The concept of original sin has a central role in our religious and cultural inheritance. Understanding it is essential in finding the roots of our actual cultural and social milieu. More than that, no true self understanding can be achieved unless we deal with it in some form. The term might sound fearful at times, but as we understand it more, it will loose its terrible charge.

When you consider its definition as given by various religious sources, you will find differing views. Due to different dogmas and concepts, original sin got so many interpretations. Which I think are not relevant in the self transformational perspective. Or have less relevance than considering it from the perspective of the individual possibilities.

Essentially, original sin is a burden left to us by our ancestors. It is an ancestral sin. Inherited from on generation to another.

We are formed by the unconscious sufferings of our ancestors.

The plausible interpretation that can be used in self understanding is different from the commiserative attitude which generally relates to the concept of sin. In this context, original sin means that we are sentenced to be affected by the unconscious sufferings of our ancestors. And those unprocessed sufferings will continue to affect our children too. All this will continue until we deliver ourselves.

Sufferings of our ancestors that have not been faced consciously got repressed. They are there in the unconscious. It is illustrative to separate the different scales of it. There is a strictly personal inheritance, coming from the family. Then there is the one inherited from the community, then the one from the nation we belong to and, at an even larger scale, the humanity.

This immense quantity of repressed energy has its impact on our actual existence. It affects our collective and personal unconscious. It is of utmost importance to consider its impact on our common and individual destinies. There is no way to avoid it.

Being affected by this inheritance is obvious. Not only affected, because that sounds quite neutral. Actually we are formed by it. Formed by insufficient, long-established, often destructive patterns. But is there a way out? Is there a possibility to break this endless chain?

The possibility must be there. But it needs to be discovered on the individual basis. The chain will remain until we face our own degree of responsibility. Until we develop our our knowledge and understanding of responsibility. Until we reach complete maturity.

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