Integrity. Honesty. No Self-Deception.

Last Sunday in church, both speakers were from the stake and both talked about Integrity. I've been making a conscious effort in my life to maintain deeper integrity, because I have found that I have the tendency to start things and never finish.  I realize that there are roots in other problems inherent to that symptom, but I know this is the main place to start.  One of the speakers spoke of a man advising another man that his wife would rather lose the house and have to rent an apartment than live with a man who didn't keep his agreements (lacking integrity).

I once read an article online about Radical Honesty (oh wait here is the link to the guy's website) and it's definitely a true principle. I don't know if I have to courage to go all the way there, but I HAVE noticed that when I've been completely honest with my friends (girls or dudes) life is a lot more REAL.

Here's the connect:  Honesty is a basic moral principle that underlies EVERYTHING (especially integrity).  If God were a liar, we would not exist. Integrity is 100% truthful living and 100% effort to fulfill your words.  I don't even know how to express this fully.  Courage is doing the right thing.  Integrity is the doing the right thing all the time the right way.  Christ had perfect integrity because he was perfect, but since we aren't perfect, we won't have perfect integrity.  However, the more integrity we have, the more perfect we will be. And that is one of the most important doctrines of the gospel.

"Keep true, never be ashamed of doing right, decide on what you think is right and stick to it."

— George Eliot

Extra Reading:

Honesty—a Moral Compass

JAMES E. FAUST

We all need to know what it means to be honest. Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving. 
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I wish to speak to you frankly about being honest. Honesty is a moral compass to guide us in our lives. You young men are under great pressure to learn the technology that is expanding and will continue to expand so rapidly. However, the tremendous push to excel in secular learning sometimes tempts people to compromise that which is more important—their honesty and integrity.
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Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.
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A friend related this experience her husband had while attending medical school. “Getting into medical school is pretty competitive, and the desire to do well and be successful puts a great deal of pressure on the new incoming freshmen. My husband had worked hard on his studies and went to attend his first examination. The honor system was expected behavior at the medical school. The professor passed out the examination and left the room. Within a short time, students started to pull little cheat papers out from under their papers or from their pockets. My husband recalled his heart beginning to pound as he realized it is pretty hard to compete against cheaters. About that time a tall, lanky student stood up in the back of the room and stated: ‘I left my hometown and put my wife and three little babies in an upstairs apartment and worked very hard to get into medical school. And I’ll turn in the first one of you who cheats, and you better believe it!’ They believed it. There were many sheepish expressions, and those cheat papers started to disappear as fast as they had appeared. He set a standard for the class which eventually graduated the largest group in the school’s history.” ²
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In reality, we are only in competition with ourselves. Others can challenge and motivate us, but we must reach down deep into our souls and call forth our God-given intelligence and capabilities. We cannot do this when we depend on the efforts of someone else.


http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/honesty-a-moral-compass?lang=eng