Narciso Jaramillo, Post-It #61, Redemption
I meditate daily before the altar,
Yet I am still covered with sin.In spite of daily efforts to improve ourselves, we still have many faults. We eliminate one, only to find new shortcomings. We free ourselves from some unwanted involvement, only to find new entanglements. Why is it so hard to find liberation? Because our own minds are the source of our difficulties.
Each one of us who has intelligence and ambition has profound desire. We want things. We devise strategies to get them. Whether it is the nearly instinctive drive for food or whether it is desire clothed in societal approval, our minds never rest in their hunger for satisfaction. Once we have desire, we grasp for the object of our desire. If the grasping is unsuccessful, we becomes angry, frustrated, and disappointed. If we get what we want, we only want more.
The grasping never ends. Though we meditate, we cannot eliminate this habit all at once. Therefore, though we may sit with all sincerity before the altar, we must also accept that we will not be quickly redeemed. The follower of tao knows how to eliminate desire, accept personal shortcomings, and work toward a patient elimination of the mind’s own hunger for outward satisfaction.
There was a beginning of the universe
Which may be regarded as the Mother of the Universe.
From the Mother, we may know her sons.
After knowing the sons, keep to the Mother.
Thus one’s whole life may be preserved from harm.Stop its apertures,
Close its doors,
And one’s whole life is without toil.Open its apertures,
Be busy about its affairs,
And one’s whole life is beyond redemption.He who can see the small is clear-sighted;
He who stays by gentility is strong.
use the light,
And return to clear-sightedness –
Thus cause not yourself later distress.
– This is to rest in the Absolute.— Tao Te Ching, 52
“Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.” — Tennessee Williams
Source: THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
REDEMPTION, n. Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sin, through their murder of the deity against whom they sinned. The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religion, and whoso believeth in it shall not perish, but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it.
We must awake Man’s spirit from his sin,
And take some special measure for redeeming it;
Though hard indeed the task to get it in
Among the angels any way but teaming it,
Or purify it otherwise than steaming it.
I’m awkward at Redemption — a beginner:
My method is to crucify the sinner.
Golgo Brone
Well, several people have attempted to bring me to redemption by crucifying me, or at least, not speaking to me anymore, which was pretty much the same thing to me. Pretending someone doesn’t exist anymore is pretty much the worst thing you can do short of actually killing them, in my book.
To me redemption is about coming to terms with yourself, accepting the things that have happened in your life and mistakes you have made and becoming ok with that. It’s being happy with where you are now in your life, neither worried about the future or regretting the past, but just enjoying where you are in life right now. Achieving that is a difficult thing to do, and does require a lot of thought and meditation.
But yes, I like the idea of carving away whatever doesn’t look like a soul. If something in your life isn’t fitting, is making you feel upset or unhappy, it’s probably best to get rid of it. If desiring something is causing you great pain, it’s probably best to lose that desire and longing. This is not easy to do, though. If you can’t sit quietly somewhere, pretty much anywhere, and be at peace with yourself and satisfied with who you are, then there are things you need to work on. But you won’t find that peace anywhere outside of yourself.
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