Today, forgiveness

Last updated on: April 16, 2017 at 1:20 am by Julie Colwell

Today, forgiveness 2017-04-16T01:20:41-05:00 Julie Colwell

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

dreamstime_m_3251242

Forgive: The sense of “to give up desire or power to punish” (late Old English)

. -–Online Etymological Dictionary

Our species has a proclivity for revenge, for punishment. We tend to be concrete and literal: if I’m ok, then you do something and I experience pain, it makes sense to me to blame you and then believe you deserve to be punished. It seems reasonable, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, this paradigm immediately disempowers me as I totally miss all the ways I was responsible for what occurred between us. My focus on you means I miss any information as to how I was actually 100% responsible for what I experienced in our exchange, and so what I might do to shift things in the future.

We follow the same process internally. It makes sense to most of us to blame and punish ourselves when we do something that goes awry or misses the mark of our intentions. Making a mistake generally leads to self-castigation and reprimand, with some belief that by punishing ourselves, we keep from repeating the error. Overall, there is a cultural supposition that punishment is a just and meaningful way to make us better humans, even though basic behavioral principles show that punishment is the least effective way to change our behavior. (Rewarding ourselves, especially intermittently, for the behaviors we want more of actually works the best.)

The Easter season is a time of celebrating the new level of consciousness that Jesus brought to the planet. Among the other remarkable aspects of Jesus’ life was how he embodied and taught the incredible power of forgiveness. His teachings fundamentally altered the eye-for-an-eye paradigm of the Old Testament, replacing it with the healing energies of love and compassion. As Adyashanti says in his wonderful book, Resurrecting Jesus, Jesus taught us to forgive our own unconsciousness:

When we lose consciousness of our deepest self, our deepest being as diving being itself, then in a sense we go unconscious. Part of us goes to sleep, you might say. Then, we are prone to illusion. We misunderstand things. We think if someone insults us, for example, that we need to respond with anger; we forget that they’re just expressing their own inner conflict, their own inner divisions, which is ultimately based on misunderstanding. The very root of sin…is something that can be forgiven. It’s forgivable because it’s an unconscious act, a result of being spiritually asleep. We can’t be blamed for being unconscious [or] for acting out our unconsciousness.

Ethel Greene teaches that our species is moving out of a 12,000 year phase of warmongering into a new era of peace. Making this incredibly huge—and very timely–shift requires that we stop waging war on ourselves and in our relationships. Giving up our desire and the power to punish ourselves and each other means laying down our emotional weapons and instead, applying love and compassion as salves for transforming our behavior with each other. It is time to grant ourselves forgiveness our unconsciousness, for the ways that we know not what we do, for.

No matter what your spiritual beliefs, celebrate the new life that Easter represents by giving up the punishment habit and choosing forgiveness, for yourself, for those around you, and especially for those “others” whom it’s so tempting and easy to blame. Bless yourself for being the miracle that you are. Celebrate life as it appears in its infinite forms, human and not. Appreciate all of your great intentions to live a right life, while you try out the assumption that most of the rest of us are striving for the same. Nourish your spirit by choosing to fill your heart with the true healing and transformational power of love.

Previous Post

April 6, 2017

Do you live in a friendly universe? Redux

Next Post

April 20, 2017 A challenge from the EEPs!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Appreciation Authenticity Blame Blog Highlight Classes Co-Creativity Communication Creative Brain Creative Brain Communication Creativity Emotions Energy Essence Events Evolutionary power Generosity Health Inner Map Inspiration Integrity Love Manifestation News Podcast Presencing Reactive Brain Real Power Relationships S.E.W. Self-hate, self-love Taking responsibility Transparency Triangle Trust Unarguable truth Uncategorized video Workshops

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 January 2016 October 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 January 2010 August 2009 February 2009 December 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 April 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Jewish festival was occurring when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hanukkah Passover Tabernacles Pentecost