What is the meaning of honesty and integrity?
The
second quality in the context of the discarding of evil is the one
known as honesty or integrity, that is to say, intolerance of the
causing of harm to a fellow being by taking possession of his property
dishonestly or unlawfully. Integrity is one of the natural conditions of
man. That is why an infant, who follows his natural bent and who has
not yet acquired any bad habit, so much dislikes anything belonging to
another that it can only be persuaded with difficulty to be suckled by a
wet nurse. If a wet nurse is not appointed for it while it is quite
small and has not yet developed a keen consciousness. It becomes very
difficult for a wet nurse to suckle it. It is naturally disinclined to
be suckled by a woman other than its mother. This disinclination
sometimes imposes great suffering upon it, and in extreme cases pushes
it to the brink of death. What is the secret of this disinclination? It
is that it naturally dislikes to leave its mother and to turn to
something that belongs to another. When we reflect deeply upon this
habit of an infant it becomes clear that this habit is at the root of
all honesty and integrity. No one can be credited with the quality of
integrity unless his heart becomes charged with dislike and hatred of
the property of another as is the case with an infant.



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