Why So, Sirius?

Why So, Sirius?

63rd Edition

Happy Spiritual Monday!

Recently I had the good fortune of sitting in the company of a few good brothers who always stimulate good, deep discussion over the more mysterious points of life. This particular gathering brought about a gentle journey after which we discussed some words and word play. Cheers Tom and Nick for the journey of words.

Seriously?

The word serious has been something that I have strived to keep away from in my everyday vernacular. Reason being, I find that as people age we tend to feel compelled to steer away from concepts such as fun and wonder, and instead gravitate towards seriousness, maturity, and business suits! Any regular reader here would know that my definition of success is never having to wear a suit, so clearly I am not in line with the throngs of humans who usher themselves into transport devices taking them into cubes in cities to make “big decisions” in high places. 

Moreover, I find that people often use the word serious when they mean sincere. Or at least, that’s what feels right in my bones! One definition of serious gives us “Without humour or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition; earnest; thoughtful; solemn.” Not terribly light. One definition of sincere gives us “Genuine; meaning what one says or does; heartfelt.” That sounds great to me.

What I find is that “being serious” has come to mean a form of assuming the mentality/ role/ qualities we believe we should when in a position we are holding. As in, it is often used in the context of someone calling another out such as, “Don’t you think you should be taking this a bit more seriously?” As if how they are approaching the situation isn’t proper or good enough. 

In contrast, I can’t recall too many - if any - situations where someone has called someone out saying, “Don’t you think you should be more sincere?” It’s just not held as a highly regarded value in these times to be sincere and yet we feel that it’s important to come across as serious.

Anyway, you get my point here - that I prefer someone to be sincere over serious. The two can coexist too, some people sincerely are serious, and I do not discount that in the slightest. I simply find sincerity to be more authentic and I tune into authenticity in people.

Now, if we were to dive into the accepted etymology of the word “serious” we would find it yielding meaning of weighty, important, grave and the like. But we all know that history is simply his-story, and typically is written by one group’s opinion on the matter, I’d like to think of the root of the word in the way our discussion steered us. Lightly.

Sirius

In our night sky, the brightest star we see is Sirius. While there are other names given, I’ll choose to stick with Sirius for this piece, as it lends to the discussion on hand. Now, I don’t want to sound too off centre, but the name Sirius sounds an awful lot like the other word… Serious. And I mean that, sincerely. 

Beyond just being a play on words, follow on this journey with me for a moment. What if the word serious came from the star Sirius? This would give new light to the meaning of how it may have been intended. 

What if being serious was a reference to shining your light more brightly? What if it was intended to remind us when our inner flame dims and to inspire us to restore the fire within us to shed light into the world? This sounds a bit more fun and exciting to me. And a bit more meaningful and impactful.

The quality of our words create the reality of our worlds, so I find it of high importance to curate the words we share impeccably. If we take serious to mean sharing of one’s light in the most bright manner, then this yields a greater result, I’d say, versus just being grave, solemn and without humour or expression of happiness. 

We live in a world where fear is weaponised against the unwitting, scare tactics and propagandist acts are employed all around us - the darkness aiming to creep into our lives and psyches. There is no doubt the forces of dark exist, but even in the darkest, blackest room, a single candle flame will illuminate the walls. 100 candles will brighten it up, while still more 1000 candles will eliminate darkness almost completely.

So, then, it would seem absolutely prudent to be sharing of our light in the most beautiful and sincere way. Even if we combined the two words of sincere and serious, we would get the word Sirius (a little calculus in the spelling, perhaps) but it sounds more elegant. 

Why so, Sirius?

Now, to someone who is rooted in seriousness, this may seem a bit like a light hearted joke or gag. But I’d like to share a concept to ponder. We are all programmed from an early age to accept some forms of knowledge or understanding of the world around us. It is necessary for our interaction with the world that this occurs, however, as we age and our minds expand and grow in ability of comprehension (and hopefully critical thinking and common sense) we are able to start exploring things for ourselves more and reassessing the previously held truths we may grasp onto.

In this example I’m asking us to consider the word serious to hold another meaning, and if it vibes, to use that meaning when using the word. What might stop you is the attachment to what it may have meant for you for the entirety of your life previously, but that can all change!

Consider how years ago a specific cigarette was the one doctors recommended most for pregnant women… How studies were conducted that cited having just one glass of wine a night was actually healthy for us…. How it was stated that Lucky Charms cereal was part of our balanced and complete breakfast… How even more recently some vaccines were claimed 100% safe and effective… and then weren’t.

All of these “truths” have shifted in the recent years and it is a beautiful process for us to witness our attachment to someone else’s “facts” on a subject. We can blindly defend what we have been programmed to believe, and we are left with the thing. As one of my greatest teachers used to regularly proclaim “If you argue for your limitations, your reward is that you get to keep them.” 

Consider that our attachment to any definition might be a limitation for what we are truly capable of. And if this is the case, let yourself be Sirius: Be the light that shines to illuminate the truth of our sincere, authentic selves. 

Or don’t. Life is a beautiful game we play, and some of us choose security over novelty time and again. There is no bad or good, inherently, but consider what you could be experiencing if only you allowed your light to shine a little bit more…

I wish you a beautiful day, and I mean that, Siriusly ;)

And so it is.