Why Can’t I Justify My Wrong Decisions?

The attempt to justify error is a vain quest, a philosophical dead end, an exercise in self-deception.  But why do so many people try to do it then?  Why do people attempt to make the claim “A decision I made which caused pain and suffering to myself and others was really right and/or reasonable?”

People would rather not admit that they couldn’t keep from scratching the itches of the animal soul.  People would like to believe they’re more than animals, even if they sometimes act like one.  People would rather not confront what Carl Jung called the “shadow.”

People wish to anesthetize themselves from the pain their mistakes have caused themselves and others.  While there may have been some value obtained from the poor choice, an effort is being made to assert the non-existence of the suffering involved, or to minimize the heartache.  In any case, the effort to redact one’s experience is a project of dishonesty, a construction of a false self which is apart from life.

Some people might say, “Well, I learned something from my errors that I might not have learned any other way.”  I pondered on this for a while.  In the story of the Prodigal Son, there was a wise, obedient son who learned of his father’s goodness without having to go through the tribulations of his foolish brother.  Could that be the reason the older brother was in the story?  To show that it’s possible to learn some other way than the hard way?

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

What Are My Mistakes Good For?

Step 26 in Steps to Knowledge is the first step with the word “errors” in the actual step.  The word “errors” first appeared in step 24, “I am worthy of God’s love.”

“Your life may be filled with errors and mistakes, wrong decisions and poor choices, but you have still come from your Ancient Home to which you will return. Your worthiness in
the sight of God is unchanged. There is only great effort to repair your errors so that you may experience your True Self so that it may be rendered into the world.”

I recall having a certain amount of apprehension when I read the bit about great effort to repair my errors.  I recall thinking to myself “Oh dear, that might take a while.”

There is an idea in our culture which could be expressed in the form “Everything that happens to me happens for a purpose, and it serves me.” The context in which this step places that idea is “The pain people experience as a result of their wrong decisions causes people to value truth, which can lead to true Knowledge.  There are poor choices people make, which are not only purposeless and meaningless, but a hindrance to meaning and direction. These poor choices cause a great deal of suffering.  Stop making errors, mistakes, wrong decisions and poor choices, so that you can stop suffering so much.”

The Prodigal Son took the counsel of this step, learning to value truth through the pain of his errors.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.