July 29, 2026
by Gail Boynton
By now you’ve heard that last spring the Unity Renaissance Board of Trustees attended a weekend of training, and each of us was assigned a word … one that we would represent in our service to Unity Renaissance. It was fun watching the faces as we each opened our given words and shared them with one another. There was lightness in the air, some laughter involved, and facial expressions that ranged between puzzled, amused, and pleased.
My word was Integrity. A mighty word, I thought. When you think of Integrity, what definition does it bring up? I looked at it and realized my definition might not be the definition. It felt like a word with much more weight than just Honesty, so I decided to do some research.
According to the experts, integrity is:
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The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change. (Oxford Dictionary)
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Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility. (Mirriam-Webster)
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Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. (Dictionary.com)
So it is more than just honesty. It’s a moral compass, a flame that always burns within.
Metaphysically, integrity is defined as that quality of the consciousness which makes us hold fast to the divine standard.
Integrity has its roots in Latin – the word integer, meaning "whole" or "complete." That sounds a lot like what we’ve been learning, doesn’t it? Then I searched, “What does Unity say about Integrity?” Boom!
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Wholeness and Oneness: True integrity means being completely undivided within oneself, where the mind, heart, and spirit are unified in Truth.
I don’t know about you, but I can think of a number of times in my life when I made a mess of things, and it was definitely because my mind, heart, and spirit were not unified. Lucky for us, we have the power of the breath, the pause, and prayer to bring us back into alignment with our unwavering beacon of truth before we act.
I am deeply humbled to have been given this honorable word, and I invite you to hold it with me. We are all called to show up with integrity. It keeps us consistently true to our convictions and, best of all, in alignment with Spirit within.
Shine bright, friends!