sins

My capacity and willingness to forgive others seems to be very much related to my own fuckups. My own mistakes, my own sins, my own flaws, my own regrets, shame, guilt, fears. It's recognizing, acknowledging and accepting these things in myself that makes the same possible with others. It makes the compassion of shared humanity possible, rather than the judgement and condemnation that comes from repression, denial and ignorance.

The more I excavate my own regrets, the easier it is to see that everyone loses their innocence at some point and goes on to do things they wish they hadn't, and it's often only in hindsight that these things and their effects become clear. With this in mind, when others seem to be fucked up, fucking up or to have fucked up it can be forgiven more easily. When it comes down to it, who am I to judge?

That's not to say that there are no standards or limits, only that it doesn't need to become an opportunity to cast judgement and raise myself above another to get farther away from my own shadow. We're all sinners here, just as we're all saints. We're all God and Devil both. They can both be approached more effectively if I haven't lost sight of either in myself.