{"id":1324,"date":"2012-02-22T03:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2012-02-18T11:47:43","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T16:47:43","slug":"true-repentance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/02\/true-repentance.html","title":{"rendered":"True Repentance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong> What about the idea of repentance? On one hand, being repentant for ourselves — as certain old religious teachings say we should be — seems as much a part of being self-punishing as is just “cutting loose,” going wild, and then feeling terrible afterward for our reckless actions. Is there a true repentance beyond this idea of just living full of regrets that change nothing?<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>Let me offer this: True repentance has nothing to do with any ideas or images we may hold about ourselves as either being “bad” or “sorry” for what we have done. Real repentance is an unmistakable, instantaneous moment of insight where we see, to our shock, that something untrue, un-joyful, and self-destructive has been living our life and getting us to call ourselves — and know ourselves — by its presence. Lastly, this shock — and what it brings — leads to the birth, or the discovery, of a new kind of inner peace that has no opposites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: What about the idea of repentance? On one hand, being repentant for ourselves — as certain old religious teachings say we should be — seems as much a part of being self-punishing as is just “cutting loose,” going wild, and then feeling terrible afterward for our reckless actions. Is there a true repentance beyond…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,2],"tags":[1018,179,1019,106,1044,755],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faithspirituality","category-letting-go","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-forgiveness","tag-lent","tag-peace","tag-repent","tag-sorrow"],"yoast_head":"\nTrue Repentance - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/02\/true-repentance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"True Repentance - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: What about the idea of repentance? 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. 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