Moral Honesty

If I haven't already, I should try to explain what I mean by Moral Honesty. Moral Honesty involves admitting one's own flaws and not trying to hide them, especially from others. In essence, it means being Honest about exactly how Moral (or immoral) you are. Moral Honesty is directly opposed to hypocrisy, which I understand to mean pretending to be better than you are (that, and telling others to be more moral than you are, but that's not how I'm using it here). A Morally Honest person admits their flaws and makes no attempt to hide them.

In some situation, Moral Honesty can be a good thing. After all, Honesty is usually good, and hypocrisy is usually bad. Honestly admitting one's own faults is, in most cases, an essential step in overcoming them. Yet, Moral Honesty can get in the way of personal growth, especially when others might observe it.

Let's say that a certain kid knows that he's not allowed to eat cookies before dinner, but he's a kid, so he sneaks into the kitchen for some cookies anyway. But just before the kid grabs the cookie jar, his mom walks in and asks the kid what he was doing. A dishonest kid might lie and say that he came into the kitchen for some other reason, but a Morally Honest kid would admit that he came into the kitchen for some cookies. After that, he might express either shame or a persisting desire to eat cookies, depending on how he feels at that moment, and if he's especially Morally Honest, he might continue to go for a cookie anyway, despite knowing that his mother is watching him.

Moral Honesty is the evil twin of integrity. Integrity means being just as moral when you're not being observed as you are when you are being observed, and Moral Honesty means being just as moral when your are being observed as you are when you aren't. When a person has integrity, they are just as good when they're alone as they are when they're being watched. When a person has Moral Honesty, they are just as bad when they're being watched as they are when they're alone. Moral Honesty means always acting the way you would normally act -- no better, no worse. In that sense, Moral Honesty has some integrity in it, but integrity is always a good thing, and Moral Honesty sometimes isn't.

Moral Honesty can be a bad thing by reducing the positive effects of positive peer pressure. Good people can bring out the best in us, and we sometimes find ourselves on our best behavior when we're around them. However, if we are Morally Honest we would have to acknowledge that this would lead those good people to have a skewed perspective of us, making us seem better than we truly are. Moral Honesty may convince someone to show their true colors, regardless of any positive influences. Moral Honesty stunts spiritual growth.

While honesty is generally commendable, Moral Honesty is a terrible vice. Moral Honesty compels people to show others their "true self" rather than their best self, while the actual best solution is for people to make their best self become their true self. One wouldn't even need to lie to do so. One can admit to having faults and weaknesses and can still strive to overcome them. We can even allow other people to be a good influence on us, especially if we let them know that they are. We shouldn't cover up our vices, but we shouldn't give in to them either, whether we're being observed or not.