Sin

Another comment to a FB post

Sin is viewing ourselves as separate from everything else, especially our immediate surroundings, and thinking, feeling and then acting from that perspective, which puts us at odds with our surroundings and trying to maximize our own situation, often at the expense of those people and things around us. While in this mindset we try to make god into something that will justify the path we are on, and that ends up having to be a confrontational god that must be rule based with the assignment of winners and losers, with each getting their “just” rewards and punishments.

This is what we must be born again from or awakened to realizing we are a little bit separate and our own entity, but much more so slightly unique and valuable, hopelessly connected, parts of The Entirety, which is God.

When we think, feel, and act from the perspective of being separate and at odds with our surroundings we put barriers between us and our surroundings. That is why we must “repent” and go through the reconciliation process, which generally includes the things we most resist, like confessing our sins to one another and doing whatever we can to rectify and heal the hurt and harm we have caused while acting from a separateness perspective. However, to the extent we have been saved or born again or have awakened this reconciliation process is actually a joyful process.

Please do not misunderstand and think I am saying I have mastered or do any of this reconciliation process well (or often). And even when I do actually do it fairly well I generally start to do it grudgingly. At the same time at some point I sometimes surrender to it fairly fully for at least a short period of time, and in those fairly short periods of time I experience what all the Saints are trying to share with us, that we normally misconstrue.

Saying that seems to great lack an essential humility, which is one of the pillars of the whole experience, as the saints/transformed always emphasize, and the only way to explain that is by remembering that getting to the experience occurs by surrendering the self, as apart from everything else, and the Majesty belongs completely to The Father/Entirety and not to the slightly unique, valuable and connected part (each of us). This is because each of us is extremely feeble and of almost no significance until we claim our spot as part of greater wholes and ultimately The Greatest Whole or Entirety. Whereas to the extent we do claim our spot we become a part of Something infinitely wonderful and tap into the Power to move proverbial mountains.

Sin is ignoring, suppressing, avoiding our indwelling spirit/Christ within/deepest self/soul/heart (whatever you want to call it) in all the crazy and harmful ways we do that with the worst being when we harm another and make them more reluctant to live from and share their own.

Faith is following our indwelling spirit/Christ within/deepest self/soul/heart that knows what Jesus and all the great spiritual teachers taught is the Truth. As Jesus taught, this starts off like a mustard seed or yeast in size and significance, but if we prioritize it (spend time, effort, resources on it), share it with others and help each other find more of it and live from it, that is the Kingdom. And to the extent we have faith in that Truth and process and build the Kingdom, we have the proverbial Faith that moves mountains and we join God’s Benevolent Eternity, which collectively is The Good News.

I personally have a smidge of that Faith and unfortunately still spend most of my time ignoring, suppressing, and avoiding. Fortunately, even that smidge has been enough to change my life from being about 80% tough/miserable, 15% decent, and 5% good, to about 60% good, 20% tough/miserable, and 20% mountain top, for many years.