Expiate my guilt...

Purging on almost any level is not something which is entirely foreign to me. Nor might I add do I consider it at all repugnant - whatever the reason for the redress.  I view the undertaking more as a redemption than a sacrifice.  Which is to say that the motive isn't wholly altruistic. Given my notorious abhorrence of religious fiddle-faddle anything I can do to remove the obligation of recompense from an imaginary spiritual realm is probative. Frankly I consider squaring one's conduct an ultimate personal advantage quite apart from the off-setting it may afford the aggrieved party (who very often can easily bear the deprivation of another's guilt in any event).

If one were to take a pantheon view of the world, it is naturally foreseeable that what is good for one is good for all. I like to promote self-improvement not solely for the evident advantages to oneself but also for the preferment of others whether directly or indirectly.  My opinion of wisdom is generally confined to what I believe each of us is capable of doing for our own advancement, a variation on the theme of setting a good example. By contrast I take a dim view of our capacity to tell other people how to improve their lives. Accordingly in its broadest perception the value of pious behaviour is to enlarge our understanding and le bien-être of one another (including obviously ourselves).

There are as many factors which insinuate our feelings of inadequacy and misfortune (in which I include such domestic allusions as guilt) as there may be touted to make good those throbbing states. As with the resolution of any other perplexity the answer lies in forthright address and what are usually fairly simple responses to the problem.  Until then it is all too possible to become immersed in disquietude without hope of recovery. The preferred agenda therefore is to acknowledge the difficulty, then face it.  If nothing else it will expedite the process and hopefully diminish the elongation of discomfort.  In addition there is seldom much which will succeed to strengthen our enthusiasm for living as an effort to fulfill its necessities (an observation by virtue of its utter pragmatism and visceral appeal I acknowledge borders on the vulgar).  How common it is to discover that once we have done what we needed to do, the rest miraculously falls into place!  This in my opinion is no accident. The unpredicted corollary is self-evident. Logic tells us that if we exhaust our questions, we have the answers!  It is nonetheless mandatory to endure the rigour of restitution.  But having accomplished that duty - and make no mistake, it is a duty - we open the door to a sense of fulfillment which is beyond imagination. The complications of the universe suddenly unblock and reveal a path of gratification we had thought was lost. Nor is the satisfaction easily catalogued; rather it is a temperament or persuasion, even at times a sense of achievement.

The dichotomies of mankind cannot be ignored - science and mysticism, cerebral and visceral, material and spiritual, compassion and greed, love and hate, arrogance and shame.  The polarities are however more representative than real.  The frozen truth is that the divisions exist in concert, and one should never become so hopelessly enthralled by one or the other as to extend its significance beyond its broader (alloyed) import.  The nexus is as inescapable as mind and body; and just as elemental. There are in addition certain realities (in this sometimes magical world) which must be confessed - for example, that nature teaches us how to die. These seemingly rude admissions do however palliate an otherwise distressing declension. Again the prescription is to go in with your head up and eyes open rather than crumpled and blind.  There are certain impurities which are inevitable. Yet the practical and intuitive rejoinder to the feculence is guaranteed to soothe the contamination.

In the result the inescapable - and not altogether masterly - conclusion is that we are bound to confront our dilemmas; and, the sooner the better. Having done so it is assured that we shall be restored to a proper absorption of life's capital; that is, our personal wealth of character and things (matters which regrettably are too frequently overlooked or diminished). The instruments of our respective production and discovery are far greater than we might possibly encapsulate. It behooves us therefore to tackle the challenges of the day with renewed vigour and optimism - keeping in mind that the recognition of fault is but one of the vehicles to restitution.

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