Are You Living in Sin?
Are you living in SIN?
According to Webster, "sin" is a transgression (or violation) of the law of God. It is also described as a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God. This can manifest in different forms – lying, cheating, stealing, hurting, etc. etc. Stepping back from sin's religious origin, what is it really, and what are its causes? In my walking meditation today, I received the following:
Sin * is actually an acronym for S inking I not N egativity .
And then breaking "sin" down more completely:
• Sin is sinking into negativity .
• Negativity is caused by fear .
• Fear is the result of lack of trust .
When I heard this I laughed because it rang so true. By sinking into negativity and fear, we subject ourselves to the impulses that can lead us to unfavorable acts. Whenever we do things that we know are not ethical, kind or just, we are sinking into negativity or fear.
How is negativity extremely the result of fear? Think about it. Why would you do something that you do not feel good about? It's usually because of one of two things-anger and / or fear. One might say, "I did (…) because they pissed me off." Let's think about anger for a moment. Why would anyone feel anger towards another? Here are some examples: because he / she hurt me, ripped me off, controls / dominates me, because he / she lied to me. The truth is, in most cases it's because I am afraid my pain will damage me, I am afraid that he / she is taking something from me that can not be replaced, I am afraid that I will have my freedom taken away, I am afraid that being lied to makes me weak or will take away my power, etc. You get the drift.
When I work with people, some say, "I'm not afraid, I'm just angry." To this I might ask, "What are you angry about?" I may hear, "I'm mad because he took advantage of me and I want to give him a lesson." To this I would say, "Why are you mad that he took advantage of you?" And I might hear something like, "I'm mad because it hurt me." I say, "Why are you mad because he hurt you?" "Because it makes me feel that I do not deserve something better." And here is where the fear begins to surface. I would then take them into the fear exercise I describe in my blog post Hear Your Fear, Surrender To Love.
SIN is not falling from God / Goddess's (Spirit's, the Universe's) grace. It is falling from our own sense of grace. It is US detaching from ourselves and separating ourselves from God and the world around us. It is self-inflected. Dropping into emotional fear is part of the human condition, and we all have moments of it in our lifetimes. What the opportunity is … and what is Divine, is the ability to choose to and then take action to pull ourselves out of fear and out of negativity, and this happens through trust. Trust is having faith that grace is always conspiring for our higher good … and faith in the goodness, strength and worthiness of ourselves.
So forgive yourself, forgive the other person and move on. Oh, I suppose it's time to write a post on forgiveness. I'll get right on that!
* To clarify, I am not talking about heinous actions. I am speaking (lightheartedly) of our run of the mill, every day "sins".