Have you ever thought that you’ve sinned? Or has anyone in your life ever judged you as a sinner?

From Spirit’s perspective, mistakes, mishaps, missteps and falls are all a natural and necessary part of the growing process.

Let’s get real; if you were already able to do everything perfectly on the first try, what would be the purpose of attending life in a human body on Earth School? We are here to learn and grow, and learning takes place through an experiential process that includes learning by observing others as well as by learning through doing. The doing of anything new always includes a great deal of trial and error. Learning is not neat and tidy; learning involves tripping, falling, spilling things, making messes and cleaning them up.

My understanding is that the word ‘sin’ as used in many religions came from the Greek archery term that meant landing ‘off-the-mark’. In the process of learning, you may begin by aiming in the wrong direction entirely, saying ‘yes’ to temptation again and again. You may land well off-the-mark on your first few tries – maybe even dozens or hundreds of tries. However, your soul will be urging you on, whispering directions to you in the form of your intuition, gut feelings or instincts. Each time you take aim and act, if you are persistent, learn to say ‘no’ to temptation and become willing to follow your soul’s instructions, you will get closer and closer to hitting your soul’s intended goal or mark.

Landing off-the-mark is never a bad thing, from Spirit’s perspective; it is simply an opportunity for learning. Certain behaviors or attitudes have been labeled as ‘sins’ in spiritual teachings in order to assist human-kind with becoming more aware of which sorts of things might trip us up or land us in a ditch along our path. These lists were just meant to be informational, not punitive.

Some behaviors are going to take us further off-course than others, and will cause us more internal pain and suffering as a natural result. Things like adultery, stealing, lying, murdering, cheating, acting out in vengeance, greed, gluttony, jealousy, coveting, etc. are human experiences that are typically filled with pain for the learner who gives into the temptation. No matter how much wise, cautionary advice someone may have received, a person may need to go through such pain in order to learn and grow.

Remember how temptation works; in my own personal experience, I only learned that the platter of tempting foods made me ill after I had eaten from it repeatedly. So, regardless of whether or not these behaviors appear on a list of ‘commandments’ or ‘deadly sins’, if they are part of your soul’s curriculum, it only follows that you would have to have some experience in these areas in order to overcome the obstacles presented. And, so, to ‘sin’ or land off-the-mark is neither good nor bad from your soul’s perspective; it is simply accepted as a natural and normal part of your human learning experience.

This by no means implies that I think everyone should intentionally run out and lie/cheat/murder/rape/steal/commit adultery just because it is all Ok in Spirit’s eyes. That would be very silly, since the more conscious we are, the more internal pain and suffering we experience as a result; our consequences will equal our level of awareness. However, when these types of lessons occur before we are consciously aware enough to stop ourselves, this means that they are an important part of our course-work.

Have you had any of these lessons as part of your soul’s curriculum?

If so, you will have learned a tremendous amount of invaluable information each time you gave into temptation and experienced the resulting suffering. Everything that occurred for you has assisted you in your awakening process, bringing you into a higher level of awareness, acceptance, compassion, gratitude and so on.

And, if you have engaged in anything you defined as a ‘sin’ in the past, if you haven’t already done so, I would strongly encourage you to spend some time sending compassionate self-forgiveness to your younger self via your memories, letting yourself off-the-hook from any self-judgment you may still be harboring. You can hold the knowing that if you could have done it any better, you would have. You did the best you could at that time, given your level of awareness. Flood yourself with compassion, making it all Ok until there are no longer any parts of yourself that are stuck in shame or suffering.

Free yourself up from old, unsupportive ideas. Rewrite your definition of sin. Say, “To sin just means to land off-the-mark.”

Many Blessings of Joy and Vibrant Freedom

Action Step ~ Let go of old ideas of sin and punishment and cultivate a learning perspective towards life. Declaration: “To sin just means to land off-the-mark. Landing off-course at times is a normal part of free will choice, and the natural consequences I create are my lesson. Everything I’ve ever done is Ok and acceptable in my soul’s eyes. I’ve never done anything wrong; therefore, I let go of the need to punish myself.”

Additional Support: Listen to this 9-minute closed-eye process on letting go of self-judgment to get free from a state of Hell; please refrain from driving while listening.

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