6.0.2 Personal Integration - Overview

Version 1.2 December 2013                                                        (Previous Version)

Here we discuss the best ways to be a functioning human being, regardless of our value choices.  We take into account our physical and mental abilities (and disabilities), our emotions, our family and social situations, and the political contexts in which we live. 

A key aspect of psychological health is personal integration.  Just as we need coherence and consistency in seeking the truth and defining core values so we need these in our mental lives.  We need to “get it together�.  We can't justify choosing a path that goes in two directions, pushing and pulling, at the same time, or in the same situation.  That’s a waste of effort.  Our path must be internally consistent.  Otherwise we are internally conflicted, probably stressed and dysfunctional.

We all can't have everything; we can't do anything we want; we all have limited abilities; we are not guaranteed of success if we just try hard enough.  We know from the neurosciences how we function better and succeed more when we learn how to defer gratification and control volatile emotional responses.  We know from history that societies and businesses function better when individuals adopt this self discipline.  All our choices have consequences that we must try to be aware of.  We need to learn what is possible and what is not, and identify realistic goals, based on our understanding of ourselves, our value choices and what we learn from science and history.  Devising strategies to achieve our goals is an ongoing process that begins in childhood and continues into old age, because both our selves and the world keep changing.

Those of us who live in war torn, violent or repressive societies, in poverty, or sickness will have obvious goals for stability, peace and justice, food and shelter, health and prosperity.  Many of us in stable, affluent societies, who already have these basics, struggle to know what more we want.  Positive psychology tells us that when our choices are not coerced by basic needs, we seek positive emotions (happiness), to exercise skills and achieve, connection to others, engagement & meaning.

Sometimes our lives can be changed forever by apparently small decisions, perhaps to be more responsible, or to try something different, and we only understand the significance looking back.

We all choose how we play our various roles and define our identities, as siblings, parents, friends, workers and so on. These choices are better if they are consistent with our understanding of reality.

We can live authentically, according to what we know about ourselves and the world; we can live a lie; or we can live a fantasy.  Our character is defined (rather like the god-of-the-gaps) not by the known biological and psychological forces that influence our behaviour but, within those constraints and whatever freedom they allow, by how we respond to the cards we are dealt. 

  more                                                                             Statement 29

The conclusions of these global beliefs help us to be more realistic as we act in the world.  The values of a reasonable global way guide us as we make choices to discover and achieve our goals.