EDITORIAL - I Was Just Thinking Getting Rid of My Old Nonsense “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) May 2007

Richard Koscher

Emerson's quote captures an essential activity that probably belongs to a healthy and productive life. My ability to continually enjoy life at its fullest and best requires the experience Emerson describes of each day putting behind me the mistakes and failures of the previous day.

What is missing from Emerson’s quote, of course, is any hint of how I can ever manage successfully to do that.

It is easy enough to say the words about my failings, "forget them as soon as you can." But what if I can't forget them in any amount of time?

Or, worse, what if my "forgetting" of them means that I simply shove them into some space in my unconscious mind where they fester and eventually erupt in some outpouring of incomprehensible psychic darkness?

Some of us are carrying around burdens of shame for “old nonsense’ and regretting “blunders and absurdities” that we committed years ago. In some cases, decades.

Not only are we weighed down by remorse but resentment at cruel or stupid acts committed by others may also be limiting our capacity to experience joy.

Malicious comments made by parents, siblings, children, relatives, schoolmates, fellow workers, and neighbors can burn into our spirits, and demolish the possibility of beginning any day “well and serenely.”

The words and behaviors of politicians and celebrities can arouse in our hearts deep feelings of resentment and even hatred that pollute the pools of tranquility and deny to us the joi de vivre that should be our birthright as human beings fashioned by a Benevolent Creator to enjoy the pleasures of His creation.

So it seems to me that Emerson's quote misses necessary qualities of mercy and forgiveness that must be present to make the act of getting rid of “my old nonsense” effective or even possible. And every day I must rediscover sources of forgiveness and grace that will move me beyond the blunders and absurdities committed both by myself and by others.

I must learn to honestly admit my failures, inadequacies, and resentments, first to myself and then before Heaven, seeking the sense of forgiveness and release that will make it possible for me to “forget them,” as Emerson says I must.

And I must deliberately make that act of receiving forgiveness to become the basis upon which I then forgive everyone else for whatever they’ve done to harm me. And do this whether or not they deserve my forgiveness.

It is possible, perhaps even necessary, for me to engage in forgiveness as a fundamentally selfish act — forgiving people because I desperately need to free myself from the acids of resentment that will otherwise burn into my soul.

And I do!

I deliberately pray every day, confessing my failures, determining not to repeat them, and then receiving the sense of forgiveness that Heaven continually offers to me. And then I quickly put away any anger or resentment that I might have against anybody else in the world.

The process has become my normal and daily routine. I’m reaching out for and receiving the forgiveness and restoration that provide a basis for the “high spirits” Emerson wrote about. “You turned my wailing into dancing,” sang the Psalmist. “You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”

I’ve learned how he was able to come to that experience.

On this kind of foundation I can build my life as a joy-filled process of continual rediscovery of the dazzling possibilities life holds out while taking unfettered delight in the wonderful people surrounding me.

The universe contains ugly and awful things, for sure, but these days I’m absolutely enveloped in a world that is permeated by the possibilities for doing good and receiving good from others.

A wonderful bonus grows out of this daily experience: I find that I'm actually developing into a better person. The process of confession, repentance, and forgiveness empowers me to deny permission to old habits that pull me down; to not keep repeating day-after-day tiresome and depressing patterns of personal failure and resentment.

I can joyfully echo the testimony of an elderly woman who said, “I ain’t what I ought to be and I ain’t what I’m going to be, but at least I ain’t what I was.”

I really am “getting rid of my old nonsense.” My life is an upward spiral — each day seemingly more full of the power for daily living and more full of joy than the day before.

Dr. Don Huntington
Editorial Director
don@110mag.com