"Integrity is a quality of being. It is holding on to that which you know to be your highest sense of truth and vision at all times, whatever the cost.

It is resonating with that deepest fibre of your being which urges you to peacefully but firmly hold your ground whatever the supposed prestige of the authority or person opposing you not out of stubbornness, but prompted by the quiet daring of that inner urge in you which says,

It means following your highest sense of right at all times, whatever the consequences, however lonely the path, and however loud the jeers and mockery of the crowds.

Integrity is about "speaking truth to power", when silence would be easier or more advantageous to your interest. It is holding on to the power of truth when everyone around you is accepting compromises or pretending, "It really doesn't matter." It is standing firm and undaunted when others disappear into the underground shelters of their fears or timidity.

Integrity is yet refusing to water down your inner sense of truthfulness even to satisfy, appease, or gain the approval of a loved one.

Above all, integrity means refusing to cheat yourself, lie to yourself, or abide in the doubtful shadow of half-truths. You can cheat and lie to others and be forgiven. You can slip and fall and even know defeat and you will rise again. But when you lie to yourself, who is there to forgive you? After that kind of defeat or fall, who will pick you up? And even if you indulge in this supreme absurdity and ultimate sin of deceiving yourself, will not even your inner strength shirk the companionship of one who is scuttling their own ship?

Deceiving oneself kills the discernment which is the basis of inspired direction and worthwhile choice, or consciously eluding what one knows to be true. lying to oneself is the sin against the Truth. "And what can be beyond Truth except error?" (Quran 10:32)

Integrity is a state of being reflected unbroken wholeness, complete soundness of mind, a quality of sterling authenticity. It carries with it a sense of impeccability, entireness, "of having no part element taken away or wanting."

Integrity is totally genuine, unmarred by compromise, undiluted by approximation, founded by law, always upright because its backbone in Principle.

Integrity brooks no sloppiness of thought, word, or deed. It demands constant alertness on the part of its followers because it gives them all.

Integrity is undisturbed, lucid, totally genuine, flawless, unfeebled by hesitation or doubt.

It is sharp, focused, decisive, accurate, precise and unerring in its direction.

Integrity, as the ultimate core of true being, as the very marrow of our identity, is the foundation and ground of all qualities, starting with love.

It is the woof on which we thread their exquisite texture into the tapestry of our existence and achievements. No woof, no tapestry. When married to love in the joyful dance of one whose existence is a celebration of life, it forms the perfect couple.

Finally, integrity is the twin of spiritual innocence.

So, when the winds and tempests howl, or the tempter whispers, "Compromise" or attempts to make us evade the challenges that we need to face to grow and stay awake, let us hold on, friend, whatever the cost, to that inner fount of rue integrity for it is life itself.

Salam
Ahmad
Source:  "The Gentle Art of Blessing" by Pierre Pradervand (with minimal addition)