Repentance And Morbid Reflection

The word repentance has a definite religious feel to it. Perhaps I have watched too many old movies but I can’t help but see in my minds eye a preacher screaming at their congregation to REPENT or else. Living on the Spiritual Basis what does it mean to repent? First a definition:

Repent:
1. be sorry: to recognize the wrong in something you have done and be sorry about it
2. religion change ways: to feel regret about a sin or past actions and change your ways or habits (Encarta)

OK, to feel sorry about something done or said and to change our ways, it is simple to feel sorry, but not easy to truly change. Living on the new basis, the basis of trusting and relying on A Power Greater Than Ourselves requires action. A simple acceptance of past mistakes with a mumbled “sorry” won’t fit the bill at all. Living on the Spiritual Basis requires work on our part. One of the traps those new to the spiritual basis of living fall into is to continually rehash old hurts and mistakes which only serves to reinvigorate them, fill them with new life. To be clear: We do not shut the door on the past or wish to deny it, but we do not under any pretense engage in morbid reflection. To do so takes us out of the moment and pulls us into remorse and negative self-reflection, the bondage of self. Our past is a great tool, often the best, for helping those new to the process to progress but we can be of little use if we are wallowing in self-pity or pointless remorse. On our own we are powerless to effect any real lasting change at our core, by relying on a Power Greater Than Ourselves real change is effected, the past put in proper perspective and its power over us removed and we are Free.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Serenity, Enlightenment, Zen, Emmet Fox, How To Be Happy, Golden Key, Pope Francis, Chopra, Jesus, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path