Giving Integrity A Voice

Integrity Check: A Few Words About Truth

Posted by Beau Hodson on Jun 8, 2010 in LIVEINTEGRIOUS, Understanding Integrity

Truth and strength are very closely related. The truth cannot be defeated, and cuts to the core of our existence. If you are on the side of truth you have strength, you have confidence. It is challenging to define this correlation, but we can all attest to the courage we possess when we have truth on our side and the hesitation, fear, and vulnerability experienced when we don’t.  This is certain: living in truth and being honest with your self is the first and quickest way to being a strong and confident person.
Truth and Integrity

Seeking the Truth is vital to integrity

Cowards lie. Living in truth takes courage. People who have the guts to be honest are respected, but also tend to be very confident and strong individuals. So why is lying so prevalent? Because it is fear that is at the root of dishonesy. Fear is what creates liars. It is fear of discomfort or confrontation or danger that ultimately breeds the lies. This starts at a certain age and becomes ingrained in us that lying equals escape from peril or danger, like a quick back door. But the gain is short run. There is always a solution that is truth based and behind the curtain of truth lies a positive outcome that is forgone with a lie.

Honesty with self

Honesty with self comes before honesty and truth with others.  Self awareness is necessary to observe and eliminate self delusion, which is the worst kind of lie and the most dangerous; the ones you tell yourself. We are constantly talking to ourselves in our minds and one must  be checking the minds eye from time to time for objectivity, and reality. This is why peace of mind is so important.

If you do not have peace of mind it is much more difficult to be honest with yourself and catch the self delusion that can spiral out of control and infect our external reality. When logically examining the mind’s eye for truth, the debate can get extremely convoluted, but I think overall you get the point: the truth is much easier arrived at if one is at peace mentally and emotionally. A clear conscious is important for this reason.

7 Comments

  1. Josh Berberich / March 25, 2011

    Being a coward is taking the easy way out. Sometimes its a little more effort and can seem risky but truth is more important

  2. Beau / July 10, 2010

    Thank you for your kind words Kevin. You are exactly the person I am writing for, the one who gets it. Have you joined the Facebook page? http://www.facebook.com/integrious

  3. Kevin / July 10, 2010

    Wow. I love this article and the perspective it brings. Especially poignant is the part about truth with self. I have had a long standing habit of self delusion. While owning up to lies I’ve told to others is tough, confronting the lies I tell myself regularly, subconsciously is even more difficult and uncomfortable. I have found that attempting to live with this kind of honesty brings humility, but also confidence, as opposed to vanity and arrogance. Thank you. I applaud your mission and hope you continue writing about it.

  4. Beau / June 22, 2010

    Thank you Joy, I will make the corrections! Glad you found my post interesting. Would love to see your comments on future posts.

  5. Joy / June 21, 2010

    Your website has been very interesting. Just wanted to let you know in the “Truth” section “peace of mind” has been spelled with “piece” a couple times. And at the top of the page “nonexistence” is misspelled :)

  6. Matt / June 9, 2010

    Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

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