Embrace These Days of Awe
We are in the midst of the Days of Awe as they are known to all of our Jewish brothers and sisters. This 10-day period commences with Rosh Hashanah and ends on Yom Kippur.
This is the Jewish New Year and as such is a deep time of reflection, a turning within, as we shed the old year and turn to look at the new.
One of the main themes of the Days of Awe is the idea of atonement.
Apart from the name of a well-known book and film, what does this actually mean?
We are in the midst of the Days of Awe as they are known to all of our Jewish brothers and sisters. This 10-day period commences with Rosh Hashanah and ends on Yom Kippur.
This is the Jewish New Year and as such is a deep time of reflection, a turning within, as we shed the old year and turn to look at the new.
One of the main themes of the Days of Awe is the idea of atonement.
Apart from the name of a well-known book and film, what does this actually mean?
In the Jewish tradition, atonement is an act of reconciliation, the desire to make amends or reparations for a wrong-doing. This is a time to forgive and ask for forgiveness.
Jews believe that God has a book in which s/he is writing down all your good and bad deeds. This is done during the Days of Awe, so if you are willing to seek forgiveness, God may look favorably upon you.
In Christianity, we also see this word, atonement.
It largely refers to the idea of reconciliation with God. In the Christian concept, man has sinned (think Adam and Eve) and it was Jesus who sacrificed (and was resurrected) that atoned for the sins of the world. This act cleaned the slate and made everything right again with God.
But it is the definition found in A Course in Miracles that I most resonate with.
Here, atonement means to undo erroneous thinking.
This is because we have forgotten who we really are. We falsely believe that we are separate – a body and an ego - and not spirit. We think that we are distinct and apart from God. But the truth is that we are all spirit. Our true relationship is – that we are not separate from God. In other words, at-one-ment.
“You are the work of God, and His work is wholly loveable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this is what he is.” (ACIM, p.9)
Embrace this idea and see yourself as inherently loveable AND loving.
Atonement is the act of forgiving - both oneself and others. As it says in A Course in Miracles, “the forgiven are the means of atonement.” We forgive ourselves because we have forgotten who we truly are and we forgive all of our brothers and sisters for the same reason.
Have fun with this! Embrace these Days of Awe. Seek to forgive and start your new year fresh and free. And always remember your true nature, divine, perfect and at-one with God.
Let me know how it goes! Feel free to leave a comment below.
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A Simple Way to Move Into Forgiveness
According to A Course in Miracles, forgiveness is our only function.
Forgiveness sounds easy but can seem awfully difficult to actually do.
A great tool that has really helped me on my journey to forgiveness was one that I learned from Louise Hay.
Louise Hay shares many affirmations focused on and about forgiveness.
One of my personal favorites is when she talks about the willingness to forgive.
Sometimes we’re in a situation where the hurt, anger or upset seems too much to let go of and for whatever reason we aren’t ready to forgive. This is when willingness is a great bridge.
Willingness to forgive opens the door. We don’t have to walk through it yet, but it offers us another possibility.
Willingness allows us to expand and gives us the potential to move beyond the hurt- in our own time, when we are ready.
Willingness is an opportunity for something new to unfold.
According to A Course in Miracles, forgiveness is our only function.
Forgiveness sounds easy but can seem awfully difficult to actually do.
A great tool that has really helped me on my journey to forgiveness was one that I learned from Louise Hay.
Louise Hay shares many affirmations focused on and about forgiveness.
One of my personal favorites is when she talks about the willingness to forgive.
Sometimes we’re in a situation where the hurt, anger or upset seems too much to let go of and for whatever reason we aren’t ready to forgive. This is when willingness is a great bridge.
Willingness to forgive opens the door. We don’t have to walk through it yet, but it offers us another possibility.
Willingness allows us to expand and gives us the potential to move beyond the hurt- in our own time, when we're ready.
Willingness is an opportunity for something new to unfold.
Sometimes we can get attached to the pain. It just becomes familiar and we get ensnared in it without realizing it. Willingness offers a wedge and provides some space between us and the pain. Sometimes, that’s all we need, a little space to help us re-direct and refocus.
Willingness is a great first step in letting go of anger and upset.
Here’s the thing. The person with whom I’m upset has no idea. He can be walking around happy and carefree while I’m sitting in a place of misery - unhappy, angry and seething.
Who is really suffering? I want this other person to suffer, but the reality is that I’m the one in pain.
Forgiveness sets us free from this jail cell of negative thoughts and feelings.
The next time you find yourself face-to-face with anger about an injustice you’ve experienced and you aren’t quite ready to let it go, ask yourself. “Am I willing to forgive?” See if those five words can help open the door to a shift and enable you to begin the process of releasing yourself from the pain.