When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blessed.
~ William Butler Yeats
Vain regrets about the past are meaningless. They shackle you to the past, deflect the currents of forgiveness and retard, if not defeat entirely, the healing process.
Remorse is only cast out as forgiveness is received so deeply that you no longer are bound to past errs. Thus forgiven, you are assured of never making the same mistake twice, not because of a fear of getting caught, neither from a fear of losing respect in the eyes of your fellows, but because you have made a fundamental shift in orientation.
All action springs from internal orientation. Center in the past and you are doomed to repeat it. Center in something higher and you will be drawn into higher function in relation to the present.
Why is it that people in general are liberal with their judgments and condemnation of others but so keen to be given a clean slate personally? Unity of thought is critical to right action.
Gregory Hake 
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It is true that people will give themselves a pass when they are quick to judge others, when really, the best way would be the other way around. Not to say that we should be so critical of ourselves that we never can accept forgiveness. The reason this is better lies more in the fact that we are the only ones that can see inside our heads. We know when we have really moved on, and will never repeat a past mistake. We can’t really know this about another person, and should give them the benefit of the doubt.
I think that this is the opposite usually, because people are so dishonest with themselves about the changes that they need to make that they project that dishonesty on others. I believe that everyone has the ability to change, and I don’t want it to be my judgement of someone else that does anything to prevent someone else from truly being forgiven.
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Humanity is peppered by the critical hearts and minds of an unforgiving man and yet conversly, it is blanketed by more still who demand or whine, for a clean slate of their own. Forgiveness is our ability to bless and we can not demand it from others. There are so many aspects of our lives as human beings that we can not control, but forgiveness is our priveledge to succeed in blessing in everyday no matter who has wronged us, or seemingly disguised themselves as angels of justice of revisionist history. Let the historian police have their crystalline views and their tallies of past grievances. The only one who can stop your life from being a blessing is you. Forgiveness is man’s only hope.
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As we forgive others we can also begin to understand what it is to receive forgiveness. Really, who are we to judge others? I would like to live a life without regret and the way to do that is to live righteously, from now on. The past is the past and there is nothing we can do about it. But, we can change the future! Perhaps any feelings of remorse could be used as an end to regret and a new commitment to living a life of blessing.
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Being remorseful doesn’t necessarily equate to repentance, although it may trigger the genuine release that is part of repenting. Remorse can become a self-feeding cycle if it does not trigger a willingness to let go, and to forgive and release the features of the past that othwerwise tend to bind. Remorse often contains the conviction that forgiveness would be impossible – either to give or to receive. Forgiveness is such a gift, to be given and to receive!
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I can appreciate these thoughts. Taken to heart, this means that any given day you can renew yourself, literally, you can take the steps to become a new person, one either you nor the world has ever seen before. So often one’s fears of how others will receive this paralyzes the powerful process of renewal, but this lies solely in the hands of the individual to overcome. Old habits die hard when a new personality is forged, and letting remorse go is akin to taking the breaks off a revved-up, stationary plane – you move forward and the stuck you is behind you.
I can tie this to what you wrote a few days ago about launching yourself as if you couldn’t fail. They can work together to help you through a sticking point in some element of personal development, and I am going to remember this for sure. No shame in admitting you need help, for we all do; the problem is when you can’t see the need or worse, when you refuse it! Receiving forgiveness is to receive help, and I can see that one’s attitude towards forgiveness has to be thoroughly genuine for it to have its monumental blessing.
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Sometimes I think of regrets as a signal to evaluate my actions. What should I have done or said? Look closely at what my motivation was. Then make the fundamental changes that ensure for right behavior in the future. Past that there is nothing creative in going over it. Repentance and wallowing are not the same. I appreciate your post.
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You make a good point. Forgiveness opens the flood gate so all that heaven can offer in the way of assistance can be available. Loving one another wasn’t a bumper slogan it’s a way that orientation is changed. It is a powerful mechanism. Thanks Gregg.
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