INTEGRITY

“While seeking to interpret our Christian faith in the language of today, we must remember that there is one worse thing than failure to practice what we profess, and that is to water down our profession to match our practice.”

Friends World Conference, 1952

“When you live with integrity, that implies a spiritually integrated wholeness where you live in the world but remain spiritually beyond it. Since your actions express who you are, a person with integrity reflects a considered response to life, attuned to the leadings of that of God within.”

Patty Weerts, Fox Valley Friends Meeting. At the Fall Gathering workshop on Integrity, 1999.

“The concept of completeness/wholeness is the most powerful thought for me. If each aspect of ourselves is developed and is brought together into a unified spirit, we will be made whole, and how much more difficult it will be to fall out of step with the Spirit when all aspects of our being are working in concert together.”

Sheila Thomas, Fox Valley Friends Meeting. At the Fall Gathering workshop on Integrity, 1999.

Integrity is a wholeness that comes when actions are in accordance with beliefs. When we act with integrity, we do so, not out of a willful self-denial, but out of an honest understanding of our beliefs. This requires that we be clear about our beliefs, both with ourselves and with others.

To be clear in our beliefs in a way that will make integrity possible in our lives, we strive to understand what is truth, what is merely factually accurate, and what is false. Truths that we are to act upon exist above and beyond our limited ability to grasp them fully. Therefore, we need not only the gifts we are given, but also reference points beyond ourselves to guide us in our discernment of truth. One process is to engage in a spiritual dialogue with the Inner Guide. Reference points include others in our current and historical spiritual community with whom we can test our insights.

Integrity enables one to live in the world while remaining spiritually centered. We accept responsibility for our actions and our reactions to all of our world.

All aspects of one’s self are affected. One’s needs, values, words, and actions are congruent. Integrity leads us to truthfulness, fairness, and a resolve to do that which is right.

Each decision that we make influences future choices and possible options. Because we cannot fully predict the outcome of our actions, we strive to engage in right action, and not focus on outcomes alone. Right and just means are all that we can provide. There is faith that if we engage in right actions, the fruits of those actions will be right. The outcome is left in the hands of the Spirit by which our lives are guided.

We strive to be open to re-examining our beliefs and understandings so that we can grow. This is done through an openness to the spirit and a willingness to change as truth is revealed. We must act out of our beliefs at each given moment in time, but as we are led by the Spirit into new understanding, we are willing to act in accord with the greater knowledge. Therefore, integrity does not imply that we will act the same in any given situation each time it is faced. Rather, integrity demands that we act to our highest level of understanding in all situations, as they occur.

Integrity requires the ability to be steadfast in times of ease and in times of difficulty or even danger. It can be harder to maintain integrity in difficult times, when there is a temptation to take the easy route, or when societal pressures are inconsistent with our beliefs.

We strive to follow through on commitments, take responsibility for our actions, and remain true to our beliefs. We also strive to grow personally, acting not primarily out of self-interest, but in the interest in doing what is right according to our faith.

Integrity is essential, but it is not sufficient. Other values are incomplete without integrity, and integrity without the temperance of other spiritually centered values can degenerate into rigidity. Tempering our sense of what is right with compassion, understanding, and tolerance of other people’s experience of truth will help prevent us from acting out of our own beliefs in ways that may harm others.

There is both personal integrity and group integrity. As a group, Friends have the responsibility to maintain the long-standing reputation in the wider community of fairness and honest dealings. We also strive to deal with each other in our own spiritual community with a loving honesty and sensitivity to the leadings of others. Each member of a community contributes to its overall level of integrity and its ability to weave together diverse elements to create a cohesive, integrated whole.

QUERIES FOR INDIVIDUALS:

1. In which ways do I regularly examine the way my life speaks in relation to my beliefs?
2. How do I maintain or regain an inner unity when there is a conflict between my faith and my practice?
3. How do I behave with integrity within the Meeting and the wider community?
4. How does my faith and integrity inform my work?

QUERIES FOR MEETINGS:

1. How does our meeting nurture the integrity of each individual?
2. How does Meeting nurture the integrity of the Meeting and its committees?
3. In what ways does our meeting manifest its integrity in the wider community?
4. How does Meeting sustain and strengthen the integrity of Quakerdom?
5. How do Meetings open themselves to receive words lovingly from a Friend who speaks from a place of integrity, even when that Friend challenges, confronts, or ministers to the Meeting in a way that makes the Meeting uneasy?