II Why pray
Matt 6:8 says that God already knows what we would pray for. Why then should we pray for it?
The possibilities are:
a. We do not actually want to be forgiven.
b. We want to be forgiven but we are not only praying to God but also to ourselves.
Why would someone not want to be forgiven? One possibility is that he only understands forgiving from an egotistical perspective. According to the ego, when you forgive someone, you must forgive them OF something. Thus to forgive another means to point out that they did in fact commit a sin in the first place. Pointing out a sin is, by definition judgment--the opposite of forgiving. Therefore a person might want to avoid forgiving because he equates it with judgment. To be forgiven, according to the ego, implies submission, lowering oneself in comparison to another, being less than them, admitting you were wrong. Admitting that you are lesser. Admitting that you do not deserve what the ego wants, the recogntion from others that you are more valuable than others. Thus from this perspective, forgiving is not possible, it is nonexistant even on a conceptual level.
The possibility that we are also praying to ourself is consistent with Matt 6:14,15 (For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.) which suggests that forgiving must take place between people and that we are primarily responsible for our being forgiven.
In any case, it is impossible to understand forgiving while we hold onto the ego's perspective or while we hold onto the ego's goal.
The possibilities are:
a. We do not actually want to be forgiven.
b. We want to be forgiven but we are not only praying to God but also to ourselves.
Why would someone not want to be forgiven? One possibility is that he only understands forgiving from an egotistical perspective. According to the ego, when you forgive someone, you must forgive them OF something. Thus to forgive another means to point out that they did in fact commit a sin in the first place. Pointing out a sin is, by definition judgment--the opposite of forgiving. Therefore a person might want to avoid forgiving because he equates it with judgment. To be forgiven, according to the ego, implies submission, lowering oneself in comparison to another, being less than them, admitting you were wrong. Admitting that you are lesser. Admitting that you do not deserve what the ego wants, the recogntion from others that you are more valuable than others. Thus from this perspective, forgiving is not possible, it is nonexistant even on a conceptual level.
The possibility that we are also praying to ourself is consistent with Matt 6:14,15 (For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.) which suggests that forgiving must take place between people and that we are primarily responsible for our being forgiven.
In any case, it is impossible to understand forgiving while we hold onto the ego's perspective or while we hold onto the ego's goal.