Day 15 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Sin

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Lesson 15: Sin is a cultural misbelief...

“Lesson 15: Sin is a cultural misbelief. The concept of being punished for sins is not required by you. Morality is cultural construct; it is not universal law.”

— Sara Wiseman

I don’t believe in sin. I believe we can make mistakes and learn from them but I can’t say I believe in sin like I did when I was a Catholic. I don’t necessarily think all bad decisions and acts should be punishable. I think when people are out to hurt others, then those kinds of acts should have some form of justice. I believe that in this world there is light and dark. You can’t have one without the other – that’s the reality of it. There will always be a balance between the two. But to say, I sin and you sin, is some construct that I do not believe in anymore. Who is to judge this “sin”? I don’t believe in one God, so who does this job fall to? If I am to be punished for some bad choices I made, that may be considered sinful by others, what does that make me? I think what makes us human is learning to be good and overcoming the bad aspects, characteristics, habits and choices of oneself.

Today’s exercise involves writing down my sins and to ask myself if they are sins or just part of the human condition. I can’t even think of what is a “sin” to warrant making a list. If I’m to list some mistakes and bad decisions, I can do that, and can already answer the question that I believe that they aren’t sins, and are actually part of being human. I mean I have “Our flaws are what make us perfect” tattooed on my arm which pretty much sums up how I feel about everyone – we aren’t our unique selves without flaws and that makes us beautiful at the same time.

Things I tackled in the past year which may be considered bad characteristics and choices:

·         Had an abortion against my own values. The reality of that situation was that I was going to have to raise a child on my own, but more so, go through pregnancy on my own. I woke up one day, realising I just couldn’t do 9 months of pregnancy by myself, and made a decision that I had to, but didn’t want to at the same time.

·         Sometimes I lose focus at work and don’t do as much as I should.

·         I don’t call my mother often but that’s more so that I have not much to say about my life.

·         I get lazy sometimes, don’t do anything productive with my time and regret it later.

·         My choices have an environmental impact but that’s something I’m more conscious of and trying to change.

·         I drink heavily sometimes with friends and waste my time away.

That’s really all I’ve got. A lot of my 2017 was being more aware of the person I want to be. So anything considered “sinful” is something that I am currently eradicating from my life as I’m trying to be more tolerant and open. I feel like I've already transcended this particular lesson in that I don't believe in sin. To me, sin lies with some old religious belief systems that were imposed on people but doesn't really fit with this modern world. I ask the question: who doesn’t make bad decisions and not learn from them?

Day 15 - A Year to Clear - Cultivating Awareness

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Lesson 15: Three Rs of Clearing

“Clearing raises awareness. Clearing releases attachments. Clearing reveals a spacious part that has been there all along.”

— Stephanie Bennett Vogt

A new week equals a new theme. This week I am exposed to “Cultivating Awareness” accompanied with the 3 Rs of Clearing. So I’ve gone through “Departing” and “Inviting Awareness” from Week 1 and 2 and now I’m going to expand my growing awareness.

There isn’t so much a lesson this week as there is more of an introduction to the thought of “Cultivating Awareness”. If we’re relating it back to the 3 Rs, then I see myself already raising my awareness and by cultivating it means I will slowly begin to release my own attachment to things. I believe from previous lessons the idea of being an observer is heavily important in clearing. So detaching myself from any given situation and not making it a personal overwhelm is how I will conquer my tasks. I think remembering to be the observer/witness is going to be my challenge. If I continue to just do some breath work, ask myself the question of how to combat said problem and then action bit by bit, it’ll become natural in time. Slow growth for ongoing lifetime results – sounds good to me!