Sincerity

Rule 2

What is sincerity, you ask? The dictionary can help us with that.

“the quality or state of being sincere : honesty of mind : freedom from hypocrisy “

Often times, during belt tests for Kempo, the instructors will start asking you random questions to try to mess with your head. If you're doing really well on a test, and don't see you being rattled by anything else, they'll start asking you about stuff from the manual that no one reads after they look at it once as a white belt.

One of the more common questions is what are the five rules of the dojo? Remembering them isn't too hard. But this one time, I had a fourth degree black belt escort me into the office of the studio, sit me down and ask me which rule I thought was most important.

My first reaction was relief—no facing off with a fourth degree black belt. A few breaths later, I said, “Sincerity.”

He raised his eyebrows and asked me why.

The words are gone now, but I remember trying to explain that if I'm going to commit to doing something, I want it to be for the right reasons and I want to be able to put all of the energy into it that it deserves. If you don't know why you're here, what do you care about anything else?

So instead of rambling for a few more paragraphs, I'm going to ask all of you to think about what you do each day. Why do you do it? What do you hope to gain from it? Do you like it, hate it, do it out of obligation? Are you sincere in your activities, or do you fake it a lot?

Think about it, then do something about it.

And don't forget, that being sincere doesn't mean that everything is always bubbly and happy. I think it means that in the end you'll be very satisfied with what you've done.