I was a big supporter of capital punishment until a first kensho experience occurred. Afterwards, I still had many remaining thought structures that hadn't been seen through, but there was a completely different understanding of many other issues. Rather than seeing people as good or bad I began seeing them as either conscious or unconscious. I saw that people are always doing the best they can, and that people are not responsible for their actions in the way that I had once thought. After seeing this, the idea of capital punishment became unthinkable. Blame, revenge, judgmentalness, etc. all went out the window at the same time.
People are always doing exactly what they have to be doing, and there is a kind of internal logic to everything that happens. For example, the spouse who has an affair is usually responding to something missing in his/her marriage. No one is at fault, but it is the rare spouse who discovers an affair, feels no blame, and looks at his/her own actions to help understand what led to the affair. There has to be considerable self-honesty to see the big picture, forgive both parties, and determine an appropriate course of action. True love is being able to say, "I wish you the best whether you stay or go. If you go, I will still love you."
I once went to a psychological workshop with a friend where the first task was to write down all of one's resentments. Ha ha! It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud because I had no resentments about anything. The instructor walked by, saw the blank page in front of me, asked me about it, got my answer, and then said, "Well, you're probably in deep denial." Ha ha. I could see why he might think that because after fifteen minutes, most people in the room were still writing! Life can be very funny.
People are always doing exactly what they have to be doing, and there is a kind of internal logic to everything that happens. For example, the spouse who has an affair is usually responding to something missing in his/her marriage. No one is at fault, but it is the rare spouse who discovers an affair, feels no blame, and looks at his/her own actions to help understand what led to the affair. There has to be considerable self-honesty to see the big picture, forgive both parties, and determine an appropriate course of action. True love is being able to say, "I wish you the best whether you stay or go. If you go, I will still love you."
I once went to a psychological workshop with a friend where the first task was to write down all of one's resentments. Ha ha! It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud because I had no resentments about anything. The instructor walked by, saw the blank page in front of me, asked me about it, got my answer, and then said, "Well, you're probably in deep denial." Ha ha. I could see why he might think that because after fifteen minutes, most people in the room were still writing! Life can be very funny.
