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Sin is just the thought that there is anything else other than the Creator acting in reality.
Guilt and shame are part of the control mechanism that push you back into your habits. To incriminate oneself after committing a sin, or breaking a resolution, or caving in to a bad habit is the ultimate act of hubris (pride) since it implies that you are some kind of super-being who can control your actions. It implies that you are laboring under the false belief that you are the doer, rather than God, who is the only true Doer. However, if after falling to sin we allow ourselves to understand that God is the only Actor in the universe, it becomes clear that God allowed you to fall for two reasons: 1) To show you that you are powerless on your own, without Him, and 2) To stimulate a response that would cause you to call upon His Grace and Strength the next time you are tempted.Similarly, the pride and self-congratulation one feels upon overcoming some hurdle is potentially more dangerous to the soul than the guilt and shame from moral failure. Patting oneself on the back for victory over sin, rather than giving all glory to the “Good who does good” is tantamount to Satanism, since you attribute the strength and willpower that it took overcome to oneself.
The proper response to temptation and sin, on the one hand, or to the conquest of sin on the other, always comes down to one and only one virtue: gratitude. When one succumbs to temptation one must always say: Glory be to the Creator for giving me this lesson in humility. And when one succeeds, of course, we should always thank Him for having graciously made us a channel of the Good, for truly, “There is none else besides Him.”
I got something very similar to you, namely that if I am shown favor or disdain I should remain in a state of reverence and whatever I am given in this vessel I must default back to love thy neighbor as a natural outpouring. Indeed, the glory is God’s alone, for I am but a vessel. If I am empty, I am useful. This emptiness is reverence and is the fear of the LORD. I must meditate reverence and pray love, like an oscillation between 0 and 1, never seeking to hold fast to or remain in one state for any period of time.
I do not want to misspeak. Please advice.
Preparation Question: Try to imagine the sensation behind the statement “There is None Else Besides Him.” How can I feel that the entire reality is the action of the Creator?
I simply tell myself this – that’s it. I truly believe this. What I have difficulty with is accepting that I may never know the Creator’s reason(s) for creating reality as we experience it.
I struggle with my feelings of hostility toward to the creator because understanding the Creator’s reasons for all of this most likely beyond my reach and/or capacity to understand.
This frustrates and angers me. I want to know why.
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