The world -- meaning, each individual in the world -- is quite capable of taking away its own sins and being free from their burden. But it requires a level of willingness to see them and acknowledge them.

Without that willingness, they just get dramatized.

Invoking some Higher Being to jump in and tell you it is okay is only a marginal remedy, because whiile it may relieve some short-term pressure, it leaves you with your self-defined gap between what you have done and what you are willing to face honestly.

Given clean hands born of that level of honesty, one is quite able to be the source of his own forgiveness in the world without any pointy hats being called into play.

I do apologize if this collides with anyone's articles of faith, but it is what I have seen in sixty years of observation of the ways of life on this eccentric ball.

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