Take your bag of guilt and throw it over the rail!
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
A straight back and thighs? Dizziness?
A horizon at eye level?
And for God’s sake,
don’t stop to think about tripping down the bank to retrieve it.
Don’t you remember your howling astonishment
at the sudden stranger who burned you with the glowing end of a cigarette?
And how for years later you tried, and still try,
to remember the wicked thing you did to inherit punishment?
And why this?
your lingering suspicion and final rejection of any new sprout of goodness that comes to you.
Too long you’ve lived your life as an appliance.
Being turned on,
adjusted, dialed, cuffed,
turned off, forgotten until needed.
Only a fool, and a wicked one,
would blame you for unplugging yourself from all that.
Do you really think, after your release,
finding yourself staring into the eyes of a sunrise,
Jesus would say,
go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee?
You really must learn to read those old pages with benign suspicion.
Or not at all.
This is beautiful and refreshing. It is so important to move away from the mind-numbing, paralyzing weight of guilt and instead embrace true responsibility which allows for action without self-blame or deprivation. We have to view ourselves with compassion so that we have the strength to take full responsibility… and also to accept the things that are beyond our control.
I’ve been doing a lot of Buddhist meditation if you can’t tell!
Thanks for your important and insightful comment Teryl