Wen Tzu - Verse 72, Part I

from Verse Seventy-Two

If you don't study sincerely, you won't listen to the Way deeply. Listening is to convey wisdom, to foster action, and to bring achievement and honor. If it is not sincere, it is not clear, not deep, not effective...

~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~

Too often in this life, so many of us choose to go through the motions. We do so to honor tradition, social mores, religious rules or just because it's easier than being honest with others and ourselves. We're in attendance physically and we might mouth the correct words, but our heart and spirit aren't into whatever we're doing. In most such instances, it shows!

For me, this illustrates one of the problems of bowing to external expectations, even when these externalities have been internalized. Why do or say something if it's not sincere? The answer, of course, is that it's all tied up in our egos. We want to appear caring, compassionate, dependable, productive or whatever without truly investing the vital energy to make it so.

If you believe that something is worth doing, then do it with the utmost sincerity. If not, then why bother?

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.