I remember watching the movie “12 Years a Slave” for the first time. Expressing a mixture of pure hatred, anger, sadness, and confusion. I thought to myself, “How could people treat each other like this?” This thinking persisted through most of my life. I believed that some people are just evil and they deserve to be punished. This worked out quite well for me since it justified my hatred. That it was okay to damn someone for their wrong-doing.
When it comes to being spiritual, there is nothing so radically different as division… Putting others in boxes like racist, misogynist, cheater, murderer. Yes, it is understandable for us to identify others by what they have done. But relying on these labels is like shutting the door and throwing away the key… Shaming these people and convincing them that the illusions they believe are real and that they do not deserve forgiveness for what they’ve done.
Everyone deserves forgiveness, no matter how terrible the act, doesn’t matter how conscious the person was when they did it, or how horrific the act was. Either way they are worthy of redemption.
You have heard this more then once in your lifetime, “Everything happens for a reason”. This can be difficult for some to accept because of what they may have been through. Understanding this principle of creation helps us put together the pieces of why things happen the way they do. It simply comes down to challenge. What is difficult for us is what we need most. For example: let’s say that your son was murdered, and you knew who killed your son. This comes down to a choice, will we give into our basic desires for revenge or can we express empathy and compassion in the darkest of times?
There is a purpose to everything that has happened in this world, all of it serves as a teaching opportunity for us to expand our awareness of consciousness, to be better versions of ourselves each day, to be climbing the ladder to who we actually are – individuals of understanding, reason, acceptance, peace, willingness, and courage. We are love.
This will be the most difficult thing you’ll ever attempt to achieve in your life. Simply put, it’s easier for us to commit sin when we are pushed to our limits. The less aware you are currently, the easier it is to reach those limits. It’s much more taxing to do the right thing. You can simply look out into the world and see how prevailing sin is. This is our baseline when we are first conditioned into this world. We are pressured to push ourselves into this tiny box of understanding ourselves. Understanding what we are becomes our identity that what we do in our lives defines us defines our worth.
You are not a thing, what you have done in the past does not define what you will become. When your finally able to forgive yourself, you forgive others, releasing them from their shame, fear, and guilt, shedding all the faulty programming, and exposing who you always were – love.
