True states of realization occur when you throw away all the teachings. All of the teachings, absolutely. Everything. Then you are investigation itself finding out what you are. You realize that many people have said many things along the way. Somebody said you are an eternal soul, you have to be saved, and you have to believe in Christ. Somebody else said you just need to realize that there is no self. Another person said the true self is the Brahman. Somebody talked about God. And if you really believe that those people are not lying, you start wondering what they’re talking about. Who is right? You need intense sincerity and ruthless courage to discover the turth for yourself. “This person says this and that person says that. I believe that they mean what they say, but how can I say one of them is right and one of them is wrong? And who knows what they mean by what they say anyway?” – Diamond Heart Book Five: Inexhaustible Mystery, ch.7
Another of the four virtues is sincerity: being sincere in your life, not lying to yourself. To be sincere is to be earnest about exposing your self-deceptions about who you really are, what you want and do not want, what you feel and do not feel, what scares you and what doesn’t, about what is actually happening in you and in your situation. You need the utmost genuineness and dedication to the truth, and you need to live a life based on this sincerity and earnestness. Then you are living a life of truth, and loving truth. When I say you need to be earnest about being truthful, I do not mean simply that you need to tell the truth; I mean you need to see the truth, and live according to it, not to lie to yourself or to deceive yourself about what is actually happening. This development requires sincerity in all of your life. If you want something, let yourself know that, “Yes, I want something.” If you are mad about something, let yourself know, “Yes, I’m mad about something.” Let yourself recognize the truth, because oneness is a manifestation of ultimate truth. When you are completely sincere, you realize that oneness is the real state of the world. It is what exists; you are a universal person. That is a deep truth. When you are really sincere with yourself, and not trying to be anything else, then you realize your truth. When you are insincere, you are not letting yourself be who you really are. It is very important to work on developing sincerity. – Diamond Heart Book Four: Indestructible Innocence, ch.6
The motivation we need is the sincerity of wanting the truth for its own sake, loving the truth for its own sake. This happens when truth becomes what we want, what we value, what we appreciate, what makes our heart happy. This is not a matter of ethical sincerity—of telling the truth—which is how sincerity is usually understood. The attitude here is more of a state of the heart, a devotional attitude. We want something for its own sake when we truly love it. There’s no other way to want something for its own sake. Conversely, when we appreciate something for its own sake, we call that love. So loving truth for its own sake brings the heart to a devotional attitude, an attitude of selfless affection and dedication. It is the heart’s openness, the heartfelt appreciation and longing, the gravitational pull that makes us want to see the truth, to be closer to the truth, to be intimate with it. The heart’s love of the truth is not a thought or an idea. It is not a matter of trying to live according to an ideal. It’s not a motive that comes from the mind. It is an impulse from the depth of the soul, a deeply felt motive from the heart. It is not that we think and deliberate and decide that truth is good for us, so we end up wanting it. Love of the truth is not utilitarian. The truth often ends up being utilitarian, but that is not what inspires the right attitude for the journey. The correct attitude is that of a lover who wants to be close to the beloved. – A. H. Almaas, Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey, pg. 125