Integrity: A Way of Life

Tresa Maria

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We have heard this saying which kind of captures the essence of integrity – ‘integrity is doing the right things when nobody is watching’. But then there arise two major questions – one, what is the right thing? and the second what if somebody is watching?

It’s interesting to dig a little deeper into these questions. What is right for me may not be right for someone else. Who then decides what is right? And if everybody has their own rights and wrongs why do we even have the question of integrity? Integrity comes into the picture because you are told that there are certain things that you need to follow, certain values which you have to have in order to be respectable and trustworthy. These values more or less remain the same across regions and religions – honesty, non-violence, compassion, and harmony. All these values have evolved over time. It’s not something you are born with. All these values have been fed to you from a very young age. And if you are a person who believes in all this then chances are that you have been tricked into believing this.


To understand how the values emerged let us take the example of ‘honesty’. Yuval Noah Harari in his famous book ‘Sapiens’ explains how gossiping or making up stories played a major part in evolutionary history and eventually led to the cognitive revolution. He also explains how certain stories help us cooperate. And this ability to cooperate is what differentiates humans from other species. So telling lies or not being honest was not a bad thing back then, after all, it made us who we are today. So then why did people who came later emphasize honesty so much? One possible reason may be as human beings began to cooperate they needed to know what exactly the other person is doing so that they can make good decisions. So everybody wanted to know what everybody else is thinking. So honesty became an accepted norm. Similarly, nobody wanted to be killed by another person so peace became a virtue. Non–violence was not considered a great virtue until recently. If we look at the older scriptures say for example Ramayana or Mahabharata – War is an essential component. Victory in the war was glorified. That was the norm then. From there we have reached a point where we condemn war. So the values evolve over time and may differ from region
to region.


So if these values are made up, is it necessary to follow them? The answer is yes. The reason being that’s how the world works. We all have two choices – to trust people or to be in suspicion. Trusting people is not an easy task but being a suspicious person is a misery. Especially in a world where we are so much interdependent. Everybody wants trustworthy people around them and
if that is a demand, then obviously that quality will be glorified. Well, that may not be the only reason for a person to stick by it. If we analyze logically it is better to be a person with integrity. That way people collaborate with you much more. You can build trust easily. This will lend you with much
more opportunities.


Mark Manson in one of his books shares his experience of visiting Russia. He tells that the people over there appear rude. They don’t smile at each other and they are very honest. If they find you stupid they directly tell that to your face. It was very uncomfortable for him at first. But after a few weeks, he got accustomed to that. So one day he was discussing this behavior
of Russians with his Russian friend. This is in stark contrast to how people behave in America. In America, people greet each other with a smile. They speak very politely. They don’t even mind some white lies if that makes the other person happy. His friend replied that in America there are so many
economic opportunities. You can partner with one of your friends and start a business. There are many other things that are possible. But in Russia there are very few economic opportunities, so people don’t find the need to appease each other. They behave the way they are. No fake smiles, no fake praises only blunt truths. So that has become the norm there, that is their culture.

Another important aspect that we can notice from the above is how wealth can affect the value system. It is often seen that money is one factor that distracts a person from being honest. People who value money more than their values are a threat to society. Such a society can collapse in no time. The world today is an example. Consumerism was fed into our heads through
advertisements. This was for the corporates to make money. Consumerism in turn made us also run behind in money and then commodities. Production rose to an all-time high. The effects of which we are seeing as climate change and global warming. This context reminds me of Gandhi’s famous
quote “There is enough for everyone’s need but not for anybody’s greed”. Greed is what derails us from our value system.


The only way to counter this is to impart proper value education. Young children have to be made aware of not only the values but why those values are important. They should be made capable of distinguishing need and greed. They should be made aware of what is sustainable and what is not. Values should be something that they choose to adhere to rather than made to adhere to. That way integrity becomes a way of their life. And I think that’s the way forward for humanity as a species if it is to survive.

60 thoughts on “Integrity: A Way of Life”

  1. Never in my life have I thought about this topic. May be I was just being part of the society, or to be accepted by it. The points are so relevant with the examples in the history. And it’s interesting as well. Loved it…

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  2. Here my thoughts are little different- Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā (SB 5.18.12), godless civilization cannot have any good qualities. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano rathena asato dhāvato… They simply go to the untruth by mental speculation….
    I think, if possible, you could start read all the religious books and also other books and then come to proper understanding. If possible, once try to take feel of being God conscious with sincerity and then decide.
    Prayers purify our consciousness where we think of not for our own self greed but for loving and serving God first and ultimately each and everyone on this planet.
    This might be the topic of debate as we are on the opposite side of worldview.
    Anyways, I am fan of your writing style and presentation 🙂

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    Юметалл – металлобаза Первоуральск

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