WHAT IS THE MEANING OF INTEGRITY?
(THE TECHNICALITIES OF INTEGRITY)
Integrity is not a matter of having principles, and sticking to them,of course the person of integrity will have principles, and stick to them.
Integrity is not being unwavering although much behaviour that displays integrity is indeed marked by a noteworthy steadfastness.
Integrity is not a matter of having the right values, although the person of integrity will indeed have values intelligibly worthwhile to others, even if those others disagree about them.
Integrity is not honesty, though the person of integrity will be honest as a matter of course, as well as forthright. It would be more apt to say that the person of integrity is a man of his words and can be relied upon to mean what he says, and to take responsibility for following through with whatever actions his words imply,however even such situations may as well not stand as an act of Integrity
i. Integrity is related to that wholeness of character and person which orients one's outlook, enabling one to make sense of the world, and to make sense of one's actions and choices, and to make sense in action.
ii. Although described in individualistic terms, integrity is an individual quality only had in a social context and in relation to others. Having projects, and being committed, and the meaningfulness of a life that this enables, only makes sense in a social and inter-personal context, through people living together.
iii. And finally, and more formally, if one wants to speak of consistency or inconsistency in character or action, there must be something that establishes that
with which one is (or fails to be) consistent.
We can use integrity to refer to that which makes it possible for actions to be evaluated as consistent or inconsistent at all
.
** Nevertheless,over the years,i have held that INTEGRITY could be better explained as in the above rather than being defined. However, to avoid my position being mistaken as intellectual laziness, if "Integrity" could therefore be defined,i henceforth define it as:
"Integrity is a consistent right life anchored on positive Intentions".
On this basis, what determines if an action is an act of Integrity or not is that "tin-line" between intention and action.
Nobody can exactly tell what is going on in someone else mind,it is the action that can be examined. Although,sometimes,someone might have positive intention but the action turns out negative, just like in some other cases,it could be possible for a negative intention to produce positive act. what are then right life? A right life for the purpose of this understanding is predicated on these undeniable truth:
That life is worth living and man has the ability to make life more meaningful
That our worth in the society is dependent on our impact,hence man should be committed to making positive impact in the society
That respect for human dignity is essential attribute of a just society
That violence demeans the society and undermines the humanity in human,hence we should pursue peace as a means of just Order
That humanity is one,so we should avoid practice of sectionalism and racism,but rather practice "love for all and hatred for non". Better still,surnmarily put that right life is that life full of love,peace and purity. So for an act to qualify to be evaluated in order to know it's percentage of Integrity,it should be in consonance with any of the above principles. However,in a situation where an act does not correspond nor promote any of the above tenets,you do not need to bother about evaluating its status of Integrity,because it does not qualify to have essence or substance of Integrity
What are then positive Intentions?
For a better understanding positive Intention can be exrayed through certain core values. In such cases,for you to assume an act to be consistent with the nature of positive intention, you can examine such act to see what percentage of any of these core values that could be found.
In essence,such percentage of Values can be xrayed on anything that is considered true, anything that is considered honest,anything that is considered just, anything that is considered peaceful, anything that is considered Pure, anything that is considered lovely,anything that is considered to be of good report,virtue or praise worthy, check,it might be a product of positive intention.
So,the rightness of an action coupled with its positive intention determines it's Integrity.
Integrity can be examined in part or in whole. When in part, you are looking at a particular action of a person,and when in whole,you are making a holistic accessment of the person's character through his action over the years or a period of time..
Moreover,in line with the position of "The Integrity Organization( www.theintegritynetwork.org ); Integrity can only be defined as a life and a nature:
(1) As a life: integrity is the life full of love,peace and purity resident in the human mind.
(2) As a nature: Integrity is living the consistent right life(the life full of love peace and purity) anchored on positive Intentions.
IgweOlisa Sunday NebeOlisa-Igwe(ISN)
* Human development Philosopher & Propounder: "Reminiscencing-transcedency theory"
(NebeOlism-Igweism)
*Founder & president at: "The Integrity Organization
( www.theintegritynetwork.org )
* Global Peace Ambassador at: ( www.hwpl.kr ):
- Publicity Ambassador of peace(PAP)
- Messenger of peace (MP)
(For world wide peace and ceasation of war):
Writes from Abuja,Nigeria
