This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Way of Integrity" by Martha Beck. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you compare yourself to others? Do you trust your inner teacher? How is integrity connected to identity?
In The Way of Integrity, Martha Beck seeks to connect readers with their inner truths and lead them to a life of happiness, well-being, and spiritual growth. She argues that each of us has a deep, personal nature that tells us who we want to be and how we want to live.
Check out Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity quotes, along with a bit of context and explanation.
Martha Beck: The Way of Integrity Quotes
We’ve collected Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity quotes that are sure to get you thinking and perhaps even changing. Take a look.
“Contemplating integrity as a way of life is like deciding to leave your homeland and become a citizen of a new country: it involves a major identity.”
Beck argues that, as you practice integrity, you might find yourself changing in ways that you didn’t expect. Your nature may call you to a higher sense of purpose and a higher spiritual awareness of the world around you. Beck calls on you to trust your process and embrace this transformation, even though its outcomes may be uncertain. She gives four pieces of advice for navigating this stage in your journey: Embrace the unknown, embrace unity and connectedness, find a purpose, and spread alignment to others.
“We tend to measure our own well-being not by how we feel, but by how our lives compare to other people’s.”
Beck argues that you grow up as a member of society where you consciously or unconsciously absorb messages about how to live and who to be. When you internalize these messages, they solidify into beliefs. You may form beliefs about the “right” things for you to pursue in life and the “right” person to be, even if they aren’t true for your personal nature. When this happens, we create false beliefs. These false beliefs then pull you away from being aligned with your personal nature, which may want something else entirely.
“Above all, please learn to trust your inner teacher, the burst of relaxation and freedom that rings through your whole body.”
Beck argues that many people first discover their false beliefs by encountering a role model or teacher who can help them get in touch with their nature. These could be actual teachers, but they could just as easily be authors whose books you pick up or people you stumble upon unexpectedly.
While discovering an external teacher may be an important step in your process, Beck argues that the ultimate goal is to get in touch with your inner teacher. This is the part of you that intuitively knows what you need to grow and come back into alignment with yourself. A mentor can simply help you along the way.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Way of Integrity summary:
- How to know if you're living in alignment with your true self
- How messages from our culture tell us to chase things we don't really want
- The four stages of realigning your life to find happiness
