All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well
I don’t consider myself religious, in that I don’t follow any specific doctrine or dogma. Having that said spiritual truth is spiritual truth, and I celebrate the diverse ways in which spiritual teachings have been shared around the world for millennia. I have a deep connection to many mystics including the Buddha, Christ, Adyashanti, and many others. One of the most crucial truths I’ve learned about spirituality, and the spiritual journey from these teachers is the importance of self-compassion.
If you’re like me and you strive to live a good benevolent life, you can be hard on yourself when you don’t live up to your own expectations of how you think you should be and behave in life. We’ve all done something we regret: said something to someone we didn’t really mean, lied to someone, hid the truth, hurt someone. In Christianity, this may be seen as sin. But what is to sin anyway? How is it helpful? Well here’s a refreshing take on what sin is:
“Of course, there are times when we human beings have our moral failings and we don't live up to the dictates of the heart. But this interpretation doesn't really get to the original, more nuanced meanings of the word sin. In the original Greek, one of the meanings of sin [hamartia] is simply "to miss the mark." Now, imagine you've gone to confession, and the priest says to you, "Confess your sins." Imagine that this priest even accuses you of being a sinner; imagine how that would feel in your mind and heart, to be considered a moral failure. Now imagine instead how you'd feel if that priest were to say, "So, tell me, how have you missed the mark in your life?" There's an enormous difference in how these two interpretations of sin are held in our hearts, in our minds, in our bodies. If we understand that sin means to miss the mark, it's not so personal and damning.”
— Adyashanti from Resurrecting Jesus p.80
So what happens in your life when you “miss the mark”? Well, this is one of the main sources of suffering in life. To share more about this I’d like to introduce you to Julian of Norwich. Julian of Norwich was born in 1343 and was an anchoress, someone that for religious reasons, withdraws from society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-orientated, ascetic life. This means she spent her time in solitude in devotion to her spirituality. When she was younger she asked god for “three graces… the first was to relive Christ’s Passion in my mind; the second was bodily sickness; and the third was to receive three wounds, by the gift of God” On her 30th birthday she was granted her wishes. She became extremely ill and was even given her last rites. This is when she experienced first-hand in her mind's eye the revelations of The Passion of The Christ. This experience became the first surviving text written by a woman in English.
Her book, Revelations of Divine Love, gives us all the gift of a direct experience of Christ, the love that he felt for humanity, and a deeper understanding of what it is to “miss the mark” and how we can overcome this difficulty in our lives.
“But I did not see sin, for I believe it has no kind of substance nor share of being, nor could it be recognized except by the suffering it causes. And, as it seems to me, this suffering is something that exists for a while, because it purges us and makes us know ourselves and ask for mercy, for the Passion of our Lord is a comfort to us against all this, and that is his blessed will.
—Julian of Norwich from Revelations of Divine Love p.75
In this passage Julian of Norwich shares that sin in and of itself has no existence. It can only be recognized by how it makes you feel—suffering. And so there’s more evidence that sin manifests in how you feel or experience suffering when you “miss the mark.” When you do something in your life that a part of you, the divine part of you, knows: “This is not quite it, is it?” When you realize: “I can be more compassionate, truthful, or benevolent in this situation.”
It is true that sin is the cause of all this suffering, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. ' These words were said very tenderly, indicating no kind of blame for me or for anyone who will be saved. So it would be most unkind to blame God or marvel at him because of my sin, since he does not blame me for sin.”
—Julian of Norwich from Revelations of Divine Love p.75
Julian also lets us know that it’s okay that we miss the mark. You’re not perfect, and you’re not meant to be perfect. For there is something divine in this experience of “missing the mark” that we all go through as people. It’s part of our journey on Earth.
“For a man regards some deeds as well done and some deeds as evil, but our Lord does not regard them so; for as everything that exists in nature is of God's making, so everything that is done is an aspect of God's doing.”
—Julian of Norwich from Revelations of Divine Love p.56
This is why self-compassion is so important, and it’s such a crucial step in spiritual growth. If you don’t forgive ourselves for “missing the mark” you cement an idea of who and what you are that’s very limited, and doesn’t take into account your divinity, and role in life. You are so much more than your mistakes. You are so much more than what you do in general. You’re a spiritual being having a physical experience. You’re how consciousness gets to know itself without judgment. You’re meant to experience the full rainbow of experiences that life has to offer. There is no good and evil, but there is an inner compass, that’s very subtle, that guides you to evolution and spiritual freedom.
“He taught me that I should contemplate the glorious atonement; for this atonement is incomparably more pleasing to the blessed Godhead and more glorious for the salvation of mankind than…[ ]… sin was ever harmful.”
—Julian of Norwich from Revelations of Divine Love p.21
So what Julian’s intense experience of receiving direct revelations from Christ teaches is that instead of focusing on whether you did wrong, and staying in a state of suffering, a much better use of your short time on earth and your energy is to figure out how you can “atone” or get back on track. This is Christ’s grandest gift to you. He forgives you for all the ways you “miss the mark” and what’s most important is that you follow his teaching and learn to forgive yourselves, and instead of focusing on guilt and living in suffering, you move on and figure out how you can embody more and more who you know yourself to truly be.
And so, when Jesus says, "your sins are forgiven," he's saying, "I forgive you for all the ways that you've missed the mark.”
— Adyashanti from Resurrecting Jesus p.80
