Would You Lie to Preserve Your Integrity?
“Integrity is one of the virtues for which Quakers in the past have been praised. It is a quality worth having, but it is doubtful if it can be reached by self-conscious effort or by adherence to a principle… Integrity is a condition in which a person’s response to a total situation can be trusted: the opposite of a condition in which he would be moved by opportunist or self-seeking impulses breaking up his unity as a whole being. This condition of trust is different from the recognition that he will always be kind or always tell the truth. The integrity of some Dutch Friends I have met showed itself during the war in their willingness to tell lies to save their Jewish friends from the Gestapo or from starvation.”
— Kenneth C. Barnes, 1972 (source)
Quaker educator
Today’s Invitation
Think of someone whom you would trust in any situation. Aspire to respond as they would today.
This Week’s Query
George Fox told us to let our lives speak. What is your life saying?
Is it in harmony with your beliefs?
Photo credit: “Stone Sky,” copyright James Turrell
