Monday 2 February 2015

On Aftermaths: Purification



Sometimes it all comes back to you. Scenarios from the past, when I battled and suffered, unroll before me like an old newsreel. Sometimes the mind quiets, then somehow they again arise.
            Actions — or activities— have consequences. Financial mistakes, disability crises, professional exploitations, sudden deaths. Actions or inactions of others might bring a sense of guilt as may our own acts. Plunged back into explications, discussions, confessions, emotions. What life fails to confront at least some of these? And their aftermaths. You receive a letter, see a news report; relations contact you, opponents resurface. Everything unjust, unresolved, unsatisfied, unforgiven comes to light.
            Limitations exposed, recounted, reconfronted: inability to help, or help enough; lack of charm, affability, tact or just restraint; failure to persuade. The things undone that we ought to have done. It comes back: you must tread again these paths.
            The word ‘karma’ means action, and the aftermath of action, taken or not taken.
            Since the slate must be cleansed free of writing, this clearing away is best done with the waters of Baptism. Regrets, discursions, recriminations only prolong our helplessness. Salvation comes through Christ our Lord. (No, you don’t have to face it all alone.)

No comments:

Post a Comment