|
Personally, I do not use
these concepts in my daily life. They seem to be rooted
in fear, guilt and shame, things that I am trying to
distance myself from. Guilt and shame feel heavy and
block my growth and clarity. That being said, I readily
admit that negative influences exist and that overcoming
them has helped many people (including me!) grow. I use
the term “sin” as a matter of convenience and because of
it’s familiarity. I use the term to indicate two groups
of things.
The first major grouping includes
anything that blocks or impedes ones connection with
God. This includes, for example, addictions, attachments
to material things, medicating feelings with behaviors
or chemicals, fear, jealousy or denial.
Addictions, attachment to material
things, desires and expectations all take the focus from
a connection with God and replace it with a focus on a
worldly object. It is paradoxical since a focus on
worldly things is supposed to bring some sense of
fulfillment, but in fact such a focus leads to an
increased anxiety. As has been pointed out many times,
the more you have, the more you feel like you need! This
focus is promoted by those who wish to sell you things.
A focus on spiritual things can lead to a feeling of
fulfillment. I used to live in the world of addictions
and attachments and now I live in the spiritual world.
Medicating feelings with chemicals
or behaviors can obscure any potential connection with
self, reality or God, which is frequently the whole
purpose of medicating. Some of the more common chemicals
include alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs,
caffeine, nicotine, sugar and other “comfort” foods.
Some of the more common behavioral means of hiding
include gambling, sex, pornography, shopping sprees and
physical activities which produce an adrenaline rush.
Many of these chemicals or behaviors can be benefited
from and some can simply be enjoyed. They can also be a
method of avoidance.
Fear, jealousy, and denial or any
other strong emotion can certainly block any sort of
spiritual connection. As far as I know, strong emotions
such as these are part of living and help us to grow.
That is, they are beneficial. They can also be
problematic when they dominate a person’s life, long
term. For example my life was dominated by fear and
denial for many years. My fears took many forms such as
failure, financial ruin, physical limitations and
general incompetence. My denial was generally around
drugs and alcohol.
The second major grouping of sins
or evils includes anything that blocks or harms someone
else’s spiritual or emotional growth. This includes
murder/homicide, trauma to another, taking advantage of
someone else for personal gain or being dishonest.
The best way that I have found to
tell if something is negative or evil, as some would
say, is how it feels. For example, if you encounter a
person or thing and get a twisted feeling in your guts,
there is something amiss. In order to be able to discern
this accurately a person must clear out all attachments,
desires, past hurts, shoulds, duties and fears - a tall
order. At present, I can do this most of the time, but
not when I am involved in any strong emotion.
Using myself as an example, I used
to not trust anyone because of the hurt and fear caused
by my history. I also had a twisted feeling inside
virtually all of the time. In order to arrive at some
sort of clarity about the world around me and stop
feeling bad all of the time, I needed to resolve some
things. I joined several self-help groups, including
some of the anonymous ones and attitudinal healing. I
also participated in therapy and journaling. I began to
use love and faith rather than fear based techniques to
promote my own healing. I also began using love and
faith in my service to others. I no longer have that
twisted feeling and go about a life based on love and
faith. Quite a different experience!
Back to Top |