Casting Stones

In the Christian bible, a story is told of a woman accused of adultery.  The men brought her before Master Jesus and confirmed the teaching of Moses that the woman should be stoned for her sin.  I have taken only part of the excerpt in response to the story's portrayed inquiry of the men, to make a point.  You’re familiar with this one right?  Here it is, beautiful words we must truly strive to understand:  “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…”  As the story goes, each of the men looked within and realized the truth that they were not without sin themselves and could, therefore, not cast a stone at the woman they accused just moments before.   Whether or not you embrace the religious teaching here, believe the bible was truly divinely inspired, whether Jesus existed or not, the teaching – on it’s face is perfect.  How is it that we can look at others and see wrong and give no thought to what within self is wrong?  Take it a step further, if we were more worried about righting our own internal wrongs in thought or in deed (because neither truly makes a difference, it is just one is inside of your head that no one can see and the other is outside in the world for all to see), we would be less willing to so quickly condemn our fellow man (or woman).  A wrong thought has the same weight on a soul as a wrong action.  So those who have taken very visibly “good” actions in the world and yet have “bad” thoughts, these poor souls will forever be trapped in conflict.  Trying to appear one way and yet the thoughts deviating...no wonder the producers of mind-altering substances are making so much money.  We are so conflicted by our own thoughts and actions that we can no longer really tell right from wrong action or thought and we just keep trudging through life desensitized to the truth that is burning right inside of us always.

Those who scream the loudest of injustice are typically the first who should rightly be suspect of either bad thought or action.  Those who scream the loudest tell more of themselves, their actions and their thoughts than they do decrying the wrongs of others.  You see, none of us is perfect here for starters.  We all have our wrong thoughts and wrong actions up through our time here to deal with and don’t get me started on past lives that can twist our souls in ways we do not understand.  It might sound like I’m painting a bleak picture of the state of our thoughtful affairs but I honestly don’t mean to. What I mean to paint is a realistic picture that is truthful and honest.  We all think bad thoughts sometimes and when we see others get caught, our delight in this happening is that it is not we who have been caught.  Another challenge is we are angry at the wrong we see in another truly because we are angry with ourselves for similar transgressions. But, the soul knows the truth of the matters always and the conflict is born even if it remains mostly unconscious.  So, what is the answer then?  Well, right your thoughts.  If your thoughts are not right or they are overly egotistical and somehow take pleasure in the pain of another, there is truly internal work to do.  Two wrongs never make a right.  One bad action is never truly justified by another for in the act of vengeance, we have wholly swallowed the pain of another and let it fester deep within our psyches without seeking to understand and free ourselves from long anxious and angry moments of plotting and scheming for revenge or taking pleasure when it so happens to come back to one who has hurt you.  There is no pleasure in any pain inflicted anywhere in this universe.  To take pleasure in pain is evil thought in action.  Rather than praying for vengeance, praying for salvation for hurtful souls to be healed and “sin” no more is a better use of energy that does not trap you in the negativity.

For many reasons, this topic is important to me. In order to free the true love and light within us, we must free ourselves from the prisons of guilt, shame, emotional conflict and pain.  There are positive ways to go about this and there are negative ways to go about this.  In truth, there is not really a right or a wrong way in the way I have used it in this post.  Realize that I am a very positive person and so anything negative is going to feel “wrong” to me.  Anything that is not of love and compassion is going to feel “evil” to me.  It is my perspective that stems from the basis in which I operate.  I am not above wrong thought or momentary thoughts of wanting someone to feel what I feel when hurt.  It used to be out of vengeance I thought such thoughts.  But feeling the pain I inflicted on another did teach me that to inflict pain for any reason is not right and does not within me create peace, love and harmony.  Only when I seek higher understanding of the truth of any situation before me can I step above the lower-level baser emotional thoughts and achieve that which I seek.  That, primarily is freedom from action in the absence of understanding in order that I no longer contribute to any pain in this world.  

So, I realize that at any time the heart within me seems very quick to judge or condemn someone else for an action I may likely have also already committed either in a past life or the present one in thought or in deed, it is I who is in need of coming to the light and being brought to justice in my own thoughts.  I cannot condemn another soul.  I am wholly unworthy of casting any stones.  This realization, while incredibly humbling has most definitely set me free.  I just felt like sharing my thoughts this morning on this topic.  I know it is a bit of a theme of late but I see it everywhere and so wish to show folks trapped in this theme, a way out that leaves them feeling more uplifted instead and with a more positive direction instead of a dark path of drowning in negative energy and and conflict. ~Blessings for humble self-understanding, compassion and love.

(c) 2013 Jaie Hart (photo, random internet find)