Of Gods and Peas...
Once upon a time we were all very very young. We had just been born, and we didn't know how to do anything. We experimented, and we learned to breathe, to cry, to smile, to laugh - everything we need to know to survive in this physical world. And we had help. We had parenting, people who taught us what we needed to know, who gave us our first bowl of peas. We didn't know what to do with the peas, so we were given one or two to taste, from the spoon we were supposed to use when eating them. And we decided to feed ourselves the peas. Independence was the goal, even then. The peas, spoon, hand and dish just didn't cooperate though. The peas ended up on the floor. The parenting person didn't get mad, didn't think we were making a mess on purpose. They simply laughed and cleaned up the mess. They even gave us peas again. Eventually, the peas ended up in our eyes. We were upset, (peas in the eye are uncomfortable), but our parent person knew we were making progress and encouraged us. We'd found our faces. Then the peas went in the nose, and we'd gotten a little farther toward the goal. Again our parent person laughed, delighted with our progress, and kept encouraging us. Finally, we got the peas in our mouth, and the goal was scored. We'd learned to feed ourselves. There were some relapses, but the skill became ingrained and we moved on to the next lesson. No one was angry when we still missed our mouths occasionally, there was just a clean up and expectation that we would be able to do it ourselves eventually. And it worked.
Some people look at the Divine as a great Parent-In-The-Sky and feel they have to live up to some artificial standard or be condemned to punishment because they fail to achieve "perfection" in their own eyes. They see "God" as unreasonably demanding, and watching every moment trying to catch them "sinning", failing to live up to the standards they've assigned themselves as "God's" demands on them. They forget what is reality - we are born unknowing and helpless. We have to learn to feed ourselves, to breathe, everything. We have to learn compassion, generosity, honor, and all the other things we call virtues. The only thing we are born with innately is love so we will recognize it and know whom to trust in our initial journey into the world. And that Love comes from the Divine. It is an essential part of us given as our spirit or soul, the thing that makes us live. The Divine is in some ways a Parent to us. We are created by the Divine, so we can be referred to as Children of the Divine. Our experiences in learning to relate to each other and to the Divine are much like learning to eat peas. We miss our faces. We stick the "peas" in our eyes and up our noses. But with practice we become able to successfully relate to those around us with Love, and to make it more and more unconditional, like the Love of the Divine for us children. The Divine doesn't punish us for making mistakes. The Divine doesn't turn away and get angry. S/He/It helps us clean up the mess, if we're so inclined, and if we aren't, gives the "mess" a way to deal with the fallout of our actions. And hands us another spoon and dish of peas, laughing with joy to see us learning to live.
The Divine Spirit of the Universe doesn't punish us for making mistakes, we do it to ourselves.
We don't/won't love ourselves enough to forgive ourselves and realize we're just learning here. It's easier to be angry than to go "Gee, I made a mistake. I'm sorry I hurt you, but I'm willing to forgive myself because I'm still learning about this life and loving stuff and won't make that same mistake in that same way again, and whether you stay angry with me or not, I know I'll have another chance somehow." It's easier to be angry than go "I'm hurt because your actions didn't give me what I wanted from you, but I know you're still learning this living and loving stuff too, so I'm just going to forgive you for being you and not what I want to make you into, and get on with the living and loving myself." It's easier to throw the dish of peas on the floor and scream for someone to feed us than to go through the process of learning to use the spoon. Until the Tough Love lets us get hungry by presenting the bowl and spoon without feeding us and we're forced to either starve or learn to do it ourselves.
Eventually, we're going to have to learn to Love ourselves enough to forgive ourselves and learn how to express the Love we came from in the world we Live in, peas and all.