Global Integrity 4

 Facing Ourselves

Moral wholeness for a whole world

Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its opposite is corruption, the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky. These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.

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Integrity is a way of being. It reflects the good in us, the positive side of human nature. It requires us to face up to our own strengths and weaknesses. It is nurtured through:

--a vigilant awareness of our human tendency toward self-deception and rationalization as well as our heroic aspirations to do good

--a virtuous humility to admit our vulnerability to not getting integrity right as well as for distorting and diluting our moral responsibilities

--a voluntary commitment to outside support and accountability from healthy friendships, organizations, and communities as well as relevant codes of ethics.

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“From the Armenian genocide at the dawn of the 20th century to the horrors of Darfur at the threshold of the 21st century, the human capacity for evil is as jilting as it is unfathomable. Even more disturbing is our calculated silence and rationalized inaction in response to such atrocities. The reality of evil and suffering, from the horrors of genocide to the darkness of our own hearts, is pervasive and perplexing....

Are we wired for self-deception? From a social psychology perspective, our need to calm cognitive dissonance [the disconcerting sense of disharmony between our ideal self and actual self] compels us to distort our memories, our motivations and our morality. Or, to paraphrase Walter Lippmann on a personal level, there can be no liberty for the individual who lacks the means by which to detect his or her own self-deceptions. So how do we pursue a virtuous life, how do we, in the words of Solzhenitsyn, recognize [in ourselves] “the line separating good and evil that passes through every human heart”? ... [We must] consider the challenge of personal responsibility and what may contribute to moral courage and everyday heroism or destructive inaction and self-justification in the face of evil and suffering.”

Facing Up to the Challenge of Evil and Suffering (2013), Friends of the Trinity Forum, Geneva-Genève. (Excerpts from the Introduction and Conclusion, Michèle Lewis O’Donnell, pp. 4, 33).

Applications

--How do you understand the potential for evil in yourself?

--What psychological framework or worldview informs your understanding?

--What practical safeguards do you have to discern and deal with self-deception?
--Give a personal example of ordinary heroism--the other and  more positive side of human nature.

Global Integrators--12

Transforming the World

A Call for Personal Transformation
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“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil. "
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
(more quotes here)

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We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to come together intentionally, visibly, and practically on behalf of global integration (GI). GI put simply is how we skillfully integrate our lives and values on behalf of the issues facing humanity. Likewise we think that the time is coming for colleagues to carefully reflect and act on what it means to be good global learners-practitioners--to seriously consider what it means to be what we are calling global integrators (GI-People).

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Transforming the World by 2030:
A New Agenda for Global Action

This is the latest high-level UN document for the intergovernmental negotiations for the Post 2015 development agenda (2 June 2015). It is a crucial source of synthesized thinking-experience as we head towards the UN Assembly in September 2015. We think that the excerpts below will inspire you to read more and to consider how to further leverage your competencies and character in the efforts to help transform our globalizing world.

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One very important point from the GI perspective is that personal transformation is also essential for world transformation. Without it can we realistically make serious progress in the sustainable development of people, planet, and peace? This assertion was indeed one of our points in a recent presentation we did on the global context for global mental health (GMH); namely, that even as there is “no health without mental health” (a watchword for GMH advocates) there can also be no health—or development—without moral health. (GMH: Tracking and Trekking Across Sectors, inaugural conference, Center for Multicultural and Global Mental Health, William James College, USA, 26 June 2015).

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The success of this 'developing agenda for sustainable development' therefore does not come only from it being developed “by and for the people” as paragraph 48 states below. It also comes from it being developed and implemented by transformed people whose character and moral courage—personal transformation—promote the global transformation being heralded. Global integrators can surely model this perspective in their lives and work.

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“28. Sustainable development cannot be realized without peace. The new Agenda recognizes the need to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies, based on respect for human rights (including the right to development), the rule of law and effective and accountable institutions. These are fundamental requirements for the achievement of sustainable development. Factors which give rise to violence, insecurity and injustice, such as corruption and poor governance, are addressed in the Agenda. We must redouble our efforts to resolve or prevent conflict and to support countries emerging from conflict situations so as to lay the foundations for sustainable development. We commit to remove the obstacles to the full realization of the right of self-determination of peoples living under colonial and foreign occupation, which continue to adversely affect their economic and social development as well as their environment....

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43. “We the Peoples” are the celebrated opening words of the UN Charter. It is “We the Peoples” who are embarking today on the road to 2030. Our journey will involve Governments, Parliaments, local authorities, business and the private sector, the scientific and academic community, civil society – and ordinary citizens. Millions have already engaged with, and will own, this agenda. It is an agenda by and for the people – and this, we believe, will ensure its success.  

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44. The future of humanity and of our planet lies in our hands. It lies also in the hands of today’s younger generation, who will pass the torch to future generations. We have mapped the road to sustainable development; it will be for all of us to ensure that the journey is irreversible.”

Loving Truth and Peace--4

Counting the Cost

From dawn to dusk the correction and copying of the Gulag went forward; I could scarcely keep the pages moving fast enough. Then the typewriter started breaking down everyday, ... This was the most frightening moment of all: we had the only original manuscript and all the typed copies of Gulag there with us. If the KGB suddenly descended, the many-throated groan, the dying whisper of millions, the unspoken testament of those who had perished, would all be in their hands, and I would never be able to reconstruct it all, my brain would never be capable of it again.

I could have enjoyed myself so much, breathing the fresh air, resting, stretching my cramped limbs, but my duty to the dead permitted no such self-indulgence. They are dead. You are alive: do your duty. The world must know all about it.

They could take my children hostage – posing as “gangsters,” of course. (They did not know that we [my wife and I] had thought of this and made a superhuman decision: our children were no dearer to us than the memory of the millions done to death, and nothing could make us stop that book.)

 

Excerpt from The Oak and the Calf, 1975, A. Solzhenitsyn, English translation, 1979, 1980 by Harper and Row Publishers. 

 

The Oak and the Calf:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oak_and_the_Calf

The Gulag Archipelago: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago

JC et al.--Living in Truth 1

Totalitarian Lies

 Solzhenitsyn in a Soviet gulag. 1953--60 years ago

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'Let the lie come into the world,

let the lie even dominate the world--

but it will not come through me.' 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize address 1970
 

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'If people do these things when the tree is green,

what will people do when the tree is dry?'

Jesus Christ, en route to Golgatha
Luke 23:31