July 15, 2009 – Absolute Sincerity

There are two who are unfit for greatness and freedom,
the man who has never been a slave to another
and the nation that has never been under the yoke of foreigners.

Sri Aurobindo

(Thoughts and Aphorisms 309)

Absolute Sincerity

If you are not absolutely sincere, not only with others but also with yourself, if at any time you try to cover up your imperfections and failings, you will never make any progress, you will always remain what you are throughout all your life, without ever making any progress. So, even if you only want to grow out of this primitive unconscious state into a progressive consciousness, the most important thing, the one absolutely important thing is sincerity. If you have done something which you ought not to have done, you must admit it to yourself; if a less-than-admirable movement has occurred in yourself, you must look it in the face and tell yourself, “It was not good,” or “It was disgusting,” or even “It was wicked.”…

It is only when you look yourself in the face, in the light of your highest consciousness, that whatever you want to eliminate from your nature will disappear. Without this striving for absolute sincerity, the defect, the little shadow, will stay in a corner biding its time to come out.

– The Mother
The Great Adventure, Page 62