Once You Give Your Integrity Away – You Can Never Get It Back
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
― Frederick Douglass
What you do will always say more than what you say.
Talk is cheap – actions are gold.
You can preach goodness all you want, but through someone’s actions you can see what their mouth will never tell. I used to be one who’d fall too easily for words all lubed up in sweetness and good intentions. It took me a long time to truly realize that people who don’t have your best interest at heart (but pretend like they do) will always tell you what you want to hear.
Throwing your ethical barometer down the window for some shitty old ego inflation is a dangerous path to take. Because while you may not come to see it now (or perhaps ever – if you stay asleep in your own unconsciousness), the universe and the ones you did wrong won’t forget it. You can shove 56 apologies down their throats, yet still, if your behaviors tell another story – you’ll have cancelled any attempt at making amends for the damage you did.
If your own truth is nothing but a construct made out of lies, you’re setting yourself up for a real turbulent ride. Because while I can’t see what’s on your mind, I can surely see the bullshit that’s through your eyes. You won’t even have time to cut corners to get to the finish line – I’ll already have you out of the court by then. Sadly, in today’s world, people can get away with anything. Fool me 15 times – and I’ll still take your word for it. Stab me in the back – and I’ll still give it a gentle rub at night.
When we accept such fuckery, we invite more of it to enter our life. When you open the door for lies – you close the door that leads to the truth. So much easier to live in a lie than to confront the truth, right? You can rub your money – power – fame – sex appeal in my face all you want – it will never make up for the lack of authenticity that’s in your heart. While your lies can fool people, the content of your heart can’t.
You can flirt with dishonesty your whole life and hurt many in the process – and what’s worse is the absence of realization that you are equally hurting yourself through it all. Deflection is the enemy of growth. Absentmindedness will forever refrain you from crossing paths with consciousness.
"Once You Give Your Integrity Away – You Can Never Get It Back"
If Twice gave our integrity away, there is absolutely no way Once can get it back? How is that fair?
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First off, kudos to you on the use of “fuckery”, thought I might be the only user of this sentence enhancer.
Preaching is always easier than the practice. I would love to say that my actions always match my words. That I am some bastion of morality and forthright actions, but I am not. The world is a weird place. It is the weird prism that which everyone who views into it see something just a little different. Truths become lies, lies become, well the truth, our hearts intentions become corrupted through this prism.
I am not advocating that if this prism skews everything, that it is a free for all, actually the opposite. This really means, that is a crazy world where everything is lies and truth, dishonesty and trust are all some kind of weird amalgam of reality, then all we have is our heart and our actions.
This is why I have tried to stop using the golden Rule. I think it is selfish to treat people how I would want to be treated, I instead try to learn people and treat them how they want to be treated. Unless that is like crap and then they are just going to have to live with me being nice and respectful.