internal questions and my own words.

So, what is integrity?

• Perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles.
• Judging the quality of a system to be able to achieve its goals.
• Having a sense of honesty and truthfulness in regard to the motivations for ones actions.
• Hypocrisy in the contrast.
• Internal consistency.
• Basing actions on an internally consistent framework of principles.
• Everything a person does or believes; actions, methods, measures and principles – all derive from the same core group of values.

So then, what are values?

• Having accountability and moral consistency.
• Personal honesty, acting according to ones beliefs and values at all times.
• The wholeness of a moral stance or attitude.
• Wholeness = commitment = authenticity.
• From the Latin ‘integer’ = whole/complete = personal sense of wholeness from honesty and consistency of character.
• The refusal to engage in behaviour that evades responsibility.
• There are three steps:
1. Discerning what is right and wrong.
2. Acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost.
3. Saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong.
• It is not the same as honesty.
• Steadfast adherence to a strict moral code.
• State of being wholesome, complete, pure.
• A relative ethical value.
• Value system = set of consistent values and measures.
• Principle Value: foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based.

Then, I need to know what my principle value is. Love, peace, bliss? Maybe this equates to my original state.

Values can be:
• ethical/moral
• doctrinal/ideological (political/religious)
• social
• aesthetic

Some values may be more intrinsic.

Values can change over time.

A person has integrity when they apply their values consistently regardless of all else.

But still, what is my principle value?

Peace is a state of being.

My internal worth is abundant – abundance – endlessness – expansiveness.

Consciousness.

I value my self
life
existence
experience
understanding
original states of peace, love, joy, power and purity
quiet stillness
nature
relationships
non-violence

I possibly have several critical principle values: experience and consciousness.

experiencing consciousness
and having
conscious experiences

=

Principle Values
of
Jade

My highest integrity therefore would be to experience consciousness through conscious experience.

So, the answer to the question ‘Is my life an example of the highest integrity?’ would be – it is becoming more so every day.