Beyond Atonement: The Gift of Self-Forgiveness
The Roman Catholic Church, William Shakespeare, Carl Jung and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous all made it clear: We humans have a dark side.
The art world has run with that.
Novelist Ian McEwan, for example, published "Atonement" which was made into a film. There has been the recent streamer on Paramount "The Whale." The central characters in both had done acts they deeply regretted. All that eats at them. Charlie in "The Whale," who ditched his family for a male lover, literally eats himself to death.
Of course, this deep shame about behavior comes up during Tarot readings. That includes a resistance against self-forgiveness. That wrench in the works is the assumption that what they did is so awful that they don't "deserve" forgiveness.
Yet that's reverse narcissism: the total preoccupation with the self, the shutting out of the realities of what it means to be human.
A central Zen belief is that to be a human is to be profoundly flawed.
The American justice system embodies the fundamentals of what it means to be human, everything from mitigating circumstances to actual mental illness. Defense lawyers at firms such as Skadden, Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss develop prominent brandnames winning compassion for their miscreant clients.
The correctional system is open to a demonstration of changed mindsets/behavior. That's called "parole."
The first step along the bumpy road to self-forgiveness is surrender: Give up the notion that you are "above" being human. That is, embrace that you have a shadow self. Much of what you become involved with on planet earth will be tainted. Unlike us humans, dogs seem to have been domesticated to have an almost angelic nature. That's not us.
Atone? Yes. Paul Weiss' client Mike Milken went off to prison because of misconduct on Wall Street. That was a piece of atonenment. Society demanded it. The other piece has been generous philanthropy. They guy has a gift for making money and he shared the fruits of that. Currently Milken is thriving.
As is stated as a reality in Alcoholics Anonymous, some humans are more twisted than others. However, they too deserve to put the wreckage of the past behind them - and there is optimism that they can do just that.
Every card in the Tarot deck contains that dual reality of the darkness of humans and the promise of redemption.
Jane Genova * Tarot Card Reader * Intuitive Coach * Medium.
Opening Yourself to Relief from Suffering.
Deep Listening and No-Nonsense Direction
For an appointment, please contact janegenova374@gmail.com
or text/phone 203-468-8579.
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