Self-Integrity

Galen, a Greek philosopher and physician, believed that when individuals are a slave to their sects, they are not purely lacking sound knowledge - they will not bother to even learn.

As I read this quote from Galen, one of the world’s greatest philosophers, what comes to mind is a quote in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, in which it says in the Doctor’s Opinion, Dr. Silkworth wrote that, ‘…while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one.”

This brings us to the concepts of integrity versus honesty. Spencer Johnson wrote a piece on these and it reads, “Integrity is telling myself the truth and honesty is telling the truth to other people.” I slightly disagree with this concept, but I disagree with it at the same time. The part I disagree with is the honesty part, and here is why:

I do not have to be honest with anyone. I only must be honest with myself today. If I am honest with myself, a byproduct is I am honest with others. Sure, we can call this self-integrity. But remember, this is a must, not a suggestion. I must be honest in my relationship with myself today, if I am to live in recovery. For 22 years, I lived a lie. I did not know that I was living the lie. I could not see the difference between what was true and false. When I started living with self-integrity, I was able to start having dreams and goals, and most importantly, I was able to start building and living in genuine relationships with others.

I challenge you today to live in self-integrity. What do you have to do to make this a reality for you?

Peace & love to all

~ KO