{"id":407,"date":"2011-05-31T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fe655c93-220f-463e-bedc-18743b372f5e"},"modified":"2011-05-31T08:50:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T08:50:00","slug":"playing-with-words-integrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=407","title":{"rendered":"Playing With Words: Integrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Where does the word integrity<\/i> come from? It has both Latin and Old French origins, and it means wholeness, perfect condition, and complete.*<\/i>  The root word integer<\/em> is Latin, meaning untainted, upright, untouched<\/i>.  It also means a whole number<\/i>.  It\u2019s root, tangere<\/i>, means to touch<\/i> and is related to the word tangent<\/i>.  And tangent<\/em> can be traced back to mean to stroke or strike gently<\/i>.  All of this is fascinating.  There are powerful forces behind the subconscious use of language.  Words resonant with meanings, just as sound resonates from a bell.  <\/font><\/p>\n

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When I am in<\/i> integrity, I am in<\/i> wholeness.  My outsides match my insides and vice-a-versa.  The Design for Living that works for me is practiced on a daily basis and it shows.  I am in fit spiritual condition.  And to keep spiritually fit, as the AA Big Book says, I can\u2019t rest on my laurels.  I need to keep moving\u2014to keep discovering things about myself, and to make necessary changes.  As Charles Hannel says, \u201call power is developed like everything else\u2014through exercise.\u201d<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

It is important to keep the objectives in mind as to why I am getting spiritually fit in the first place.  One is to become, \u201chappy, joyous, and free.\u201d The other is to \u201cbecome of maximum service to God and my fellows. (AA Big Book).\u201d  And these go hand-in-hand.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

As I seek wholeness and a sense of completeness, I need to realize there is no finish line.  Being in the now moment of a circle of completeness is a non-linear experience\u2014it simply is wholeness<\/i>\u2014no beginning, no end.  It\u2019s not even a feeling.  It\u2019s a consciousness of perfection.  And the perfection <\/i>doesn\u2019t end.  My ability to stay consciously attuned to that relationship however, does<\/i>.  And while I can strive to keep my soul untainted and untouched by the cares of the world, I will still only be striving.  If people like Jesus and Siddhartha wept, so will lowly Joseph.  The point isn\u2019t to avoid being touched by the world anyway–it\u2019s to touch and be touched gently<\/i>; I need to stroke the strings of the heart with purpose; and the heart needs to be in tune for beauty to stream forth, like fragrance from a flower.  Integrity is the music of right living.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 
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*As usual, all etymology information comes from the Online Etymology Dictionary: http:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/index.php.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where does the word integrity come from? It has both Latin and Old French origins, and it means wholeness, perfect condition, and complete.*  The root word integer is Latin, meaning untainted, upright, untouched.  It also means a whole number.  It\u2019s root, tangere, means to touch and is related to the word tangent.  And tangent can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}