Sincerity.

***Headnote: this was originally written 2-18-14, never published until now, and, aside from a dead video link removed, has not been edited***

“If I'm sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow?” José Saramago

One way or the other, we might regret. Either we regret saying it, or we regret not saying.

It's a gamble.

Don't (over)think. Do. My problem is both. Maybe it's not a problem. Undoubtedly it IS who I am, though. And I do regret. Many things. Things I said, premature or too late, and things I didn't say, too trembling and scared, thinking it was premature. 

In current musings about my own sincerity, I suddenly realized how one-sided (and possible selfish) sincerity can be.  The foundation of Truth and Honor is complete sincerity; or rather, a complete expanse of multiple facts of truth and honor—not just of oneself but also of the other.


One can be sincere to another person even if one person is at the same time not sincere to oneself. And example of this was touched upon in previous posts (about false expectations, delusions, and desire), wherein by being sincere to and about another person that sincerity is ultimately flawed (even if true ABOUT the other person) because it rests on a false premise and foundation from which it came (falseness from oneself, because the premise was false). If an emotion is true and pure, if a feeling is pure and true, but if it was born of a false idea or desire (even if sincere and pure in direction), the sincerity is only half true for it is sincere to and about the other but insincere to oneself. Sincere feeling might be true for the other person but it not true to myself.

“When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts.”  —Laozi

A very difficult concept to grasp if not understood, and NOT contradictory.

It IS possible to be sincere to another person while at the same time being insincere to oneself. The love is real, but the fact that I love you isn't. The fact that I love you is real, but the love isn't.

"I love you, but that love was born out of a false expectation and mental projection." Therefore, the love for the other person is real. Does that make it false? No. It's real to the other person, but false to oneself, even if it is real to oneself. But doesn't that make it also false to the other if born from falseness? No. Because the emotion is true in itself, but not for both.

Be true to yourself.

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.”  — Confucius

In by being true to yourself, you are also being true in whatever you do, and therefore by extension to others.

"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal." — Oscar Wilde