In our previous 3 posts we introduced a provocative Hebrew wisdom masters koan, “Great is teshuva, for in it intentional sins become great merits.”
Here is the third and final interpretation to help animate this koan in our lives:
The third understanding of the power of teshuva: the spiritual time machine. Teshuva literally means “to turn or return.” To return to where?
It could man to return to the scene of the crime and not do it again. If adultery with your best friend’s wife is the sin, then it means that you have the same opportunity–sexy and willing woman, available apartment, alibii, and the same level of attraction–but this time you set a sacred boundary.
Or it could mean something else entirely. It could mean that you return not only to the same situation and even the same place, but also that time itself warps and you return to the same moment. When the desire to make amends is driven by love, be it love of God, self, or other, then time warps and makes herself available. The mystery of love modeled in the sexual is that time is not absolute. It bends to the will of love and eros.
The Mystery of Love
Marc Gafni
Page 301
For more information on private study or to book a public teaching, contact Dr. Marc Gafni at support@ievolve.org