Guilt

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The Secret of Forgiveness

One of the most challenging acts to fulfill is forgiveness.  One of the most challenging people to forgive is our self.

Within ourselves, with inclusion of all the different levels of consciousness within our whole consciousness, we hold a full understanding of all things.  However, these unconscious store houses of understanding rarely come forward to enlighten us and heal us when we struggle with life.

It takes an extra effort – effort beyond what we know living our day to day lives.  It takes different effort to understand guilt, forgiveness and how these work.  Yet, this extra effort, once made, opens up aspects and experiences of healing, learning and loving that before we were unaware were even available.

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We start with this – the chains of guilt are all one chain – connected from our self going out to all life.  When we wrap others in the guilt we place on them, we wrap ourselves in the same chain.  When we place guilt or blame on anyone for anything, we are placing guilt and blame on ourselves for the same thing – even when we “think” (using our day to day consciousness) that we – our self – haven’t done the same thing as those we place guilt upon.  There is no escaping this.

Be aware that our day-to-day consciousness and memory doesn’t remember 99% of our life, does it.  It rarely ever remembers the things we’ve done in our recent past, or how we impacted the lives of those we’ve known all through this life.  Our day-to-day memory almost never remembers a single past life, much less all of our past lives, much less our lives outside of human existence, or before we entered into this human existence realm, or the realms and dimensions we existed in before we ever came to this Earth realm/dimension.

Very few, if any, remembers the infiniteness of our existence, much less the lessons learned and unlearned during this infiniteness of existence.

To say that we don’t deserve guilt that we then go on to place upon others speaks volumes to what we are aware of.  To say we feel guilt but don’t work to resolve it, also speaks to what we are aware of.  However, it also speaks to a potential beginning.  It speaks to a beginning – if we’re willing.

It can speak to the beginning of discovering how we came to wear the chains of guilt – and it’s not what you might think.

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The challenge to forgive ourselves of any failure, mistake, fault, crime, sin, or shortcoming is a challenge to pick up – a very difficult challenge.  It is a challenge that we don’t succeed at very often, (if we don’t have the willingness or understanding.)  It is an act which we don’t always feel within our minds, hearts and souls.

The way to forgive ourselves of xyz (anything) is to forgive everyone of the very same failure, crime, shortcoming, sin, etc.

The chain of guilt we place on ourselves, we have also placed on others.  Likewise, the chain of guilt we have placed on others, we hold up in the light of day showing their guilt, and then when the time comes – even without our awareness of this process – we forge this same chain for ourselves.  As I’ve said already, there’s no escaping this.

To help us learn what it’s like for other human beings – to help us learn what it’s like to be a human being, God will sometimes – and we ourselves sometimes – lead us to circumstances that give us opportunities to experience situations of failure and sin, of those with whom we’ve judged and condemned most vehemently.

Lifetimes can pass, and future lives can be lived, before the day comes that we experience that which led others to stumble and fall – which we condemned and called “guilty” and of which we chose to never let go.  But, as long as we hold onto chains of guilt for placing on anyone else, never letting them go for anyone under any particular circumstance, we are forging and holding onto the chain of guilt for ourselves, as well, and hence why it is so hard to let go of our own guilt – the chain of guilt which we forged and now wear on ourselves.  We’ve worn the chain for so long placing these chains on others, and only feel the chains when we feel the weight of guilt from recognizing that we’ve acted in a way that we, before, criticized and condemned – (and almost always is unremembered.)

Only when we let go of the chain of guilt we place on others are we also letting go of the chain of guilt we place on ourselves.  It is one chain.  Only then do we understand what it’s like for human beings to be human beings.  Only then do we understand how a person can act a certain way through unique circumstances which lead to making mistakes, stumbling and falling, sinning, or whatever we call it.

Does it always require us to go through the same experiences, situations and circumstances to learn how to do this?  NO.  No.  and no.

Only when we are unwilling to understand.  Only when we are unwilling to demonstrate patience, or compassion or mercy.  If we’re only willing to place guilt, shame, judgement, criticism, or condemnation, do we set in motion the path that will eventually lead us to learn the healing effects of forgiveness for ourselves and the others we condemned and judged.

