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Meditation 1275
Re-Imagining Religion: don’t repent, learn

by: Gordon Barthel

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I dream of a religion that cares about our psychological growth, not a religion that judges us for our alleged sins for we will always have our faults and failures, but a religion that stresses the importance of learning from our experiences, a religion that stresses we examine our follies and failures, and strive to learn something constructive from our mistakes for this is the best penance, turning our mortal mistakes into greater knowledge and skill.

I dream of a religion that encourages us to learn from our experiences, not a religion that condemns us for being human and demands penance, but a religion that preaches we learn turn our mortal mistakes into knowledge and skill, a religion that encourages us to learn something useful, something constructive from our failures and foibles, a religion that truly wants us to become better humans as a direct result of our experiences, both the good and the bad, the successful and the disastrous experiences.

I dream not of a religion that preaches ‘repent, repent, repent,’ but a religion that preaches ‘learn, learn, learn,’ for I cannot become a better person begging forgiveness from pious priests and dispassionate immortals, but I can become a better human by learning from my experiences, especially by learning from my mistakes and failures.

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