[TM] 288: Is redemption truly possible?
Jun. 19th, 2009 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elementof_riskDoes it matter? If it did, or does, how would one even know if one had obtained it? I imagine it's some sort of guilty conscience over past deeds or life that send one scurrying through life to find "redemption" for one's past, in what? A slew of good deeds meant to balance the karmic scale or prove that you've changed, that you're a "good" person now? Who judges when it is enough? If you've taken five lives, must you save five to be redeemed, or must you save ten? What if you've taken a hundred? Two hundred? Are you at the point of having to give up your own life for someone else, then, in order to be redeemed, or would even that not be enough, and, once again, I have to ask--in whose eyes?
It's an entirely subjective question. Do I feel the need for redemption? No. Are there those out there who think I should? Undoubtedly. Have I wronged people, or hurt people, I regret? ...Yes. But, even so, it doesn't trigger some cosmic searching of my soul for this elusive idea of redemption. The past is the past. It is done. It happened. What I did. What was done to me. If there is some cosmic balancing scale running around, then I'm sure I'm fucked beyond all measure, and there's likely nothing I can do about it. Even if I decided to try--I could decided I was redeemed and those I'd hurt decide I'm not and the world be somewhere in between and, really, we'd be back around to the question.
Some people will say, "Of course it's possible." Others, cynics, maybe, will say it isn't. I say it's a construct made up by people trying to make themselves feel better because of overburdened consciences and therefore the question of possibility is moot--not from a cynical standpoint that people are irredeemable, but from the viewpoint that redemption itself doesn't exist, because there is no moral judge hanging over us, no final arbiter to say whether or not someone is redeemed. If there is no one to decide, then it cannot be done, but because there is no one saying you are not redeemed, either, then, ultimately, it doesn't matter, except within your own mind.
Do what you can live with. If you cannot live with the consequences of your actions, then do not undertake them. If you feel the need to make amends, do so. If you don't, don't. Only the individual can decide the path of his or her own life and choices. Redemption implying an outside force is immaterial. And I really wish people would stop going on like I'm in need of it.
It's an entirely subjective question. Do I feel the need for redemption? No. Are there those out there who think I should? Undoubtedly. Have I wronged people, or hurt people, I regret? ...Yes. But, even so, it doesn't trigger some cosmic searching of my soul for this elusive idea of redemption. The past is the past. It is done. It happened. What I did. What was done to me. If there is some cosmic balancing scale running around, then I'm sure I'm fucked beyond all measure, and there's likely nothing I can do about it. Even if I decided to try--I could decided I was redeemed and those I'd hurt decide I'm not and the world be somewhere in between and, really, we'd be back around to the question.
Some people will say, "Of course it's possible." Others, cynics, maybe, will say it isn't. I say it's a construct made up by people trying to make themselves feel better because of overburdened consciences and therefore the question of possibility is moot--not from a cynical standpoint that people are irredeemable, but from the viewpoint that redemption itself doesn't exist, because there is no moral judge hanging over us, no final arbiter to say whether or not someone is redeemed. If there is no one to decide, then it cannot be done, but because there is no one saying you are not redeemed, either, then, ultimately, it doesn't matter, except within your own mind.
Do what you can live with. If you cannot live with the consequences of your actions, then do not undertake them. If you feel the need to make amends, do so. If you don't, don't. Only the individual can decide the path of his or her own life and choices. Redemption implying an outside force is immaterial. And I really wish people would stop going on like I'm in need of it.