If we’re willing to let go of guilt and shame, judgement, criticism and condemnation, we open ourselves to forgiveness and open others up to forgiveness.  Only with willingness, do we come to this process, and with willingness, we let go of the one single chain that binds us altogether to guilt.  If we’re willing to let go of holding onto the chain of guilt – towards others, we can let go of the chain of guilt that we held upon ourselves.  With our hands opened and empty of placing guilt, the chain falls for all.

Only then, with willingness, do we forgive our self, and others at the same time – letting go of the one and only chain that held all of us – all this time – the chain which we, ourselves, forged from placing guilt and condemnation onto others.

It adds another level of truth to the saying – All for one and one for all.  Holding onto the chain of guilt or releasing the chain of guilt is this way.  It is for all, including our self or it is for none.  This is the secret of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is for all or forgiveness is for none.  True Forgiveness is infinite.  Put another way, finite forgiveness – target forgiveness – individual forgiveness doesn’t exist except in pretend forgiveness.  Only Infinite forgiveness exists.  This is the forgiveness which God gives us, for when the day comes that we share it with others.

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“If you were to want to see a sign from God, would you rather experience seeing water turned into wine, or would you rather experience feeling deeply loved and forgiven?” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

“The world gets better when any of us says, ‘I’m willing to try –
to see what I can do to help.’  Not when we say, ‘YOU didn’t do enough.’ ” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

by

Guilt and Shame, Shame and Guilt

We can struggle with guilt and shame – shame and guilt, and struggle with these, and struggle with these, but until we understand how and why the chains of guilt and shame work, we will not be rid of them.

Yet, the resolution of these is so simple – so simple that we don’t always take the solution seriously.  After all, something this complex, something this ingrained must be difficult to resolve.  Right?

No.

Guilt and Shame are chains to be sure.  But these are chains that are of our own making.  And the simple truth is, these chains that we have forged to make others wear – guilt and shame, are the very same chains to which we are bound and have bound ourselves.

The chain of guilt is one chain for all, and the chain of shame is one chain for all.  The chain we bind others with and bind ourselves with is the same chain.  For us to bind others, for us to blame others, lay guilt upon others, lay shame upon others, we must hold onto that chain with our own mind and heart – our own two hands hold tight to the chains of both, when we wrap others in the chains of guilt and shame.

When we place guilt and shame on someone else, we are placing it upon ourselves.  With our own attitudes – our own judgements, criticisms and condemning within our own minds and hearts, we are condemning ourselves to be wrapped by the very same chain that we have wrapped someone else in.

As we do unto others, so are we doing to ourselves.  This is the simple truth, so I’ll be redundant and repeat it again another time once more –

As we do unto others, we do to ourselves.

Only when we take steps to release the chain-hold we have placed on others do we also release the very chain that we are holding onto.  Only when we forgive all, do we forgive our self, too, and vice versa.  Only when we no longer place guilt and shame on others, do we no longer place guilt and shame upon ourselves.

As Joseph told his brothers, “Can [we] take God’s place in being judge over others?”  In the most horrendous of deed’s to each other, we may still think that we, in our minds and hearts, must blame and place guilt and shame on others.  If any of us decides to hold to that chain of guilt and shame which we’ve wrapped around others, then as long as we hold to the belief that we must continue to place guilt and shame on someone else – know that we’re the one’s holding onto the same chain and it has bound us as well.  And we can choose to hold onto those chains if that is what we want for ourselves and others.  However, in doing so, are we saying that God can’t do the job correctly?

Letting go of the chain of guilt and the chain of shame has the result of acknowledging that we cannot take God’s place in being judge over someone.  Releasing the chain of guilt and the chain of shame that we have wrapped others in means we’re no longer holding onto the chain at all.  And when we release others from the chains of guilt and shame- no longer placing guilt or shame on someone, we have the result of releasing ourselves, also.

As we do unto one, we’re doing unto everyone.  The experience we create for others will always be the experience we are creating for ourselves as well.