On Integrity and harmony

This post comes as a result of my reflection on the subject of Integrity- something we discussed recently on my facebook group, Jewish explorer. Integrity is an important value for me personally (possibly, I would put it on top of the list- which in fact, I did during my recent coaching session). In fact, I believe, Integrity and honesty on all levels is an essential ingredient of any meaningful interaction- and most important factor in bridging the gap between different cultures, and different people. So, naturally, I was challenged to look for a Jewish answer to the question of Integrity.
And here's my understanding of one of the fundamental teachings of Rabbi Yehuda ha Nassi (the Prince-that's the usual translation-although Nassi was an equivalent of a President those days). The author of this teaching, as you know, was most prominent Torah scholar (so no one can tell me, we are dealing with some "marginal case" here) , and also the compiler and codifier of the Mishna- huge undertaking never to be repeated in Jewish history in the scope of what was done [up until that point, Oral Torah remained oral and was never recorded]
Here's the text-
Rabbi [Judah HaNassi]* would say: Which is the right [Yashar] path for man to choose for himself? Whatever is harmonious [Tiferet] for the one who does it, and harmonious for mankind.
I included Hebrew words here on purpose, as this translation, although very close to the original, still fails to express all the power of the Hebrew text
So, Rabbi (that's how they call him- simply Rabbi- rabbi 'by default' is R'Yehuda ha Nassi)- is asking an important question- I'd say, if there's one question we are to ask ourselves- it's probably this one! How to live your life, which path is right, which one to choose? Notice, however, in the original Hebrew, this RIGHT path is called YASHAR- so to speak, something we can visualize as STRAIGHT path, something that we can follow
Maybe YASHAR also implies that it's relatively straight-forward- so, the answer has to be simple and clear!
Simple and clear it is- very YASHAR- Whatever is TIFERET (harmonious) for the one who does it ( stress is on the word DOES), and TIFERET for mankind
First, notice how straight this answer is- here you have an equation, on both sides of which is TIFERET- usually translated as beauty, but more accurate translataion will be Harmony. Harmony is supposed to be beautiful, but it's much more- it also has depth! It's a 3D beauty, beauty with the sense of purpose and direction! Here we have all three dimensions of life, based on Kierkegaard- aesthetic (beauty), ethical, and religious [although at this point we can only recognize the first two, we'll get to that later]
This equation presents us with the real challenge though- how often do we find, that our Internal Truth, our Tiferet of the first part of equation, comes into conflict with the second part- what society expects us to do?
Notice, however, that the word does appears only in the first part- whatever is Tiferet for the one who does it! One would expect, that the first part, which speaks of man to himself and recognizes this as an important sphere of life, would be more focused on thoughts and emotions, rather than action- and in fact, should we read- Whatever is harmonious for the one who follows it would probably make more sense- after all, one follows the path, and  is not doing it! This stress on action is imho, very precise here- it's NOT enough to have harmony in your mind and in your emotional world- the OUTCOME of that in the World of Actions is what counts in the final analysis!
With that in mind, let's move to the second part- here we have Tiferet for mankind- and if I'm not mistaken, this Tiferet for mankind is coming as a result of his actions- for that reason, no need to emphasize action again-it's been already accomplished in the first part! What counts now, is check and balance mechanism- and the word Tiferet, by the way, certainly is associated with balance- the challenge here is to see, how your actions, coming from your Inner Truth (there's a very deep connection between Truth-Emet- and Tiferet- harmony- which is well-known to all who are familiar with the Sfirot- Divine emanations- there Tiferet and Emet are interchangeable!)-how your Tiferet-based actions bring Tiferet to mankind? And we all understand, that this is not self-evident- what's good for me, and even right and straight in my eyes, may clash with the inner truth of others, thus bringing DISHARMONY- the very OPPOSITE of Tiferet!
So we have strong ethical considerations on both sides of the equation, i.e- Are my actions in tune with my Inner Truth (first part), but also- Are my actions in tune with the World? And this doesn't mean, of course, to simply become comformist- as this would compromise the first part! What it means, is to find the RIGHT BALANCE- not a compromise (again!)- but the TRUE TIFERET! We simply add an extra dimension to TIFERET- it has to be both Self and World- centered, in true harmony with the dual calling of Man- be true to yourself, and be true to your calling- and also, look at your mission AS PART of a GLOBAL WORLD evolution- thus, your calling will become even more noble, stripped of the layers of your Ego, that so often doesn't allow us to see, how all conflicts and all struggles in the world are but different colours of the rainbow, representing one True Colour of G-d! But of course, to get to this point of Transcending Unity, one needs the third dimension of Tiferet- Religious one!
This article is meant to be some sort of an 'appetizer', and I hope we will be enjoying the 'main course'soon!