Secrets of Spiritual Happiness
Secret #31 -- Let Go of "Punishment Mentality"
By Sharon Janis
Secrets of Spiritual Happiness
Secret #31 -- Let Go of "Punishment Mentality"
By Sharon Janis
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.
- Job 5:17
On our journey of spiritual happiness, there is a bit of cleaning up work for each of us to do. We've been given all kinds of blatant and subtle teachings throughout our lives -- by our culture, by friends and families, in educational programs, and through the media. Some of these teachings may be true, some may be partially true, and some may not be true at all. Part of our job is to do a bit of weeding whenever possible, pulling out whatever weeds of wrong understanding may be keeping our beautiful blossoms from thriving.
One particularly questionable concept we need to look at is the fairly common image of a punishing God, who is waiting to shower wrath upon our lives, if we dare to displease "Him."
Perhaps such a concept is helpful in keeping those with animalistic desires from expressing harmful actions into the world. Without the threat of a punishing God, who knows what some people would do? But you're not like that, are you? You can be good just for the sake of your own inner satisfaction, and not because you're afraid of being punished from above, right?
God has lovingly created this exceptionally beautiful planet and given us all an opportunity to take birth here from the unknowable non-physical realm of the soul. Here, we live among the most exquisite and breathtakingly beautiful riches of nature, including a bountiful variety of colorful foods, with fresh, flowing waters, and all the glories of life that dance day and night upon this earth. I think it is obvious that He likes us.
Therefore, one good step toward spiritual happiness would be to stop thinking that God is waiting or wanting to punish us for our limitations and mistakes. Feelings of guilt and upset can actually cause us to create our own problems -- like children who angrily break their own toys after being sent to their room for misbehaving.
This same archetypal pattern of punishment has also taken form in our society's ever-expanding prison system, which clearly demonstrates how ineffective this punishment mentality can be in the long run. It may take decades for society to find a better way to keep the masses in line than by using punishment mentality, however you can change your own personal approach right now. With the magical wand of your own mind, you can contemplate some of your inaccurate, world-given beliefs and begin to prune out those that create suffering in your life.
Small children are often punished by apparently magical parents, who somehow seem to know about bad behaviors in a way that might seem magical or Godlike to unsophisticated, young minds. If you're one of the majority of children who were punished for bad behavior, chances are that you may have some form of "punishment mentality" concept stuffed away in the foundations of your personality and worldview.
When you have punishment mentality, you may think that you don't deserve all the blessings that are your birthright. You know that you've made mistakes, and if God doesn't punish you for them, by golly, you'll have to do it yourself.
Instead of sinking to such depths, we can use our minds to uplift these harmful beliefs into a beneficial belief in a benevolent God. Then, we'll be opening the door to spiritual happiness.
Instead of thinking about your challenges with punishment mentality, you can contemplate them with faith in God's limitless grace. Perhaps you have been given extra challenges because your heart is longing to truly be free, and those troubles are exactly what will get you there. Perhaps you dared to wish for the experience of God's presence in every moment of your life, or for divine grace to inspire and bless your works. Such blessings don't always come cheap or without challenges that may be necessary to test, transform, and uplift you.
Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.
- Richard Bach
Consider that, through your challenges, God may be rearranging things to loosen your attachments, heal your pride, or prepare the way for some new growth in your deep inner life. Of course, you can also make efforts to lower the number of corrections you have to go through by adjusting your actions. However, contrary to what you may have learned as a child, there is no need to think that a parental God is ready and waiting to punish you if you do something wrong. This is where the idea of God as a benevolent teacher can come in handy.
Many ancient spiritual scriptures explain that we create the world as we live it -- each one of us, and all together. Therefore, we can choose to create the experience of a loving God, or we can create the experience of a judgmental, harsh, and wrathful God who sends afflictions to express his displeasure with something we've done. The seeds of spiritual happiness or unhappiness exist in how we interpret the events of our lives.
Even if we don't always have a choice over how outer events and experiences take place, we do have some say as to how we interpret those situations. In fact, we can even learn to be grateful for challenges when our focus is on how to use them as leverage to improve ourselves.
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