I had a “pleasant encounter” with a global “script” last night, and I think some of it might be worth sharing because it’s universally relevant.

There’s a list of “spiritually impure” things that are supposed to be forbidden by God and doing them is supposed to represent a sin, which makes a soul impure before God and inadmissible to heaven, or something along those lines. Everybody seems to know the list – don’t steal, murder, fuck outside of wedlock and so on. Looks completely common sense, until you think about it.

Because, you see, you can diligently avoid doing all those prohibited things for your entire life, and be a spiritual midget. Also, you can do all those things at some point in your life, and be a great saint. Take St. Augustine for an example – if I remember correctly, he lived with a woman out of wedlock, even fathered a child with her, but then his family didn’t condone the relationship so she was quietly sent away. This is by no means a good or a moral thing; I mean, sending her away. However, regardless of what one might expect, the man was a great saint. St. Jerome, the translator of the Bible, probably the smartest man of his time alongside St. Augustine, had homosexual encounters in youth, which troubled him greatly later in life, but is remembered as a great saint. St. Paul persecuted the Church in its early days and is likely responsible for many deaths, and is a great saint and the most important person in the history of the Church beside Jesus. Jesus constantly broke this or that silly “commandment”, including stealing wheat from someone’s field during Sabbath; he also instructed his disciples to obtain swords, and as a result one person was injured. Krishna stole, killed and had sex, and yet He was God. Milarepa practised black magic and killed many beings, and yet he was a great saint.

So, if having “sinned” doesn’t seem to preclude spiritual greatness, and being “sinless” doesn’t create holiness, there’s something seriously wrong with the very concept, and I think I might know what.

You see, this list is the concept of sin that is created and maintained by Satan, and is specifically enforced by the laws inherent to the very structure of this world. In the real world, sin is s different thing; sin is a state of consciousness that resists and rejects God. This state of rejecting God can result in evil actions, but the opposite is in fact possible – a person aligned with the will of God can perform actions that could be qualified as sinful, but this is not in fact the case, because it doesn’t matter what something looks like, it matters what it actually is, in its true nature. If something results in holiness and manifestation of God, it is obviously not sinful. If something results in spiritual vacuum and boredom, it can obviously not be aligned with God, and is thus sinful by definition.

Interestingly, some of the worst people I know didn’t murder anyone, didn’t steal anything as far as I know, and you wouldn’t find any items from the “black list” on their record, yet they hated God wherever He was present, and they are sin incarnate. On the other hand, all the greatest people I know did all kinds of shit at one point. I’m not saying one should see all actions as permissible, but there’s obviously more to holiness than keeping score against some list of prohibited actions. That’s why I called my spiritual system “darshana yoga”. Find God first, then align your actions with That, and keep the goal present on the path. Notice the conspicuous absence of any detailed instructions, and lists of prohibited and recommended specific actions. Basically, if you’re a living presence of God, as long as you are able to maintain that during any action, I don’t care what you do.