08/09/15 Rev. David McArthur
No More Guilt
It’s time for guilt to end! When we were kids learning good/bad, right/wrong, guilt was helpful. Then as we grow spiritually and awaken to who we really are, we learn of God the Compassionate, of God the Merciful (the Q’ran). What if we were compassionate and merciful to ourselves?! Rumi: “But listen to me for one moment. Quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.”
From the Book of John: “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman… ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.’ Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger…and said to them, ‘Let anyone one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Those who heard began to go away one at a time…until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus …asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one accused you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I…”
In our awakening, our journey, the woman symbolizes our feeling nature, the part of us feeling guilty; the Pharisees, head thinking (polarized, dualistic perception) rather than oneness. Jesus is the Christ Self, the Atman, Buddhist Mind, the I Am, our capacity within us which puts us in touch with the One Mind. “Stooping to write” shows the highest touches the ground when we have our life challenges. Jesus then sends us into self honesty, (“those without sin”), into our capacity to perceive and understand ourselves, the compassion of understanding. We gain wisdom, what life’s about. It is not pass/fail.
Sometimes we gain the most when we really blow it badly. For years we can be “weighed down with the knowledge that it was my fault.” Wisdom is the result of compassion because love always contains intelligence because love is God. That brings wisdom, and that brings peace.
Peace. Guilt. There’s always someone who will invite you into guilt, or something past will come up. In that moment we can choose compassion. Sometimes it’s easier to start with compassion for someone out there. Then we can bring it to ourselves. Compassion to understanding to peace. I choose compassion. I choose compassion. I choose compassion.
“But listen to me for one moment. Quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.” And you will!
