Improvement is a simple, natural impulse — everyone wants to see a better life for his family and society. But when you add the ingredient of sin, improvement becomes clouded. Is it an improvement to deny women education and health care, to dictate what they wear in public, and to regard them as inferior beings? To the Taliban and the clerics in Iran, those ideas are considered steps on the road to an Islamic paradise. But every society dominated by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has had to struggle with the notion of sinfulness. The supposed sinfulness of women, as many Muslims see it, is that the mere sight of a woman inflames sexual passion and arouses temptation, thus pulling men away from God.
A woman who walks bare-headed through the streets of most Islamic countries would be considered sinful, but before we shake our heads, consider Hawthorne’s novel "The Scarlet Letter," in which the sinful heroine, Hester Prynne, must run into the forest to take off her cap and unloose her hair in the sun. Also consider that conservative politics in this country are largely based on the notion that human being are not improvable, that without harsh opposition to free thinking and liberal sexual mores, not to mention a massive military and police force, human depravity would run amok.
Sin isn’t a fact of human nature. It’s an idea. As such, it has proved very useful to religious and political elites. The current repression exacted by the Iranian mullahs may be in the name of God, but the clerical elite in that country are immensely wealthy and corrupt. In this country, hellfire fundamentalist preachers grow rich, and many feel free to pursue personal corruption shielded by their prestige and money. Getting past the idea of sin is difficult when the myth is fostered that God hates sinners and favors the righteous. Who wouldn’t want to be on the winning team, where all the power and money lie, not to mention the grand prize of salvation?
It would benefit the world as a whole if every society could move past the toxic idea of sin to a new idea. There’s no lack of alternatives. Human nature is as capable of love, tolerance, rationality, and spiritual yearning as it is of sin. Psychotherapy was a nonreligious movement that attempted to deal with sin’s fundamental forces — aggression, sex, guilt, and shame — by examining the psyche and ridding it of conflict, by bringing the darkness of the unconscious to light. The average person doesn’t take advantage of psychotherapy, certainly not the kind that goes inward for self-knowledge, yet the general idea of bringing darkness to light holds good. It underlies liberal politics, reformist religion, secular tolerance, and spiritual seeking.
As a body of ideas, those movements have more to offer the future than the reactionary idea of sin. I feel optimistic about the ongoing campaign against sin-based ideologies (which don’t have to be religious; police states like the former Soviet Union were completely secular but based on the necessity of repressing freedom), and optimism is needed in the light of recent events in Iran, where the religious reactionaries have clamped down, as well as Israel, where a kindred form of religious reaction grows bolder. The next idea after sin is being born, and despite the fact that sin holds sway over millions of minds, those minds can free themselves whenever they wish.
I, too do not believe there is sin. There is learning and growing. There is inner work to forgive for the past and BE in the present. We are capable of love and knowing we are all one because that light is in all of us. When our own heart is in coherence we radiate that light out to others encouraging and empowering them to know it is possible….
I was so ill for so long and some of those self talk messages at that time were replaying my "guilt" for sins (even for those I didn't consciously create). We all can create the life we want NOW, learn from our so called sins, forgive and discover our own Divine gifts to share with this world.
Thank you Deepak for your wise and moving words. I too feel optimistic.
Gratefully,
Jenny Mannion
http://jennymannion.com
Home of Heal Pain Naturally, Heroes of Healing, Non Violent Computer Game Recommendations for Children and more!
Sin is only in man's thought that he is in control.
If people understood the concept of Anatta, non self- that we are not in control! Not of aging or of what happens before we are born, after we die or in the next second-
Or consider the Kabbalisitic teaching that there is no force in the world greater than the One force of Love, of Nature – then people would not "sin" by thinking themselves so mighty that they could do something against this force who created them with all their sexual and egoistic desires to begin with.
For where do our thoughts come from?
Where do our desires come from?
How can we consider ourselves sinners if we do not know this? Or if we believe that they come from the source of infinite love?
