On Integrity - The Basics

What does integrity really mean?  It is a word used rather frequently now, during a period of corporate fraud and manipulation, scandal within the church, and the global reaction to terrorism.  I conducted a small survey of various groups, asking each person what integrity means to them.  The most frequent responses included honesty, truthfulness, honor, etc.  They chose a particular virtue which they thought to be synonymous with integrity.  Others were more broad, such as high moral and ethical standards, etc.  Most of the responses implied action rather than a passive state of mind.

I believe the integrity concept includes a more basic element than the above qualities.  The word comes from the Latin integritas, translated wholeness, completeness, entireness, purity, undividedness.  The words integer and integrate come from the same Latin word.  It means that two or more parts are brought together as unity.  Our physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual components are brought together to function as a whole system.  This involves a union of the human spirit with the divine spirit.  In addition, the wholeness involves our interrelationships with others and the world, just as morality implies interaction with others.  In the human domain, this is what wholeness or undividedness means.  After this process begins, our outward signs (virtues) of integrity begin to be noticed by others.  We are perceived to be honest, thought to own a desirable value system, perceived as a person who "does the right things."  Integrity becomes our paradigm of life.

Integrity is not a state of being.  It is not simply something one either has or does not have.  However, some people are so low on integrity that one could deduce that they have none at all.  Others seem to be filled with integrity.  For most of us, it is a continual spectrum ranging from no detectable signs of integrity at all to those overflowing with the signs.  It appears that integrity is a process.  People of high integrity usually build this up gradually.  Some, depending on their moral development, spiritual growth, etc. seem to progress more rapidly.  Those who begin the process in early childhood might develop the qualities of integrity earlier.

Integrity, at its most foundational level, involves a fusion of the human mind with the mind of God.  The spirit of God supersedes the human spirit and the two become a unity.  In Mat. 16.21-23, Peter was thinking and speaking according to the human spirit.  When Jesus said "get behind me, Satan," he was symbolizing the priority of the spirit of God.  A similar example occurs in the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  The three temptations (tests) presented by the devil represent an attempt to entice Jesus to think and act according to the human spirit (Lk. 4.1-13).  When Luke writes that the devil departed "until an opportune time," he emphasizes the perpetual struggle between the human and divine spirits.  The development of integrity is a lifelong process and struggle, with recurring testing as the human spirit attempts to overcome the divine.

Integrity is a relational concept.  It involves intrapersonal relationships between our four human aspects as well as our interrelationships with other people, the world, and God.  As we become more whole and less fragmented, our signs of integrity become more apparent.  One valuable effect is enhanced relationships among all involved,  This is a self-perpetuating cycle.  Our integrity is enhanced even more by our enhanced relationships.  The idea of relationships is a fundamental and recurring message of the entirety of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.

Now, a question arises:  There are those who deny the existence of the spiritual aspect of humanity.  To them, the mind is the highest of the planes of existence.  This includes atheists and some agnostics.  Does this paradigm exclude them from developing integrity?  Not completely.  The reason is based on the concept of God's grace.

Grace (Gk. charis) involves the idea of free giving.  It is a gift which the recipient does not deserve.  The grace of God implies a perpetual gift of love (Gk. agape) for the world.  Its goal (telos) is the very best for the world.  This includes all people, regardless of their opinion regarding the existence or characteristics of God.  Grace is universal.

One of John Wesley's brilliant theological ideas was that of the four phases of grace.  The initial phase is what he called prevenient grace.  This is grace which is active before we give any conscious thought to God or have any kind of relationship with God.

In the realm of process theology, God is thought to offer a possibility for every thought or action of which we engage.  This possibility is the best regarding the outcome of the thought or action.  These suggested possibilities might be thought of as "pulses of grace."  We have the ability to accept or reject these pulses either consciously or subconsciously. 

Due to the presence of God's grace, unbelievers may benefit from God's presence and not realize it.  This in effect, provides some degree of the spiritual element within the person.  Therefore, they may have some degree of integrity.  I suspect that, everything else being equal, their integrity would be higher if they had a more developed spirituality.