These 3 Types of Honesty Make a Person Honest

Honesty is the best policy. This statement has over a long period of time been viewed as an irrefutable truth and many people hold that honesty is the door to a morally upright life. It would be a futile attempt to try living a morally upright and peaceful life without making honesty a prime virtue in one’s life. The lack of honesty is a recipe for a life full of problems and may even lead to greater problems later on in life. Honesty is the virtue of being truthful to all, having integrity and being straightforward in speech and deeds. Honesty also encompasses the absence of a lying behavior or theft.

The oxford English dictionary defines honesty as a part of moral character that characterized by positive virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness and straightforwardness. This definition means that for an individual to be described as honest, the above attributes should be evident in his character. A person who lacks any of the above virtues cannot be said to be honest. An individual who deliberately misleads the actions or thoughts of others through lying or making material misstatements does not possess the virtue of honesty.

Honesty of Intention

There are three types of honesty. The first is the honesty of intention. Honesty of intention involves the performance of an act with the pure intention of the act. A person who decides to go to a city to visit his friend will be described as having honesty of intention if only his pure intention of going to the city is to see his friend. However, if he goes to the city with other intentions and uses the friend’s visit as an excuse or an easy explanation to justify his visit, then that person is being untruthful and does not have the virtue of honesty of intention.

Honesty of the Tongue

The other type of honesty is the honesty of the tongue. This is the most famous type of honesty and it is the one which many people find it hard to keep. Honesty of the tongue involves being truthful to all and at all times and making a conscious effort to always avoid lying. There are three important occasions in which it is vey important to practice honesty of the tongue. An individual should always avoid lying during marriage and should be truthful to his potential marriage partner regarding his past marriages and any diseases he may have. Honesty to children is also important because lying to children leads to disobedience which may have very disastrous effect on children. It is also important to practice honesty of the tongue whenever making jokes to ensure that one does not lie in an attempt to entertain others.

Honesty of Actions

The third type of honesty is the honesty of actions. This occurs if one is honest with his actions or making a verbal statement only with pure intent and without malice. An individual who does something with the intent of misleading others into actions that are detrimental to them does not practice honesty of actions. The intent of our actions should always be pure and absent of any intent to influence the course of action of others in a manner that may affect them adversely.

The story of Prophet Joseph can be used to illustrate the three types of honesty and teach on the importance of honesty. Joseph was honest to his father by truthfully relating what he saw in his dream. He did not withhold any information to his father, and this clearly illustrates that the Prophet Joseph had honesty of the tongue and honesty of actions since he did not tell his father the contents of his dream with any malicious intent.

Joseph’s brothers did not have honesty of action when they asked their father for Joseph to take him out to play. This is because they had malicious intent of killing him because they felt that their father favored him and his brother more than them. When they left Joseph for the dead in the well, they further practiced dishonesty of the tongue by lying to their father that he had been devoured to death by a wolf. Joseph’s honesty continued when he was sold into slavery and the wife of his master attempted to seduce him. His account to his master was truthful, unlike that of the wife who did not practice honesty and lied that Joseph had attacked her.

In interpreting the king’s dreams, the Prophet Joseph displayed honesty of actions. He did all that neither with the intent to cause malice to anyone nor did he want to profit from interpreting the king’s dreams. Later, when the king made Joseph the head of the warehouses Joseph continued being the honest person he had been, never using his authority for dishonest gain. Later when Joseph was reunited with his family, he was honest in his forgiveness of his brothers for the heinous acts that had done to him. He never harbored any ill feelings towards his brothers.

The story of Prophet Joseph is a good illustration of how we should be resilient in upholding honesty. It clearly shows that despite bad circumstances that we may be in, it always pays well to be honest. The bad results of dishonesty are also shown through Joseph’s brothers and Aziz’s wife who had to suffer shame and misfortune when their dishonesty was exposed.

Honesty is a very important virtue to have. Practicing honesty is not only important but is also important in ensuring that we have healthy relationships with others. Dishonesty of any kind will always have negative effects on our lives which may not be immediately obvious but will always catch up with us later in our lives.