On Easter we all are thinking of Resurrection; how it means to rise from the dead or return to life.
As I returned to my life, it has taken me on a wild and exhilarating ride, one that has taken me from the depths of hell up to the heights of Heaven, while tearing down false idols, correcting misconceptions, up righting upside down ideals, and bringing my self back to my life, a resurrection.
Returning to awareness in my life has also been a day of reckoning, owning up to all the places where I had not been in my life; I now was facing the sins of the past in the present.
I had been taught to believe that I could have my sins forgiven and forgotten, by merely saying a few words, and all would be well with thee, and that they had been transferred to someone else, like to Jesus. And I would then be whiter than snow, clean, perfect a new slate.
No action was expected, just had to mumble a few words, admit that I had sinned. And like magic another could wash me clean and I didn’t have to do a damn thing.
In my head perhaps this worked, but in real life it was a train wreck. Inside of my head I was clean and perfect, in the reality of my life all the affects of blinking away my sins lay in their ugliness unchanged.
I am not a historian nor was I ever deeply religious, but try and explain the applications of this sin and forgiveness thing to a child of say two.
How does this work? Can a little child pass off his bad deeds to another? Where does stealing go when you confess? Will a bad word evaporate and become unspoken, a hurt rendered hurt less etc?
As I sit on this Easter morning, I see the sheer volume of how religion has life so wrong, and in fact how it finds way to escape life instead of returning to life.
Easter to me means returning to your life, being 100% responsible for all things you do, not schlepping off your negative traits, wrong actions, and weaknesses onto another person, but instead learning and exploring your whole self, being present in all aspects of life.
Happy returning to Life!