DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN BEING 'SINCERE' AND 'SERIOUS'...

Whenever you do something that is very important to you, are you sincere, or serious, or probably both? Most people mix up the two. Some people are very serious by their very nature; hardly they understand that true wisdom never had a long face! The wisest people in the world have been childlike; what they knew did not weigh them down. Why? Because they knew that we are not what we know.

When we take life’s experiences too seriously, such as a success or a failure/respect or disrespect/gain or loss/health or sickness, etc., we are operating from a limited consciousness of ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’ - from the ego level. The ego as our pseudo-self is quick to judge, label and have strong feelings of like and dislike. It stays bothered about what we have, rather than who we are. The ways of ego are never conducive to mental peace. Ego mistakes love as attachment, and tends to take everything too personally. It is constantly bothered with all the FOMO and JOMO!

But being sincere is a different matter, and is a desirable quality - in fact, it is the principal secret of a balanced material-cum-spiritual development, and, in the corporate scenario, a vital principle for team play and excellence. It brings up courage and fortitude. Such sincerity must percolate down to the smallest, even to trifling levels - but without a tinge of seriousness. It is good to pause and laugh - now and again - including at yourself (at what you may think, say or do - all the faux pas)! Life is essentially a role-play; we are like actors on the stage, and we must be very sincere about our roles - we must do our best, no matter what it is. But having done our best, we must not worry about the rest. If we do, we are adding ‘seriousness’ to it.

Sincerity is an expression of earnestness and commitment; seriousness is an egoistic expression of a mistaken sense of doership. We can do nothing on our own - even beating our hearts and digesting our food are not our own human skills, and all our abilities are gifted to us by Divine Grace and our own past sincerity. Nothing happens by chance or accident; there are precise laws governing everything in the cosmos - but the ultimate design is very benign, very loving. That should make us humble and trusting.

All our stress, on the other hand, is a curse to us by our own seriousness.

Take Covid19. What a situation most nations have gone through in the recent past! Or take the present grave uncertainties - the climate upheaval in various forms and locations, the wars - hot and cold, and the socio-economic/business difficulties globally. If we take these events and the likely effects like mental health and stress issues, etc., all too seriously, it will make us paranoid - we would be afraid and hassled from within. We would lose the fighting spirit at a time when we most need it. We would rack our heads to understand what is happening globally and why. Such fear, doubt and perceptional negativity will reduce our coping skills, and we would ultimately invite what we fear. There is nothing to gain from fear, and everything to lose, including our innate abilities to cope. Fear is the worst of all emotions. Caution, though, is different and desirable.

Therefore, being sincere towards the current situation, on the other hand, means taking care, being aware and circumspect, but not having fear.

Immunity has a direct relationship with this - whether one is positive or negative in one's basic approach to life and living. The human attitude and ignited human will have awesome power. The Coronavirus did (or latently still does) exist physically, but the game looks more mental and psychological, even spiritual, than plainly physical.

The two WW's, long abuse of nature and the resulting climate crisis, over-materialism, and the selfish pursuits by many have created collective bad karma; the only way to undo some effects of this, is through humility, patience, good actions springing from love and empathy, simpler living and mutual service.

Relax, smile and be grateful - grateful for being alive, grateful for the opportunity to love, to keep learning, and to meditate - a great power that most people haven't discovered yet! In super-science like PNI, neurocardiology etc., it has been proved experimentally that selfless love heals, and the heart, in moments of crisis, knows better than the logical, ever-calculating head does!

So, let us be sincere, not serious! Incidentally, if you have not yet read a life-transforming spiritual classic, ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by one of the greatest ever East-West saints, Paramahansa Yogananda, you may want to do so now, to have an in-depth understanding of how God’s plan for us was always very benign, how our misguided free-will messed it up, and how these crises, although they may look so grim, cannot and will not be the end of the universe, but are actually an opportunity for us to learn and to emerge wiser, happier, and healthier from the experience.

Hans Dholakia Online Life Coach & Motivational Trainer Blending Science, Mgmt. & Spirituality.