subject: Self-Integrity - The Foundation of Moral Selections [print this page] Self-Integrity - The Foundation of Moral Selections
"As authentic self-information begins to unfold, our principles, thoughts, commitments, and actions get up to be in accord with who we have a tendency to truly are." (Yasukiko Genku Kimura)
Sometimes, integrity is perceived because it relates to the external world like integrity in relationships, integrity in business, or integrity in monetary selections - as examples. There is a lot of said on the subject these days as the country, as an entire, evaluates and debates moral behavior. Many have said that Kenneth Lay and others lacked integrity as a result of of their participation in, what most would decision unethical decisions. However, people who knew Kenneth Lay believed him to be a man of high standards.
How did he get involved in business issues that lacked integrity or ethics? Several have said that he and several others never supposed to try and do wrong. What happened? They were lead by their ego rather than by their authentic self?
Self integrity is truly the inspiration of ethical behavior. Wikipedia defines integrity as "the basing of one's actions on an even framework of principles and adherence of each level to the next are key determining factors. One is alleged to possess integrity to the extent that everything he/she will and believes is predicated on the same set of values". Self-integrity is being what Socrates stated "to thine own self be true."
We are all born with a pure essential nature, and self-integrity exists by being true to that nature - our authentic self. It's through awareness and data of your authentic self - that self-integrity, which is the muse of ethical behavior, is created. When you have that authentic awareness, you then can have self integrity and integrity with different people and situations. When our ego can be set aside, our lives can be truly open. How we live and what we say in personal is not any different from how we tend to live in public. There is congruency.
With self integrity - our principles, our public behavior, our selections are all in alignment and it's easy to create smart ethical choices. It is troublesome with self-data and self-integrity, to behave contrary to that knowledge. If you actually have self-integrity, then it's not natural to live in moral illusions or create ethical dilemmas. Behaving ethically to and with yourself interprets into behaving ethically with alternative people.
As I write this - I should say - I would like I had gotten this idea much earlier in life. Reality is, I spent several months in Federal Prison as a result of of my unethical choices. I had a nice life. I used to be a faculty graduate with a Masters Degree in Accounting. I was a partner in a very very successful CPA firm and I taught seminars inside the accounting field. I had a wife, 2 lovely sons and a massive home in the suburbs. We tend to attended church. I was even the choir director. I actually appeared to be successful in the community. People trusted me with their cash and I used to be thought-about to possess a lot of integrity.
However, all that was simply an illusion - a manifestation of my ego. I failed to know my authentic self and had no plan what that even meant. All I knew was that my ego had to "be somebody." And, everything I showed to the public, I believed, outlined me as a "somebody". I felt I had to maintain that illusion so as to be accepted and adored by community leaders. Unfortunately, I was living beyond my means and in order to take care of the illusion, I selected to embezzle cash from my clients. There was a would like - an opportunity - and I rationalized it. It had been, frankly, easy. I had no intentions of doing harm to my purchasers, my partners or my family. I used to be, once all, a smart person. I was only borrowing the cash - thus I thought.
As all illusions are prone to try to to, it broke apart when a consumer needed to liquidate and "money in" the money he invested. What he didn't recognize was - the money was invested in my lifestyle. There is a consequence to every alternative we make. It had been now consequence time. As a result of I used to be unable to supply the money, I had to confess to my embezzlement. The illusory life was over. I lost everything: my job, my license as a CPA, my house, my family, respect and trust from the community. The consequences were swift and devastating.
Although I paid restitution, I used to be convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion. Apparently, if you steal money, you continue to owe taxes on it! And to think I used to be a tax partner during a CPA firm, nonetheless that never crossed my mind. Go figure. Going to prison was the worst day of life and nevertheless, absolutely the starting of my new life.
Had I actually known concerning "to thine own self be true", my life journey would have been utterly different. I knew solely what the ego wished and the ego wanted to be perceived as being successful, wealthy, well-liked. Had I known my authentic self, then living a actually principled life would have been easy. Perhaps, I would still have all the external definitions of success as a bonus to living a principled life.
Do you live a private life congruent together with your public life? Will your intrinsic self lead or will your ego lead? Are you aware of your authentic self? Many individuals don't seem to be and it's a method to seek out yourself and then realize your self-integrity. There are many ways that, alternative than going to jail, to try to to this. These days, as a Motivational Speaker, I share my story with others in hopes that it may spark an awareness of self-integrity. When you find your true self, you lay the foundation for positive ethical behavior.
