Values of Christ: Number Nine: Sincerity

Sincerity does not mean to be vulgar, crass, or unfeeling. When a person is sincere, he or she thinks of the best way to do or say something before anything is said or done. Sincerity depends heavily on co-measurement. Sometimes, the best thing that we can do is to stay silent, or wait for that perfect moment to say something. Sincerity thinks first of the other person. A sincere person is not thinking constantly about what he can do or say or waiting for someone to take a breath before inserting his opinion. We are a little too impatient sometimes in expressing our views and opinions. What a gift we are to others when we are true to our friendships and we have sincerity in our hearts.

Sometimes it is important to say, "I don't know," instead of pretending to know something. I think that this is a very important quality; given the tremendous power our words and our writings have in this day of instant communications. The airwaves are filled with hateful and insincere ramblings. All of us can benefit from this beautiful value that Christ represented.

There is also another very deeply spiritual element to sincerity: When we are sincere, we are not living a lie. Lies, hypocrisy, lack of respect, separative feelings are all strong currents of negativity in our life. These kinds of negative thinking and living accumulate and cause all kinds of mental and emotional and spiritual illnesses in us. These accumulations eventually build up and manifest in the physical bodies as various health complications. A sincere, honest person is more joyful and healthy and calm. Whenever we have an illness, we can look for the causes in our spiritual life and ask ourselves if we have competing currents running in our life, or is our life one of integrity and honesty?

Here then is the excerpt from the book The Teachings of Christ:

The ninth value is sincerity. This is one of the loving ideals that He emphasized so strongly. Maybe a hundred times in The New Testament He said, “Be careful of hypocrites, double-faced people who have different motives in their minds and different smiles on their faces.” People who are not loyal to their ­inner Self present themselves in many ways and means so that they serve their lower nature instead of their higher nature. Or they are so corrupted inside that they put artificial smiles on their faces in order to cheat you. That is why He said, “Be very careful of hypocrites.”

A hypocrite is a man who is interested only in his own separative interests. He is very dangerous because he can take your secrets and use them against you. That was so important for His disciples to learn. If you see a man thinking this way and acting that way, be careful because he is a double-faced man. That was another great wisdom that He gave.

What is a sincere man? A sincere man is a man who, whatever he is inside, he is the same outside. That is sincerity. He is not hiding things. He is open and frank, but his sincerity comes from a tremendous level of achievement. That is why his sincerity is not vulgarity. His sincerity is a result of being in contact with a higher level of achievement, and that high level of achievement, that contact, that beauty that he is contacting is reflected in all his openness. You can depend on a sincere man.

... A sincere man can be depended on because he does not talk for his interests, but for your interests. A sincere man talks for your best interests. It is so beautiful.

(These excerpts are taken from the unpublished first volume of the Teachings of Christ by Torkom Saraydarian. All rights reserved. The Creative Trust. Used by permission of the copyright holder. For an Ageless Wisdom approach to the life and teachings of Christ and Jesus, please see Christ The Avatar of Sacrificial Love by Torkom Saraydarian.)