Understanding and Utilizing the Power of Sincerity in Action

If we reflect on our own efforts to change things in our lives, whether a resolution to follow a diet, exercise regularly, create a work-rest balance, spend more time with our families, or carry out some effort in our religious or spiritual focus, we will quickly see that our resolve does not always get carried out in our lives. We berate ourselves for lack of will power, without fully working out why that seems to be the case that we cannot follow through. We feel compelled in many cases to do things that are self-defeating. Of course, will-power can be practiced, strengthened and developed. Yet there is an underlying issue that actually is a primary causative factor in this failure, which the Mother terms lack of “sincerity”.
What is sincerity in this context? We first need to explore and understand the different parts of our being, and their different demands and desires. The psychic being is focused on our spiritual growth and development. For most people, it is quiet behind the veil of the external being and rarely shapes their lives. When it comes forward and takes a leading role then it can have an influence to both guide and direct the other parts of the being and harmonize them around the central focus.
The mind, the vital being and the physical body each have their own needs, wants, desires, and cherished directions, and they will tend to assert themselves. They undermine the will whenever they are not aligned for the same purpose and direction. The body may crave certain foods, the vital may seek the fulfillment of certain desires and they have a way of co-opting the mind to agree and provide an excuse or rationale for the outcome they desire.
Sincerity is this process of bringing all the parts of the being to agreement about the goals, purposes and actions to support the central purpose of the being and the life.
The Mother observes: “… there are people who tell me, ‘I don’t have the will-power [to overcome desire].’ That means you are not sincere. For sincerity is an infinitely more powerful force than all the wills in the world. It can change anything whatever in the twinkling of an eye; it takes hold of it, grips it, pulls it out — and then it’s over.”
“But you close your eyes, you find excuses for yourself.”
“Sincerity is the safeguard, the protection, the guide, and finally the transforming power.”
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter VII Attitude, pg. 66