A spiritual state of wholeness

Is integrity a form of human strength that some people have and some don’t? Or does integrity have an underlying superstructure—a source that makes it accessible to everyone? Christian Science says that a man or woman of integrity isn’t the exception but the rule, because in its spiritual definition, integrity is the state of divine wholeness that God gives and maintains in each of us.

Integrity isn’t, then, simply an option for how to live life or a matter of personal moral convictions. Nor does it involve rigid adherence to a human code. In its spiritual meaning, integrity is the state of being complete, whole, and perfect. And because God is divine good and the actual source of all the completeness, perfection, and goodness that men and women express, integrity—wholeness, soundness, and incorruptibility—is built in, spiritually “hard-wired” into our very being. Understanding this fact expands individual ability to express integrity in daily affairs. It also helps us respond in healing and less reactive ways to the public and private improprieties and dishonesties that are so prevalent these days.

Sometimes the simple acknowledgment of one’s spiritual capacity to express integrity can unleash hidden potential. Pioneering religious thinker Mary Baker Eddy put it this way: “The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.” I saw this point proved in the experience of a friend of mine.

My friend operated his business on a cash-only basis, and his recordkeeping left a lot to be desired. Come year-end, he had no truly accurate account of his annual income. When it came time to report his earnings for tax purposes, he had come to habitually cut his best estimate in half. Although in other areas of his life he lived by a higher standard of ethics, he couldn’t see how this dishonesty was hurting anyone.

One day we discussed his recordkeeping just before he went to visit his accountant. I told him that I understood him to be an honest man and I knew he would do the right thing. As he justified his plans to lower his reported income, I kept repeating that I was not worried about what he would do. I trusted his decision—because I knew his natural, God-given honesty would always prevail.

He returned from his appointment looking stunned. He said that although he’d fully intended to lie about his income, the true figure had just tumbled out. And his accountant, surprised about the amount, told my friend that his income had more than doubled that year. My friend added that as he’d thought about it on his way out of the accountant’s office, he realized that he felt good, really good, about what he’d just done. He said he was amazed that doing the right thing could feel so good! As a result, he bought an accounting journal and began tracking his receipts from then on. In the years that followed, he willingly produced accurate records of his business income to the tax department.

I didn’t just offer random words of positive affirmation when I encouraged my friend. And I wasn’t trying to change his behavior through guilt or pressure. He didn’t need me to tell him what was right under the circumstances. In fact, I never did tell him what to do. But because I saw the spiritual fact about him, I just knew him to be a man of integrity. I knew the importance of viewing everyone as a child of God, as spiritually sound. That was my prayer for my own view of him.

Honesty in human affairs results naturally from discerning an inner spiritual integrity that is incorruptible. None of the human justifications for bad behavior—personal or family history, personality traits, human weaknesses, the stress of circumstance, and the like—can change the indelible fact that God creates and maintains His creation in a state of integrity.

Completeness, wholeness, soundness, and incorruptibility constitute spiritual integrity. To express integrity in daily living does require firm adherence to a moral code or a set of principles. Many dictionaries give honesty as a synonym for integrity. Some people in society tend to see integrity as a limited commodity in great demand, but in short supply. Actually, it’s a spiritual attribute of God, a soulful quality that’s unlimited and universally endowed.

What I said to my friend reflected my awareness that God’s sons and daughters are inherently Godlike, and therefore honest. This set him free to act more in accord with his true self, which just felt so good to him that it produced a permanent change in his behavior. One of the Bible’s psalms points to the support and security to be found in expressing one’s God-given integrity: “As for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.”

In its spiritual dimensions, integrity has physical as well as moral implications in our lives. Prayer that acknowledges the integrity of every function in life—based on an awareness of our spiritual completeness, soundness, and incorruptibility—supports the normal action and operation of the body as well. Christ Jesus addressed this issue—how we should think of our bodies—in the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Even as a small seed, a lily includes everything it needs to be a fully formed flower. Beauty and form are built-ins. I feel that Jesus was using the image of a lily to illustrate the principle of spiritual integrity. We can “consider the lily” by beholding within ourselves God’s expression of wholeness, of integrity, and in so doing we gain a good model for thinking about our bodies as whole and sound.

I saw this proved true when I began running regularly. Early on I developed what is commonly called “runner’s knee.” I was concerned that pain would stop my running, and I’d heard from other runners that recovery could take a while. So, I “considered the lilies.” In the spirit of Jesus’ words, I reasoned that if lilies don’t have to work out and recover in order to stay true to what comes naturally for them, why should I?

I realized that as a complete expression of divine good—of God’s wholeness—I naturally obeyed God in every element of my true being. One part of my body couldn’t fail to perform its natural function. The integrity of my body—the body of spiritual qualities and thoughts that make up my spiritual being—could not be invaded. And consequently, the normal action of my knee couldn’t be divided from its native ability to support good in the form of running. The strength my knees represented wasn’t in a physical structure, but in the spiritual law of good that governs all right action.

So in praying for myself, I spoke mentally, directly, saying: “You only know how to stay true to your purpose and function properly. It’s normal to run, so let’s run!” I stayed with this gentle encouragement every time I felt discomfort. And in fact, I never missed a scheduled run. Over the next few days, as I prayerfully affirmed the integrity of my body, the discomfort steadily lessened until the condition disappeared. I have run freely ever since.

Using the familiar words of an 18th-century clergyman, Mary Baker Eddy once wrote: “The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable .... We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 147–148). The admission that our integrity is spiritual and intact, when accompanied by the understanding that God is our true source, acts as a force for change. It brings spiritual awakening and healing. It unleashes the power of the Christ—the divine Truth that impels the highest thoughts and best actions—reaching to the very core of our being.

Michelle Nanouche is a Christian Science practitioner in Saint Germain en Laye, France.

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