"Self-acceptance leads to success, not the other way around."
- Deepak Chopra
To dwell upon the past is to remain stuck in repetitive patterns of karma. Karma is the accumulated history of beliefs, emotions and actions that have lead up to this present experience. It is our attachment to the past that keeps us stuck. There is a saying in French, “C’est la vie. C’est la guerre. C’est la rue de mon pere.” It is a fatalistic attitude that indicates that things are out of our control and continue as they always have; life and war are the same for us as for those who went before.
It is only through awareness that things can change. Awakening in the present moment allows us to make new choices, to find new paths and to go beyond repetitive cycles of suffering, failure, conflict and misery.
According the Yogic understanding, what we are presently experiencing is the outcome of past thoughts and actions. It has a momentum to it which is hard to change and must be endured to some extent. What comes next, however, is up to us. Our responses in the moment can lead us in either a positive or negative direction. If we continue to act from old beliefs and patterns we create more of the same. If we are able to be more aware we have the opportunity to make creative choices.
We all have our alibis, our excuses for not changing. “That’s just the way things are.” “That is just how I am.” “I must be hard-wired for anxiety.” These are all bullshit. However, it can be hard to change, hard to withstand the momentum of habit, to become conscious of our inner processes and to generate new ones.
People often comment that it seems like such a struggle to be aware of everything all the time and it is. Awakening is work at first although it becomes easier as we go along. With practice it becomes our nature (or so I’ve heard.) In any case you have to decide if it is worth it. We as the human community have to decide if it is worth it. To remain on the present path seems very clearly to leading us towards self-destruction.
Sin, guilt and shame are extremely counter-productive. The word “sin” comes from a Greek term used in archery for “missing the mark.” Of course it is more than a mere mistake. What we call sin is generally a fairly deep “mistake.” To lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc. are big mistakes which can bring huge consequences. “There is no sin but a mistake,” wrote Ernest Holmes, “and no punishment but an inevitable consequence.” The bigger the mistake, the bigger is the consequence. Sometimes we have to atone. If we understand atonement as “at-one-ment,” we begin to get the picture. Sin comes from being disconnected from our inner wholeness, our inner perfection as children of God.
All sins, all karma, all mistakes are released in the light of forgiveness. Forgiveness means waking up from past patterns, being present and choosing anew. All judgment, condemnation and resentment is really aimed at ourselves. What we hate and fear in others is projected from within ourselves. Forgiveness starts with ourselves as self-acceptance. When we are able to see and accept ourselves as we are, there is a possibility for change. In fact, change is inevitable. “Wake up, grow, change, evolve. For you are part of the universal process of spiritual evolution.”
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