Our Testimony of Integrity

The Free Quaker precept of Integrity is, like all of our testimonies, a life practice. Integrity is a course of action, not a thing or an item we can carry around in our pocket, retrieving it when needed, dusting it off, and then displaying it in the worn out online virtue signal we see all around us. That is not Integrity. The definition of Integrity is often difficult to agree on, but like all of the testimonies and the universe of human virtue a working definition is necessary before we can proceed.

Where to even begin? A quick search of an online dictionary gives us:

Integrity: noun

1. The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

2. The state of being whole and undivided.

• Synonyms: honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness

Well, that does not help very much. The definition sounds reasonable enough until we get into the details. For us, Integrity is a set of actions—not a person, place, or thing (noun). Whitehead rocked the world with his observation, “We think in generalities, but we live in details.” No words could be more appropriate and relevant than Whitehead’s famous quote when trying to nail down the Free Quaker meaning and definition of Integrity as a life practice.

The Free Quaker testimony of Integrity is not negotiable. One can't get a little bit pregnant in an environment of absolutes. At the base of this call to action is our Creator-given reason and it is our ability to reason that is the spark of the Divine within us. To reason is to think for yourself and to come to conclusions and then take actions that are consistent with a number of ideas that when taken together define our call to action—Integrity (along with our other testimonies).

There is no amount of political censorship that will overcome this. If history has taught us anything it is that the evilest and most murderous ideologies never succeeded in killing a single idea. The cultural Marxists of our era will come to the same end as all of the other attempts at 'idea killing' in history. Every idea must be made unflinchingly available to reason, and we must accept where truth and good conscious take us. Those who refuse, those who continue to defend the indefensible, must be given every opportunity to come to reason, but there comes a point in time when we must move on and ignore such people and refuse to allow their lack of Integrity to infect us. Each of us has our own sense of when to fish and when to cut bait. Part and parcel of our practice of Integrity are taking a course of action to separate ourselves from such people. “Of the world, but not in it.” We must give the people around us an opportunity to come to reason—for our own well-being and the well-being of those we love, but this opportunity that we grant them must not be allowed to harm us. Too, the practice of Integrity is not a call to action to tell the 7.5 Billion strangers inhabiting the world and sharing existence with us how to live their lives. Just look at how poorly that strategy is turning out for the “nation-building” militarists. We are called to community, not self-destruction. We are called to action to live the testimonies; we are not called to action to protest. "Protest" is self-destructive, and we are precluded from harming ourselves by the virtues distilled in our testimony and call to action of Simplicity and any form of political belief system beyond the expression of goodwill for our individual community is antithetical to our testimony of Community. As I said before multiculturalism, political or otherwise, is simply not compatible with Community.

If you seem to want to ask, “What about the historical context of bearing witness?” I will respond by asking “Do you have any hard evidence that this “bearing witness” stuff, what I refer to as political protest, has been constructive for our testimonies?” That “bearing witness” has yielded an improvement in or the emergence of any of the testimonies? Before you insist on responding please read the remainder of this series of posts on what our testimonies mean as a practical matter. Try to keep in mind that our philosophies have always demanded substance and rejected form. That all of our testimonies were practical—hence the word “practice” in our “faith and practice”—by nature.

Is there a time and place to bear witness against the unfairness of the world? In short: Probably not, but if there was such a time and place it would certainly be after we have arranged our lives around the precept of Simplicity, lived the virtues of Integrity, achieved the cooperation and good will of Community, understood the meaning of “Peace” having examined and then rejected all violence, personal or by proxy, and experienced what it is to be equal before the Creator and the equality of expectations between each of us as individuals and the community to which we claim membership to and responsibility for. Only if and when we have accomplished and sustained all of these would we have any reason to engage in a call to action elsewhere. Given the state of Quakerism today I unequivocally assert that we must get our own house and our own community in order before we concern ourselves elsewhere. We nearly winked out of existence. Let us learn from that experience and respond accordingly.

Here is my first attempt at a working definition of the Free Quaker call to action, Integrity:

A series of actions and a set of values that brings about the well-being of those we love and enhances cooperation, interdependence, and goodwill within our Free Quaker Community (also a Free Quaker testimony) provided none of that causes harm to another.

The Quaker Universalist and Unitarian Church, Inc., and the Free Quaker Society of Friends is non-denominational and non-autocratic and was organized as a vehicle to provide a locus that real cooperative and interdependent communities might be organized around. But we cannot do it alone. We need money, volunteers, and contributing members. If you want to contribute or get involved click the link to our “Go Fund Me” page for contributions under $500 or email me at the address below for larger donations or to volunteer. All contributions are tax-deductible and will be put to real and measurable use.

Thanks.

Greg at quuchurch dot org