The Sage asked, "What brought you here?" "My wish to recover my innocence," came the reply. To this, the Sage said, "How can you recover what you've not lost? You can't. But you can remember it. And you can learn to trust it."
The innocence we learn to trust is not a state of not being guilty, though it is a guiltlessness. This innocence is the purity of that we are. Hence, it is not a state opposite guilt but an innate condition free of the opposites of "I'm innocent" and "I'm guilty." It is neither moral nor immoral. This purity is free of all opposites, for it is prior to them all.
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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I was raised in a Southern Baptist church teaching religious fundamentalism and the doctrine of total depravity and original sin. When raised from childhood, being told the tribal god says we are totally messed up, even in the womb, and the only hope is 'his' forgiveness for that innate badness, it might take a lifetime and more to get the venom out of the bones. Still, as we were taught shame, blame, and guilt, we can reteach ourselves, learning to trust in our fundamental innocence.
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The mouth guardian of the shadow close that door means swinging one wide open
Be still be quiet welcome the outsiders in
The innocence you’ve ignored grace you've feared love thought unworthy for all forgotten for believed too good to be true
Unbounded love, joy, peace – blessing gardens abloom fetching fragrances unleased into the light
Breathe deeply knowing you breathe Life! Life! Life!
Now Smile
*Brian K. Wilcox. Ferry Beach, Maine, 1.18.22 AM
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Much of Christianity begins with original sin, meaning we are tainted with badness from the start. Some evangelicals, as I was taught when a child, teach "total depravity," meaning thoroughly bad from the beginning, not a sliver of goodness.
Like some progressive Christians, including those adhering to a Creation Spirituality, Buddhism teaches original goodness. Chögyam Trungpa called this "basic goodness." Basic goodness provides a sane, working basis for a positive relationship with others and oneself.
When you don't punish or condemn yourself, when you relax more and appreciate your body and mind, you begin to contact the fundamental notion of basic goodness in yourself. So it is extremely important to be willing to open yourself to yourself. Developing tenderness toward yourself allows you to see both your problems and your potential accurately. You don't feel that you have to ignore your problems or exaggerate your potential. That kind of gentleness toward yourself and appreciation of yourself is very necessary. It provides the ground for helping yourself and others.
*Shambalah: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.
I invite you to reflect on the above poem in light of the comments shared above?
Fundamental badness, fundamental goodness - what difference does it make? What does it mean to "open yourself to yourself"?
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photographs.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
