A Jail of Guilt and Bed of Shame

I had to wait until I was five to be prosecuted for the possession of guilt. They told me before that age that I was to young to be guilty. The trial was short; I was found guilty and sentenced to life in the Prison of Guilt.

Many were in the prison; each had their own cells, which were large square rooms with grey floors. The prison was placed in the center of an expanse of woods populated during the night with demons to keep the prisoners from escaping. I was allowed out during the day to join the millions of other children playing in the world of insanity. Oh! And yes - one other thing - there was no roof; when I lay in my room, I could see the sky and a route to freedom, if I could only find a way.

It so happened that before I was born my mother promised me to God; I came into the world with God’s angel for protection. Angel could not protect me from the guilt, for that was a private matter; the two of us lived within the prison of guilt until I was fifteen.

A new situation arose when the authorities prosecuted me for the possession of Shame. I was sentenced to a concurrent life term to be served out at night by sleeping on the Bed of Shame. The Bed of Shame was very old and had been in the family for centuries, so it was stained from the activities of life. I didn’t care for the stains; I slept with my Angel on the floor. It was then when Angel and I looked up through the open roof and formulated a plan to escape from the Prison of Guilt and the Bed of Shame.

The plan was simple. Every night Angel and I would fly out of the prison and sleep above the world in a safe place in the heavens. Every night I would dream of a new life in a place called Love. Each dream of love was carefully preserved until I could use them to make a new life. There were enough dreams left over to make a new, unstained bed. The dreams of love were carefully pieced together with Gratitude. In this way we constructed our new home of Love and Gratitude.

At the end of one of our night flights, we simply did not go back to prison. The authorities looked for us, and when we were found, they came to seize us and make us return to prison, but the construction of our house of love and gratitude was so strong that we were able to resist them; they gave up and left us to ourselves.

We are now living our lives in the house of love - free of guilt and shame. On any dark and starry night, look up into the heavens and find our home - in the Milky Way - high overhead.

***

Abused children suffer from guilt and shame. Some are never able to reconcile their participation in the abuse; they are hostage to feelings of guilt and shame. Without the ability to forgive, they cannot find love. Without having gratitude for their survival, they cannot arise from the Bed of Shame and break free from the Prison of Guilt.