Is it better to cheat to get ahead or to suffer with integrity?
I have another thought about this. It depends what you mean by integrity, so we have the standard definition which immediately pops to mind which everyone's talking about. But integrity in regards to structural integrity, or to be strong. Well that's an entirely different ball game if the question is "is it ever ok to be weak" no. Is it okay to be vulnerable yes being weak and vulnerable are different things and being vulnerable voluntarily takes strength, but you should always maintain structural integrity, in the soul, the psyche and body always stay strong and get stronger.
I think you should always try to maintain integrity, and consult your conscience each time you are making a decision or desire something from another. Your conscience is your integrity, live by it, however we all deceive, the persona we wear when on this site and engaging socially at parties is deception, however that is involuntary, thus I don't consider deception that trivial to be something to feel guilty about, and I don't personally.
Having worked in corporate environments for 20+ years, I have run into many people who act with little to no integrity. They may get ahead for a little while, but they always end up crashing in some way. I’ve heard it called Karma...
Let go of integrity if it’s with the company of a bad/evil reputation. Holding that kind of integrity prevents humility and possibly redemption.
I honestly feel this is a question that answers itself, do you want to spend your time around people with no integrity?
I would rather succeed with integrity than either of these results.
But if faced with the choice of being able to feed and support my family by sacrificing my integrity, or holding onto my integrity and not being able to feed and support my family, the answer is "bye bye integrity".
IMO, sounds like you have nothing to lose.
@Serg97 Thankfully I'm not in this situation, but if I put myself in the position of a man who has a choice between lying about his experience in order to get a job, or getting kicked out of his house and forced to live in a car. Or having to tell his hungry kids that there's no food tonight because Daddy had too much integrity to lie about his experience in order to get a job. Guess what I'd do?
(just in case it wasn't already obvious, I'd bend the truth about my experience in order to get that job).
Integrity is a broad word describing an ideal. It's like the proverbial model. It's what we can aspire to be. That's simple in words. However practice never equals our models. We always fall short to some degree. Family, church/Jesus, eastern religious standard of being, public education, politics, charity--we're always struggling and measuring ourselves against a perfect model. And, that's a good thing. Maybe we just need a little more grace with ourselves and with others since none of us live up to the model.
Thats a tough one no doubt. Would say, live and act with integrity throughout, but not all have the luxury of pride under certain conditions, where survival is Paramount. So decline to participate in vote... Life is not black or white, many gray areas. Just cheating to get ahead I do not agree with, that is lacking in integrity and that is not ok.
Of course there's the old dilemma
Would you lie to Nazis hunting Jews?
Good point. My thoughts on this issue. It depends, do you believe in the idea of the Nazi's, or do you believe in the value and sovereignty human life? You have to be true to your conscience. Personally, I would lie to the Nazi's, at least I'd like to think I would, then I could live with myself.
Looking at the poll, there is no personal gain to lying to the Nazi's, in fact your at great risk of losing your own life. I think this makes the case a bit different, it's not just about lying. I think to lose integrity is when you compromise your values for personal gain.
@Phrankhs, good question. How does integrity relate to 'doing good'? Maybe doing good supersedes integrity. OR, maybe there is integrity in lying to Nazis. You're protecting victims from further victimization. You're taking a stand for good in the world. You're choosing your best option in a moral dilemma. Is that not integrity?
Being human is a lot messier than we like to concede in conversation. We're constantly pitted against our own beliefs. It's like God's up there going, 'what would you do if THIS happened?'
I think to have integrity is to obey your conscience. Would your conscience forgive you if you gave the Nazis the directions? Or if you saved some Jews? It may not be the truth but in my eyes the integrity lies with your conscience.
I want to believe values matter. But, if we're just animals who live our 100 years and check out of existence, morals/values are essentially irrelevant. It's not that an individual can't still choose to be moral, but there's no foundation for judging others for choosing differently. I think continuance (after this life) in some conscious form is necessary to justify morality. I believe that continuance exists. I'm less sure what it looks like.