Chapter Five
Presence: A Serious Confession
This is a chapter about the art and act of confession.
Confession is a part of every major religion, but it takes a different form in the different religions. But, there are many elements that are consistent. Let’s take a look at the Catholic model, which has influenced the culture of the Western European citizen. (The form differs throughout the various Protestant doctrines.)
In Catholicism there are three primary conditions of a true confession. (This act is performed under the Sacrament of Penance.)
First the penitent (the person making the confession) must be possess at least a minor posture of being remorseful. This will come into play a bit later.
Secondly, the penitent must declare, or disclose the sin. This one is tricky. It may not be enough to simply declare it to yourself. Whispering quietly in your room that what you did to Judy was simply wrong, or taking Franks lunch money was not right at all – this will not suffice. There seems to be a public element to this declaration.
Thirdly, there must be a satisfaction for the wrong committed. This is the penance part of the process. You must pay for your ‘sins.’ You must figure that one out… (see chapter 14 – Practical Work on Self – Remorse of Conscience.)
Finally, in the Catholic Church, you must be forgiven of your sins. There is an enormous literature about this forgiveness. It can ONLY be done by the Church through its intermediary – a priest. That was a major reason for the reformation and Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses.
We use a different approach to confession – a bit different. First of all, as the chapter heading indicates it must be serious. Also, there is not an indication that the issue at hand is a “sin” – but rather we are discussing mechanicality. This is the ‘sin’ of which we speak. When you notice a mechanical habit, that sleep moment is taking you away from your Work, it is taking you away from the precious moments of Invocation of Presence.
This is the reason for Confession. Now, I still think there must be a public declaration. But, what the voyager (penitent) is doing is declaring to the Cosmos that this mechanicality is working through his or her machine, but – the voyager declares – “I am not that.” It is a declaration to the universe. You are placing your staff in the Ground of the Work and not giving way to way of the World. The responsibility remains for you to continue to observe and not turn away from the ‘sin.’
Now, inherent in this work is the principle that you may not necessarily change that mechanical sleep mode, but, you USE IT to remind yourself to Awaken the Machine just one more time. We study this trait in our machine – which we are simply borrowing for this incarnation. As we study it, we can start to see it arise with all its sensations and manifestations, we watch carefully – “I am not that.”… We create for our Selves, a series of reminding factors that actually work to gradually change our machines.
Slowly Grasshopper – Slowly.