Mind V

In one of our sessions, one of our group proposed the concept of “Original Innocence,” as prior to Original Sin. I am not a theologian, but here is my understanding of this concept. We could consider our Original Innocence to be our True Nature, that which is the ever-present awareness, prior to the arising of thoughts, feelings, or perceptions. That is the experience of natural cognizant openness, prior to our turning away from Awareness, turning away from God’s Being or falling from Grace.

The Buddhists have a slightly different view of ‘the Fall’ from grace. Here is a description from the book Awakening Through Love by John Makransky.

The Buddhist view of “the fall” from our pure original nature differs from the biblical view, for it is not perceived as having happened once and for all in some mythical beginning. Rather, this “falling away” is constantly reoccurring here and now, as our subconscious fear of the openness of experience struggles each moment to create and grasp on to the appearance of a narrow, unchanging self – a self bound up with the small world of self-centered concern. Our ongoing stream of experience is patterned by momentary thoughts into an organized personality that can certainly be referred to as “I” or “me,” but there is no unchanging, substantial, isolated self to be found there of the sort our minds keep working to establish.

So, when we view the self or the mind as ‘who we are’, we are limiting our being to our ego, habitual patterns of thought and expression. We miss the open, aware being of our true nature.

Relaxing the grip on thoughts and feelings, being present to them without judgement or preference, permits whatever arises to release in its own time and space. This allows the ‘original innocence’ to be revealed as the already ever-present nature of our mind.