The Missing Piece: Personal Integrity
Integrity: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change” Cambridge English Dictionary
I attended a talk in 1979 given by R. Buckminister Fuller (Bucky) called, A World that Works for Everyone. His style of speaking challenged my ability to understand what he was saying, but I did get his message loud and clear. His big-picture thinking and its implications left me with a new, much larger context to consider.
Inspired by his vision, in March of 1983, I co-produced the last leg of Bucky’s onstage speaking tour, Only Personal Integrity is Going to Count. It was a great success with 1000 in attendance.
Fast forward to spring, 2026, I am beyond convinced that during these times of endless war and of an overextended monetary system, this world is likely to not be working for almost anyone. How often do you hear the word, integrity, spoken or broadcast in the media? Not often, I know. It’s as if “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change” fail to compete with the pursuit of wealth, fame and looking as sexy as possible in public.
Identity, Relationships and Society
Status may appear enviable, yet it is no safeguard whatsoever against that which makes life unpleasant for most of us: dealing with people with outsized egos. In fact, many who claim the coveted status of fame and fortune are the same ones exhibiting some of the worst behaviors. Domination, and its outcome, control, has been normalized as the relational waters we so often must swim in.
Growing up I was told that I was too sensitive; that the dog-eat-dog world where might is right, would never change. But things can and do change when enough humans show up differently.
Even though a world that works for everyone may sound appealing, I believe that most people would resist doing the work necessary to get there. Why? Since a healthy, productive and thriving society is composed of individuals, social restoration start one-by-one as an inside job. The work involves self-reflection and a willingness to do whatever it takes to build personal integrity. Courage and commitment are required.
The Overview Effect
In 1987 science author, Frank White, coined a phrase, ‘the Overview Effect’, describing a transformative shift in human awareness that happens when viewing Earth from space. The experience of awe and wonder forever deepens the viewer’s sense of identity according to astronauts saying this has happened to them. Former astronaut, Ron Garan, said he got a new perspective on life after his nearly 3000 orbits around Earth in 2011. It led him to thinking that all of humanity had been “living a lie.”
What was that lie? The lie, he said, was just a mistake; a mistake most humans make when it comes to how they see themselves. Humans tend to settle for a handed-down, partial version of who they are and miss the wholly magnificent scope of what it means to be human.
Ron Garan continued, saying that by having only this partial view of who we are, we also mis-order/overlook the critical infrastructural phase of support for the planet itself and for ALL human beings. The depth and recognition of who we are is that which provides the primary building block for a world that works for everyone.
Down to Earth
The Overview Effect might have you believe that you must venture in space to experience awe and wonder, and thereby a deeper self-awareness. Wrong.
If there is, in fact, a power greater than what exists in the material world, then Ron Garan’s insight confirms to me that all humans are equal as unique, living nodes of life’s greatness. This is how our view of the world is forever changed.
A shift in personal context is wildly transformative; it dissolves divisive attitudes and behaviors based on a mistaken sense of identity. New depth of understanding means increased health in relationships: with ourselves, one another, and the natural world.
Our interior quality (or lack thereof) affects the quality of everyone and everything else around us.
If we, as individuals, do not believe personal integrity matters, then we will continue to experience our world accordingly. However, if it is true that the lack of integrity in the world as a whole is perpetuated by the lack of personal integrity, then this is good news because it is within our human capacity to reclaim.
Choosing Differently
Because societies are set up as hierarchies of importance, domination and control characterize unequal treatment. Violence and war are inevitable where the supposedly most important rule over everyone else. Turning a blind eye only delays this inevitability.
By design hierarchy may simply be just another unwitting human mistake. IMO hierarchy assumes inequality by its structure alone and necessitates laws to enforce what humans fail to do. As Pogo said: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
If the enemy is us, humility could be an antidote. Awe and wonder for existence itself are so simple and free that I think they get overlooked. When I rest in the awareness of this simplicity of life it reminds me of my place in the universe. I then find myself more willing to self-examine, make needed changes, trust myself and extend that trust to others.
I believe that once one’s personal integrity is the stable core of our being, trust, the primary structure for peace, can and will proliferate. Gradually we might see one another not as potential threats, but rather as confirmation of life’s greatness. Our thoughts and behaviors will naturally lend themselves to a world that works for everyone.
