Doctor (and Sister) Joan Chittister shares her weekly Vision and Viewpoint newsletter today with her comments below on the importance of “living an integrated life.” You can learn more about her and the Benedictine religious community in Erie, Pennsylvania at this website: joanchittister.org/~joanchit/
“Do not lie, even to yourself
Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Gandhi could have been a Benedictine. Humility is about living an integrated life, a life in which each part is in harmony with every other dimension.
The person who lives a lie, for instance, no matter how effective otherwise, is in tension every moment of the day.
The truth is that we are meant to be transparent.
Be what you say you are. Do not lie, even to yourself. Don’t live two lives
At the end, three things measure both our integrity and the harmony of our own lives: self-control, respect, and freedom from self-deception.
a process of slow and self-emptying transformation
enjoy the rest of the adventure called life, learning, becoming, growing as we go.
—from Radical Spirit (Random House), by Joan Chittister
joanchittister.org/books-page/radical-spirit-12-ways-live-free-and-authentic-life
Life Matters 
Very nice! And funny, this has come up recently somewhere else. . . I had a dream awhile ago in which Louise Hay (whose works I have never read, incidentally) called me on the phone and told me essentially the same thing about transparency (that was her word). Of course, self-love necessarily precedes self-honesty. We lie because we fear, so we must overcome the fear of self before we can be honest with ourselves and consequently honest with others.
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Always appreciate your comments and your insight, Camilla – thank you!
I’m reminded of Eugene Peterson’s translation of 1John4:18 in his book, The Message: “There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life – fear of death, fear of judgment – is one not yet fully formed in love.”
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