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Friday, August 24, 2007

Virtues are the application of values.... the values of reason, purpose and self-esteem are logical and uncontroversial on the surface - but applying them, putting them into practice, translating them into action, often brings one into conflict with view of others... the virtue of integrity is the steadfast adherence to those values even in the face of opposition.... maintaining one's integrity is essential to acjieving objective vlues and flourishing..... it is, in effect, loyalty to rational principles.... like all virtues, the need for integrity is grounded in ceretain basic facts..... "..it is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake existence - that man is an indivisible entity, an integrated unit of two attributes: of matter and consciousness, and that he may permit no breach between body and mind, between action and thought, between his life and his convictions - that, like a judge impervious to public opinion, he may not sacrifice his convictions to the wishes of others, be it the whole of mankind shouting pleas or threats against him - that courage and confidence are practical necessities, that courage is the practical form of being true to existence, of being true to truth, and confidence is the practical form of being true to one's own consciousness..." [Rand].... integrity is a critical aspect of rationality - one cannot maintain rationality without it.... for one thing, integrity demands that one HAS principles - one cannot be loyal to one's convictions if one does not have any... thus integrity demands a conscious effort to identifying those principles that should guide a person's life - and rationality, of course, is the guide to this effort....


How, then, does this translate into being a spiritual visualizer?

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