I cannot find language of sufficient energy to convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Integrity is a slippery little sucker (to quote Julia Roberts in the famous Pretty Woman hotel scene).
It’s one of the toughest concepts to wrap your head around.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson – American essayist, lecturer, and poet sums up, its immeasurable value is impossible to express in words.
I love sharing various ideas about integrity, but I actually don’t learn about integrity from others so much.
Some of my most profound lessons have been delivered by the most obscure of teachers.
My most memorable integrity professor?
Furniture.
A few years ago I dived head first into furniture restoration and re-vamping beautiful old pieces into even more beautiful, rustic and aged looking pieces.
Around this time I had a coaching session with the amazingly wise Katherine Hosie, founder of Powerhouse Coaching, and was exploring this idea of integrity.
“But what does it actually mean?” I pushed outright.
“Well, you know your furniture, the furniture you choose, fix, strip, sand, re-shape, paint, seal and polish?”
“Ah, yeah” I hesitated
“Well, you choose these pieces because they have a history, a story. They’re very well-built, have stood the test of time, many have been shaped by a craftsman’s hands with pride and they’ve been handed down, maybe through generations with very little structural damage” Kate offered.
“Ahhhh..” I followed
“And, then there’s the TV unit you pick up from Ikea, in a flat pack, to knock together in 15 mins with a beer in one hand.” She continued.
We all get this analogy, intellectually.
We know that not much beats the clean, sweeping lines of a high quality piece of Danish furniture from the post-war period. Recognisable for their simple, elegant, and airy forms, their master craftsmanship means excellent examples will be widely available in beautiful condition for years to come.
That night I walked around our home enlightened. Integrity jumped out clear as day. I touched the curves of integrity, the workmanship, strength and resilience of integrity.
I now see every piece of furniture in its full glory – busking in the nakedness of its own truth and integrity.
And, if it doesn’t have a strength and story, it’s pretty much ended up on eBay!
I would love to know, what’s been your most profound lesson in the fine art of understanding integrity?
Slippery indeed! That old nemesis, subjectivity… One person’s meat is another’s poison… I think however there is no individual where there is integrity. It is the manifestation of the thread that binds us all. But, you know, even that is my subjective take on it… Great question! x
My Wise Kris, thank you. A manifestation that binds us all – that we all experience like a finger print – similarly but infinitely differently.
It’s like peanut butter.
I’ll never know if you taste peanut butter the way i do! I probably assume you do (and everyone else does) but when i think about it long enough…. I think we all taste it differently and don’t really share exactly the same experience!!
I don’t lack integrity per se, but I do lack confidence. So in order to build myself up, I tell myself lies. But those or inside my own head and are not harmful to others. Is that wrong?
Harmless as they don’t hurt others but they may interfere with others seeing you always as you are – slight incongruency never really hurt anyone.
But, you don’t deserve any questions marks hanging over your head though either – You’re too amazing for that xx