In every one of our lives there's a gap between what we do and what we believe. I call that gap integrity. A while back I had a revelation that this gap is fundamentally where our problems stem from. In a world where we're now more prosperous than ever, we have a moral epidemic. People have become indifferent to cultivating integrity.
Our default state, no matter who we are, is to minimize this gap to increase our integrity. What's wrong with most people is that they change what they believe to fit their actions. Instead, to cultivate true integrity we should change our actions to fit our beliefs.
Self-sabotage through self-deception
Take for instance the addict who can't seem to drop a habit. Eventually they won't believe that they have a problem because they've grown to believe that what they're doing isn't wrong. The scary thing is this usually happens very subtly. This epidemic is the silent killer of our morality.
In a sense it's a survival instinct. At the crux of who we are we desperately yearn for consistency. We don't want to feel fake. That's why when we lie, we justify it. We morph our morality to conform with what was convenient to believe at the time. In a very real way, we bargain with our personal definition of morality so that we can live with our poor decisions.
When we're confronted with the fact that we've done something wrong, we're faced with the reality that we did something against our moral conscience. A choice is presented to either right our wrongs or to accept wrong as our new right. Frequently we take the easy way out. We've become soft as a society; this all too often means the only way we can look ourselves in the mirror is by looking into a different mirror.
Seeing good with a clear perspective
For as much debate as we have over what is right, there are at least two certainties we can hold on to. For one, doing the right thing is rarely easy. And second, easy things shouldn't be twisted into the right thing just because they're easy.
Using those principles as guidelines we must actively develop what it is that we believe. This should not be done in the face of a moral dilemma. To an extent we need to decide what we view as right and wrong before we are faced with such a decision. Otherwise it's likely that we'll take the easy way out and convince ourselves that the easy way was also the right way.
Changing your actions to fit your beliefs is much harder said than done, and reorienting your beliefs is even harder. Despite the difficulties, it's necessary that we do so in order to live a respectable life. Not taking these steps denigrates our integrity which will ultimately destroy what good we have within us. Consequently, we will no longer be able to see good for what it truly is.
Make your future self proud
I can't say whether most people are good or bad, but I can say that most of us think we're alright and most bad people certainly don't think that they're bad people (this is very different from denial).
In some way or another we will come to terms with the person that we are. Life will inevitably become onerous if you can't accept yourself. Every day on the path towards self-acceptance we're faced with a choice, we can either evolve, devolve, or stagnate. Daily we must actively choose nothing less than growth. For stagnation is a one-way path towards devolution.
We should make it our ultimate goal to be proud of the person we've become. We should seek to be a living example that inspires others with our actions. With the passing of time it's unlikely that you'll recognize your former self; as such it's imperative that you take the appropriate (though sometimes difficult) steps so that your future self will be proud of the decisions you made.
