It is Pentecost – time for some lyrical words on love, confidence, faith, the nature of sin, guilt and forgiveness.
Butterflies
The true moments of life
Are instants of art and truth,
When one encounters something
That connects the inner soul
With the outer cosmos.
They are tender, fragile moments
And yet encounters full of power,
Flapping Butterflies in sunshine,
Brilliant in fleeting plays of colour,
Dancing magically to silent melodies.
Such powers are greater than time:
Such encounters transcend.
Some called it love,
Some call it confidence and
Some truly understand that
Therein lies faith.
* * *
The Nature of Sin
The real, significant sins, the lies of life,
They do not really need to be exposed.
Actually, there would be no need for a prophet
To unmask them and point out what they are and
What are their bitter consequences:
Because it has always been the case that
These sins are such obvious, quite public,
But they are relativised and justified
By personal freedom and the attitude that
They are right or equal, or necessary, or modern,
Or that progress of society dictates it this way.
And so they remain, the bitter sins and lies of life,
All the slavery, the abuses, the mass murders,
The environmental destruction and our great guilt
That we tolerate and allow it and turn away and that
These sins poison the whole world and ultimately us.
Why? Because we don’t want to admit them and think
That if we simply ignore them, they wouldn’t exist.
I don’t know if you need a god or hell to atone for such wrongs.
Because there is a cycle of ethical causality,
Which also punishes such sin: blindly and without consideration.
That is the ultimate law of the cosmos.
In fact, you need a merciful God so that the lies of life
And all the many guilts can be forgiven when
There is no one else left
To pardon us from ourselves.
* * *
Forgiveness
Today, there are great misunderstandings about forgiveness:
On the one hand, some people believe that there is no sin and no guilt.
Well, it is in the nature of sin that it makes itself righteous
In order to hide, but today we make a lifestyle out of it.
In the end, this is just warmed-over sophistry.
On the other hand, some people believe that forgiveness means
Excusing oneself in the sense that one absolves himself of guilt.
Forgiveness, however, cannot come from the perpetrators theirself
Or from uninvolved third parties – even if they presume to do so.
Forgiveness is a prerogative of the victims
– Only the victims are entitled to forgive guilt!
Thirdly, it is reserved for the divine sphere to forgive sins.
This forgiveness is the result of grace. It cannot be bought,
It cannot be earned – But above all, it cannot simply be
Arrogated to oneself, which often happens these days.
Religious forgiveness is not logical, and it does not fit into the world.
It is part of the heavenly sphere. It presupposes faith.
Last but not least, most people confuse forgiveness with forgetting.
And by simply forgetting what they have done,
They think the problem is solved.
But guilt and its consequences are not eliminated in this way.
Maybe, audacity wins at first. And that is why
A bad memory is praised today,
While real forgiveness is talked down.
The world, meanwhile, will certainly
Not get better by this way.
* * *
