A SHORTCUT TO A FRET-FREE LIFE

There's a commercial that plays a lot on TV today...about heartburn...the punchline of which is, "So don't get heartburn in the first place."

That's the perfect reminder for forgiveness...about resentments...with the punchline, "So don't get a resentment in the first place."

The instructions for how to not get a resentment are everywhere...Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, et al., all are taught, in some manner, that the way to a love-filled life is to learn to live without resistance. It is impossible to begin the process of learning to live, to love, without resistance as long as we believe we are dependent wholly on our reasoning mind. Our ego lives in our reasoning mind, and it tells us we must not let him get away with stealing from us, or her get over on us with her lies, or either of them get ahead of us in the ticket line...any ticket line.

Commonsense becomes our enemy in spiritual work.

The Sermon tells us if someone steals our coat, we must run after him and give him our cloak. And life teaches us that if someone tells a lie about us, the worst thing we can do is breath life into it by defending ourselves. If it is a lie, it will die with some people believing it and others not, and neither way makes a row of pins except if we pick it up. Don't get a resentment in the first place.

If we pick the lie up, it is now ours, and it will live forever in our resentful mind...or until it becomes so painful to us that we must ask God to forgive US and set US free.  Our very misery ensures that he is no longer a factor...even though we keep her name on it. We just need to remember the lesson of how not to get a resentment...live/love without resistance.

All this boils down to learning a shortcut to a fret-free life: Someone does you wrong...let her, love him, keep on trucking.

Thank You.