We can only aim and ask that our thoughts and desires be transformed into LOVE, by the very force that created us with egos, with selfish desires, with limited awareness.
These prayers, for higher awareness, and cohesion with the force of Love guiding us, are said to always be answered.
The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda.
Martin Buber
An imprisoned mind can only be freed once it knows it is imprisoned. An ignorant, sleeping, unaware mind is cultivated to remain so by those who profit from slavery and obedience. Since the profiteers control most formal education, whether at Harvard or in the madrasas, they control much of this world.
(To multiply the following blessing, read aloud.)
Let us daily increase in: wisdom, love, gratitude, reverence, healing, peace, joy, happiness, laughter and prosperity.
Blessings X 10,
Ed
I agree with you Deepak that sin is a toxic idea. If the leaders of all countries and all citizens learn to forgive and forgive themselves, our world would be a peaceful place to live. Sin is toxic in the minds of people and can, therefore, be changed from darkness to light as you suggest.
Your words are inspiring!
Namaste
Yesterday I read one of Dr. Chopras earlier posts here on intent about opposing forces in the cosmos. isn't sin related to that conceptual paradigm? Good and bad, evil or sin…?
Speaking of islam i can remeber not so long ago I was promoted to by a total stranger in an exhibition, Islam as the fastest growing religion of the world, that has a growth rate that exceeds the growth rate of the global population… thus would be the world religion one day…..
Well i wouldn't particularly complain of a world with one religion… but how are we going to get there would definitely be a concern…. especially looking at what's going on in the world today…
Another thing I want to mention is… even those who have grown up in cultures like buddhist too have the concept, the notion and the idea of sin deeply embedded in their psyches not only those who are of Judaism and/or Christianity….. Therefore I wonder if it is a by product of organising and institutionalising of spirituality into religions with so many rules and regulations residing in those structures with a governing system of hierarchy….. in which there's ample space and room for sin to grow and nurture itself into a universal psychological phenomena that jepordises the very essence of those doctrines….
~ R ~
dear deepak,
a beautiful and thought provoking post. thanks.
Wish you love, peace and happiness.
Trisha
Thank you for this post.
In my observation, people give away their power because they don't want to take the responsibility for their own spiritual growth. You might say they choose to remain children spiritually, allowing someone else to "provide" for them and "lead" them rather than going inside and doing the work of finding their own way. I also believe that it is mostly unconscious, and that it is encouraged by those who choose to be the "leaders". You need followers if you are to be a "leader" and to be a "successful leader", you need many followers. What better way to obtain and retain many followers than to convince them that you know just what they need to be "saved," "right," "righteous," "heaven-bound," etc., etc. No work involved, just do as you're told.
I am familiar with this way because I was there. But I grew up.
May love and light be the gifts I share,
Cathy Elaine
Massage Therapist, Ambassador of Hugs, Reiki II
Dearest Deepak,
It was a pleasure to see you last night on Larry King talking about Michael Jackson. As for this post on sin you come very close to my ideas. The linkage of sexuality and sin by fundamentalist religious forces of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are essential to a patriarchal control machine that tells you that in your essence you are bad because you are sexual.
Evolutionarily we now know that it was female sexuality that made us human and separated us from Homo erectus and gave us our large brains. The response to increasing maternal mortality was menses and menopause which separates sex from procreation tieing it to love.
It is understanding that we need to make an integrated whole of our sexuality combined with our spirituality and scientific knowledge. Sex is not sin it is part of our very nature and we must make our own individual peace with ourselves. The Hebrew word for sin actually means to miss the mark or leave the path and the word for redemption or teshuvah is to return to the true path.
The real problem with a sin based ideology is that it demands perfection to a list based morality. Learning can not take place in a perfectionistic envirionment. Learning requires making mistakes and learning from your mistakes. That is what sin really is, experiential learning. Let us all give ourselves the peace and safety of making learning a normal human behavior which is what it truly is. Why should learning not apply to human sexuality when it applies to every other human activity.
Love and light,
Stuart
http://stuartmarkberlin.com