Sincerity

[krikketgirl]

I opened up my home page for my college classes today, and the featured quote was by George Bernard Shaw. He was quoted as saying, "It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid."

This made me at first angry, because I feel that it is an attitude that has gripped our populace and made us false to others and to ourselves. We "play it cool," and then wonder why we feel so unfulfilled, why others don't respond the way we want them to. We read books about love and marriage that advise us not to let our feelings show, so that we leave the other person wanting and chasing us.

But then I thought that, in a way, he is possibly quite right. It is dangerous, if by being safe you mean that you are uncommitted and invulnerable. In sincerity there is great danger and also great relief. When your outward appearance matches your inward self, you don't have the strain of keeping that veneer in place...but it also means that you disclose your heart to others, who may or may not treat it with dignity and respect.

But life, lived always in total safety and serenity, is life lived alone...and perhaps not real life at all. Life, to me, seems to happen in that space between people, where there is ebb and flow. You can stand always on the shore, safe. But you can also jump into the ocean and find the joy of sailing with the current, even if it means that sometime it's dangerous.

Thoughts?

Comments

[lorelei-n.livejournal.com]

Disclosing your heart as you mention, is sometimes the issue. I find that if I disclose my heart that people often take it as getting too much information. Sometimes they judge and sometimes they make assumptions.

It is funny though that those who end up being your closest friends are those who appreciate that sincere part of you.

[mairesue.livejournal.com]

I think we respond to the sincerest part of people.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

I don't like that quote, but I can understand it. By being sincere, we make ourselves vulnerable. Vulnerability can be exploited.

I like many quotations by Shaw, but he was a cranky, critical man. He was certainly sincere about a great many things, and I would deem him extremely stupid about them, so I guess I am in complete agreement with him on that point!

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you. Yes, you probably will get hurt if you are always sincere, always your true self, but if you hide who you are, you won't have the depth to your relationships that you could have. If you refuse to reveal your heart, why would others open up to you?