Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2013-03 - AMORC

Atonement
An excellent exercise at the close of each day is to review
the day’s events, particularly those in which you took some
action or made a decision, or in which you could have
done so, but didn’t. It will be encouraging to remember
that you handled some situations pretty well; but in
others you fell short. What could you have done better,
more in line with your overall purpose and ideals This
kind of review isn’t meant to castigate yourself for your
errors, but to anticipate how to do better the next time.
We learn from our shortcomings only when we recognise
them as shortcomings; and that in itself is the principal
ingredient of atonement.
Atonement, which means putting ourselves right,
isn’t the same as punishment or expiation. What about
those errors or offenses of which we aren’t even aware
We’re not immune from their results are we The
Atonement, which means putting ourselves
right, isn’t the same as punishment or expiation.
ancient idea of a sin offering was not meant as expiation,
but as a token of acknowledgment that we have other
shortcomings of which we aren’t aware, and also that
redress has not always been possible for those of which
we are aware. In fact, we don’t perceive fully the divine law
of cause and effect, what we call Karma. Acknowledging
this is the first step in asking for more enlightenment.
It’s not our further responsibility to punish ourselves;
that has been decreed otherwise: “Retribution (not
vengeance) is mine, saith the Lord”; which is to say that
retribution is built into the Cosmic system. Expiation,
when we’ve harmed or offended someone, depends on
redress or restitution to them, or alternative deeds of
merit that can balance the scales to some extent. Asking
further that our errors be remitted to us, that means be
handed back to us, isn’t asking for punishment ‘in kind’,
but rather that we may have the opportunity to do it over,
this time correctly or to make adequate amends. This is
fulfilling the law.
Negation
There are other ways where we stand in our own light,
or stand in shadow when we could be in the sun. These
ways are many, but it may help to point out one rather
common element. We have had a tradition of self-denial,
of foregoing things we want, and especially things that
are pleasurable. It’s surprising what we can do without
when everything we think we need, must be carried or
pulled in carts. However, it’s also been fostered in other
circumstances as self-discipline. On the plus side, at least
in theory, self-denial compels people to reshuffle their
priorities and discover what’s most important
and most enduring. But, it has also been used as
punishment, and it can become a fetish.
Most of us have done without something
when we couldn’t afford it. But there are other
things we do without out of choice, or omit intentionally,
not knowing what we’re missing. Negative thinking shuts
many doors to us that positive thinking would open. True,
we’re beset by a barrage of negative expectations, such as
health hazards, inflation, corruption in high places, and so
on. But not exercising whatever spiritual competence we
have, and not counteracting these negative expectations,
we only leaves ourselves in want, not enjoying the available
Cosmic benefits of health, happiness and achievement.
If we stand in the shadow, how can we be warmed
by the sun If we turn away from the fountain, how can
we quench our thirst In these ways, unwittingly, we
create sombre karma now, while brighter karma is only
a step away.
by Richard Beardsley, FRC
If I walk alone
Without a friend
In search of Truth,
Along the path of life
Which has no end;
How can I be sure
That what I find is real
Unless my inner self can feel
And Cosmic Consciousness reveal
The true reality of Truth
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The Rosicrucian Beacon -- March 2013