Day 15 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Sin
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Photo by Hailey Kean on Unsplash
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.”
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?