When we practice self-castigation, we are really oppressing our "neighbor."

 

Beating ourselves up when we make mistakes is just as much a "fall" into a dualistic, separation-oriented state of mind as is pronouncing negative judgment on another person. It is a participation in the "one person up, one person down" mentality that also finds its expression in hierarchy, oppression and social inequality. In reality, self-castigation is simply INTERNALIZED oppression . . .  of our "neighbor."  Jesus advised us to "Love your neighbor AS yourself"; that is, as an actual part of yourself. But the reverse is also true: "Love yourself AS your neighbor." 

In actuality, every being is a sacred "Thou," and this includes even our own self! This means that there actually is no "I" - not within ourselves, not within others, and not even within God. We might imagine it this way: every creature is a different expression of a single word - "Thou" - resounding throughout the universe, yet without there ever being any "I" to speak it! For that Divine "I" is forever emptied out in blissful, self-forgetful love. Yet - SURPRISE! - all things somehow are able to echo that singular "Thou" even though the One who would have spoken it ended up LOST in love before the word ever had a chance to be spoken!

In this scenario, no "Thou" - at its core - is any better than any other "Thou." There can never be any "one up, one down" mentality because all of us - including even ourselves - are actually echoes of a single unspoken "Thou"!

I find Nature endlessly effective in helping me move beyond the isolated, alienated, self-castigating "I" in order to dissolve in this endlessly vast and multi-faceted "Thou." For all things are actually varied expressions of a single, "I"-less, beloved "Thou"!

Photos: (Top) Bellvue Dome, with Cottonwoods and Willows glowing at sunset; Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO, October 28, 2014: (Middle) A squarish rock glows in last light, with Brown's Peak in the background, Snowy Range, WY, October 31, 2014; (Bottom) Engelmann spruce, with Hallett Peak and Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014