I’m starting to think sincerity may be more important than love, for example. Some may say that one can be sincerely evil, but is evil really sincere? I imagine a sort of sincerity that may not always feel love but that is always free from malice by simple virtue of being true to its aim, which of course is always happiness. I can think of no mental state more powerful, pure, or conducive to peace, happiness and freedom from suffering than this. But it is the absolute veracity that recommends it most; you can’t fake sincerity.
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.
— H. D. ThoreauRecommend
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True that.
The Buddha said that in Anguttara Nikaya 1.14:
“I know of no other quality, monks, more conducive to the arising of wholesome states, and the fading of unwholesome states, than the quality of earnestness/sincerity (appamada)”.
It’s so difficult to be earnest and sincere in a world that’s going mad.
But you have set a great example so far.
I am very grateful for that, in whatever way you’re going to continue that.
Nothing more sincere than just being there for your Father.
Sometimes with love, there is condition. I love you, do you love me? Will you always love me?
Sincerity asks no such questions. As you said, Bhante, sincerity has a quality of veracity, of authenticity. It is never conditional.
One very sincere act: being with your Dad and caring for him. That’s sincerity, and of course, it’s love, too. Sincere love and caring. Very cool…..
If being sincere is wishing to be happy and taking whatever action we think will get us there then surely we all have it in us; all beings strive for happiness. In what way then is it ever possible to be insincere?
Maybe I’m off the rails here, but that’s my sincere thought
I don’t think it is the same sort of sincerity to simply think we are acting for happiness; one must sincerely know one is, which requires wisdom.
Maybe I’m wrong but I’ve always thought equanimity ewas wh at we aspired towards. I’ve always thought sincerity to require as much of an emotional investment as the cultivation of love.
Sincerity is intention based on wisdom, I think… acting because one truly sees it is the right thing to do, rather than grudgingly or with ulterior motives. I’m not thinking of sincerity that is based on delusion or evil. Equanimity can be either associated with or dissociated from wisdom.
Striving for sincerity requires love. We value the happiness of others because we love them, and if we’re committed to sincerity for the happiness of others, then sincerity is dependent on love. One can be ‘sincerely evil,’ but not sincere and evil, as much of what we see as evil is deception in action.
Sincerity doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with happiness. Sincerity may lead one to be happy, eventually, I suppose. Sincerity is being honestly trusting and accepting whatever one thinks and feels as true, though this doesn’t mean one what thinks and feels is necessarily true; one can be completely sincere about feeling completely confused. Furthermore and more importantly, acting in a certain way because one truly feels it is the right thing to do is not sincerity – one could feel many diverse things are the “right things to do” that are in reality “not right.” Likewise, the idea that sincerity is intention based on wisdom is far too limited a definition of sincerity – this might be your definition of sincerity, but it is not the actual meaning of sincerity. One might sincerely feel and believe that killing animals for food is a good thing, even a necessary thing in some cultures, or one might sincerely believe that their culture is the best for all humankind, etc – the sincere belief and feeling is still true, still authentic, while there is in fact, one could argue, a lack of wisdom or insight behind the sincere feelings (notice here one does not believe they are being evil).
So, anyway, yeah: I disagree with this idea of sincerity. People can be terribly sincere about completely deluded things. Sincerity does not make one not deluded. Now, if you’re saying “sincerity plus wisdom” is a really good thing, then okay, that’s different, but that’s not what is said here.
That second sentence should read: “Sincerity is being honestly trusting and accepting of whatever one thinks and feels is true, though this doesn’t mean what one thinks and feels is necessarily true; one can be completely sincere about feeling completely confused.”
Well, disagreement can be healthy… I’m not talking theoretically or so on, I’m talking empirically… a sincere mindstate is one that acts without ulterior motives or, I would submit, delusion. If one is sincere in admitting one’s confusion, for example, I would say this is a wholesome, mindful state that will help overcome delusion.
But I didn’t mean for this to be such a theoretical argument, just to rejoice in the absence of ulterior motivation when doing good deeds, for example.
If the mind is deluded, it can’t contain the sort of sincerity I’m thinking of… theoretically, or semantically, one might be considered sincere in thinking that lighting candles and incense leads to enlightenment, but it is not the same sincerity that one feels empirically knowing (sincerely) the results of one’s actions.
So yes, true sincerity does require wisdom, IMO, but again, that wasn’t the real point, just that sincerity in action (in this sense) is more universally profitable than love, for example.