in•teg•ri•ty n (15c) 1: an unimpaired condition : SOUNDNESS 2: firm adherence to a code of esp. moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY 3: the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESS syn see HONESTY
Choosing a specific direction in which to travel is both easy and hard. Hard in the sense that you must exclude other options and that you must accept a certain amount of risk. Easy in that you have yet to encounter obstacles and temptations.
When you encounter those things – and you will – it is your integrity and choosing to persevere that gets you through. You hold onto the place you are journeying to. You choose to act a certain way because it is the right thing to do. If the choice isn’t a matter of right and wrong, you choose the option that seems wiser, the one that won’t cause you to awaken in the middle of the night, uncertain and clammy.
That is, you firmly adhere to a particular code. You don’t let it go no matter the circumstances or your internal questions. The code is your map, and it guides you when your feelings mean to betray you and when you are given the option of an easier way.
You ignore your feelings about the situation because they’re flaky and tend to get you into worse scrapes. You assess the easier path in light of your map. Does it conform to the map or does it require you to sacrifice an essential part of yourself? If the answer does conform, you allow yourself to coast. If it asks you to sacrifice what is right and good, you stay on your path even though it’s littered with boulders and potholes. You risk your ankle over your soul, and you do that because you know integrity is the only way to get from there, a past point in time, to here and the here-after.
Image: Liam Moloney (Creative Commons)