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Heather's Views triangular trees in a row

A World Too Full to Talk About

Dr. Heather Dawn Clark

Dear Ones,

Have you incorporated forgiveness into your daily spiritual practice? Sometimes we slide into judgment and blame of others or ourselves subtly and do not even notice, at other times we collide with these perceptions. Recently I was feeling resentful because I was doing a job which was not mine to do. (Of course, I had not asked anyone else to do this job. It was easier to play martyr than to ask for what I wanted.) When I was finishing the job I felt resentful about having to do it in the first place. The moment I felt the resentment, a sharp pain took up residence in my lower back. One thing I know for sure, is blame, martyrdom, rationalization, criticism, resentment and disappointment are all ways that I have temporarily stopped the full flow of good in my life. Within minutes I had moved out of blame and complaint into oneness and wholeness.

Next I needed to forgive myself for being so spiritually forgetful. In his book, Life 101, Peter McWilliams has a simple process of forgiveness. He explains that there are three layers of forgiveness — the other person, ourselves and then ourselves for judging in the first place. The technique is simple.synagogue

Say to yourself:

I forgive (NAME OF THE PERSON, PLACE OR THING YOU JUDGED, INCLUDING YOURSELF) for (THE TRANSGRESSION).

I forgive myself for judging (SAME PERSON, PLACE OR THING, INCLUDING YOURSELF) for (WHAT YOU JUDGED).

The problem with judgment is that it keeps us from seeing the true Spiritual identity of the person we are judging — ourselves or another. I wonder what our world would look like if we were really committed to diversity, where we really treasured an opinion different from our own? It seems to me that many relationship issues would simply disappear.

One of my favorite Rumi quotes is:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

Imagine such a place. It must be vibrant with God's presence. Let's live in a world that is too full to talk about!

Love,
Heather

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