Integrity Is the First Wealth of Life

Xuefeng

February 11, 2019

What is integrity? It is honesty plus trustworthiness; namely, honesty + trustworthiness = integrity. It is sincerity without deception, keeping one’s word, and being the same inside and out; keeping one’s promises are integrity’s performances.

While getting along with each other, treating each other with sincerity and trustworthiness make the cost of communicating very low; otherwise it is high. A society in which most people are honest and trustworthy is auspicious and harmonious, while those with many who are not are dangerous and turbulent.

Life’s troubles, pains, anxieties, sorrows, and fears come mostly from dishonesty, while our joy, happiness, serenity, peace, and harmony stem from honesty. Therefore, although honesty cannot be regarded as food, it can reduce the cost of living while bringing good Karma.

There are three great treasures in life; namely, material wealth, spiritual wealth, and wealth of the soul. Among these three types, wealth of the soul is the first wealth, spiritual wealth comes second, and material wealth is last. Honesty belongs to the wealth of the soul, so honesty is life’s first wealth.

Since honesty is life’s first wealth, its pursuit is the most important thing in life. A person who lacks integrity proves that they lack wealth in their soul and are poor in their soul. People who lack wealth in their souls must also lack spiritual wealth. Although dishonest people can obtain a huge amount of material wealth, they will never have peace of mind, serenity of mentality, calmness of mood, or safety in security.

Dishonesty might enable one to obtain temporary material benefits or a false reputation, but in the end, they will inevitably pay a high price for it if not in this lifetime, then after their death. Those who are honest are angels while those who are dishonest are descendants of devils. Those who are dishonest will definitely not have bright futures, let alone be accepted into heaven.

Below is an example of honesty and integrity. I hope that all Chanyuan celestials of Lifechanyuan will learn from this story of Thea. No matter how many hardships and setbacks we suffer during our lifetimes, even when facing death, we must maintain our integrity through the end.

From Zhang Daozi:

On the eve of World War II, a small German trust company called the Babyna Trust Bank existed and was dedicated to storing valuable properties for its customers. After the war broke out, people reclaimed their belongings, one after another, and fled in all directions. The owner-manager also made his getaway, while Thea, an employee, was still there safeguarding the accounts.

Bombs exploded all around the trust bank, but Thea acted deaf to them. She cleared the accounts and found that one customer named Legg had not taken his single item back. It was a ruby worth five billion Deutch marks. Thea put the gem with all its custody documents into a small box and then took all the accounts and left the building. A few days later, the flames of war razed the area of Babyna Trust to the ground and Thea also ran to escape the war, but she carried the trust bank’s accounts and the gem with her everywhere. She felt that she was still an employee of Babyna Trust and she would return the accounts and gems to the trust after the war ended.

The war finally ended and Thea returned to Berlin with her three children, however the owner-manager of the Babyna Trust had died during the war and the trust bank no longer existed, though Thea still kept the accounts and the gem. Because the gem was entrusted by the customer and the customer did not take the gem back, she had to keep it for the customer in order to maintain the trust bank’s credibility. For many years, Thea could not find a job. She and her three children had been living in extreme poverty. In fact, Legg, who had entrusted the trust bank to keep the gem, also died in the war. The priceless ruby had long been unclaimed and Thea could have sold it quietly and lived a life of good food and clothing, but she did not. She felt that it was the customer’s property, she could only protect it with no improper thoughts about its value. In 1978, the local government established a war museum to collect relics of World War II from the community. Thea took the trust bank accounts and the ruby to the government which worked hard to help Thea locate Legg’s grandson, Doyle. Dolye got the gem and promised to give half the value of the gem to her after he sold it, but she politely declined, saying that she would only charge a modest storage fee for all those years.

Thea’s story appeared in newspapers and some readers were so moved by her integrity that they suggested she be appointed as the general counsel of the Chamber of Commerce, which she declined by reason of her advanced age. Later, several large trust companies approached her and asked her to be their honorary presidents, but she also declined them.

When Thea eventually passed away, several companies found her son Chris, and asked to buy her name to brand their trust company with it. Chris could not decide which one to go with, so he took bids on it. In the end, the Plato Trust Company obtained the naming right of Thea at the sky-high price of eight billion Deutch marks. Many people wondered how a name could have such value, but the president of Plato said that “Thea” is no longer just a person’s name, but represents a kind of entrepreneurial spirit, a kind of integrity that is more valuable than gems, and that this honor would be well-worth the eight billion marks. Soon, the Plato Trust Company was renamed the Thea Trust Company and its transaction volume increased steadily. Integrity can create value because integrity itself is priceless. When you regard integrity as belief and responsibility, you will win people’s support and trust, and endless wealth will be produced as a result.

Looking back on China’s forty years of reforms, what is lacking or missing in officialdom, business, and financial circles is that priceless word, “integrity”. Is it not worthy of everyone’s pondering?