Sunday night begins Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. This is the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and asking God's forgiveness dating back to the time of Moses. Those who participate in the Atonement process, are encouraged to turn away from all worldly pursuits to focus solely on their relationship to God in sincere repentance for moral and spiritual trespass. Atonement means doing something that undoes or makes up for wrongdoing by repairing what harm may have been done, or compensating through some substitute conscious activity of good. Many religions have rituals and ways of atonement as an aspect of seeking and finding forgiveness and making amends. Ultimately, these rituals show our recognition that as human beings, we all make mistakes and those mistakes can contribute to the dissatisfaction and hardship of our lives and the lives of others. We make mistakes. We regret. But we do not have to stay in that space of suffering.
This month, I have been exploring achieving inner equilibrium through an optimistic attitude or mindset. Optimism that genuinely brings equilibrium does not mean we ignore or gloss over our mistakes, our trespasses, and harm we may have done to ourselves or others, intentionally or unintentionally, real or imagined. Rather, our optimism expands to include human error and the power of forgiveness and making amends. Optimism affirms the dignity of ourselves and others; mistakes can be overcome. We can find humility, without humiliation. And we can offer that to others as well, by accepting their atonement.
Today, tonight, tomorrow are all potent times for self forgiveness. Self forgiveness, forgiving others, even forgiving God as we struggle to understand this world, are all interwoven with a deep acceptance that we too are forgiven. We emerge renewed. Luke 6:37,"Forgive and you shall be forgiven." Begin with yourself. (Susan Nettleton). For poetry click the links below:
https://yourmindfultribe.org/.../forget-about...
http://ayapasuprep.weebly.com/.../pp14_-_adrienne_rich...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../happiness-56d21cb4b54e9