Greetings,
I see a few new faces among you. Come closer, it’s warm by the fire. If you’re new here I’d like to welcome you to this space. The night is dark, cold and long and we only have this fire to keep us warm. But there are things inside the flames: visions, pictures, music. Art. Expression. Poetry and, especially, Meaning.
And there’s space here for everyone.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of Forgiveness
At the core of all human suffering, it seems to me, there is the relationship between ‘I’ and ‘the World’. Now I won’t attempt to try and explain what the World is or why it is. Not yet, at least.
If you wish, you can call it the ‘external’ world or the ‘material’ world. The paradigm suggests that there is such a thing as a ‘you’, separate from ‘the world’ and the whole movement of life is this you-entity, moving and doing things in the world until the body dies and that’s pretty much the end of it.
Fine, let’s roll with that for now. It doesn’t matter if that paradigm is true or is just something the mind hallucinates quite deeply. Let’s roll with it.
Bad, Bad World
The point still stands regardless: You suffer when the World doesn’t manifest itself as you’d like it to. Forms appear and disappear. Events happen, some apparently in quite a random fashion. Some benefit you, and some don’t. Some things cause you pleasure and some pain. And this rotation goes on and on while you grasp the handlebar for dear life.
Suffering occurs when we resist this movement. Yeah, whatever, that’s what the Buddhists have been saying for centuries. So what?
You’re quite right: non-resistance isn’t something you just do from one day to another, even if it may be a solution. After ten years on the spiritual path, I’ve learned everything I could learn about surrender, non-resistance, transcendence, etc. Yet I still cling for dear life every day, suffering through the play of forms.
The Meaning of Forgiveness
So this concept came to the forefront: Forgiveness. To forgive the world for not being the way you think it should be. To look at the people, events and phenomena of the world (especially those that actively hurt and try to kill you) and forgive them.
Now forgiveness is, I think by definition, a religious act. Not a dogmatic belief, but ‘religious’ in the sense that the act of forgiveness cannot be made unless you choose to have faith in Love. Or in a future of Love. How else could you possibly forgive?
But there’s more.
Remember in the previous episode I tried to explain that, in order to understand the meaning of a word, you must look at its etymology. You must understand that all words have deeper layers of meaning.
To ‘Forgive’ = To-For-Give; Old English (for) is ‘completely’ and (giefan) is to ‘Give Fully’. Therefore Forgiveness is Giving Fully. Give what fully? To who?
Give yourself fully to the World
But how? What if the World will grind and butcher you and everyone you love until the end of time? And this is why it has to be a religious act. You simply can’t do it until you stop believing that you know better.
This is an extremely difficult thing to do and I still struggle with it. But I’m starting to see that this whole act is part of growth. A child cannot ‘forgive’ the world that denies it love and shelter. It’s impossible. But an adult can, by taking care of the child within.
And… I think that act is what allows the child to grow into the adult. That’s what one truly needs to do in order to mature.
Art Spotlight
This time I have a song for you. Please take some time to really, really read these lyrics. It’s quite something:
“Who were you to ask for anything more?
Do you wait for your dancing lessons to be sent from God?
You'd like His light to shine on you
You've really missed a trick when it comes to love
Always seeking what you don't have like what you do ain't enough
You'd like a light to shine on you
And every book you take
And you dust off from the shelf
Has lines between lines between lines
That you read about yourself
But does a light shine on you?
And when your friends are talking
You hardly hear a word
You were the first person herе
And the last man on the Earth
But does a light shinе on you?
Who are you to ask for anything else?
The thing you should be asking is for help
You'd like a light to shine on you
Let it shine on you
Let it shine on you
A penny for your truth
But I hedge my bets on wealth
'Cause it's lies after lies after lies
But do you even fool yourself?
And then the light shines on you.”
This is a song called ‘The Last man on the Earth’ by Wolf Alice (Blue Weekend, 2021). I love their songs since I’ve first heard their music in the masterful Trainspotting 2 movie (highly recommended). But for some reason this one particular song has stuck with me recently.
And the answer why is usually in the words. I mean: “And every book you take
And you dust off from the shelf has lines between lines between lines that you read about yourself.” is absolutely genius. Of course there’s lines between lines (layers of meaning) of every book (every story) that you dust off from the shelf (you remember/engage with).
In other words: every story of life, every memory you’ve ever had has many perspectives, many meanings behind the surface event.
Welcome to infinity. And the purpose of music.
More to come.
Blessings,
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