Sometimes a person is overcome by despair from the consciousness of his own imperfection, and he wants to start a new life - righteous, sinless, impeccable. But in order to understand how to stop sinning, you need to first understand what sin is.
The general concept of sin
The very word "sin" in the Russian language could initially be interpreted as a "mistake", as evidenced by such root words as "blemish", "error". By the way, in other languages this word had a similar meaning. In Greek, this concept was denoted by the word ἁμάρτημα (ἁμαρτία), which is most likely translated as “miss, fault”, and the Jews indicated unintentional sin by the word “hat”, which can also be translated as “miss”.
In modern society, if you do not take into account the religious aspect, the concept of "sin" is perceived as a violation of the laws of public morality, as well as state laws. Thus, a person who respects the laws of society, does not commit crimes under the criminal code, does not violate secular moral and ethical standards, no longer sins.
The situation with the religious concept of sin is somewhat more complicated, because each religion interprets the concept of sin in its own way.
Consciousness of sinfulness
Nevertheless, people often feel sinful, worry about the fact that they live incorrectly, act unfairly towards others. Living with such thoughts is not easy. But the truth is that no man can be absolutely good or hopelessly bad.
If you are tormented by the consciousness of your own imperfection, you can try to solve this problem by working with internal feelings of guilt, as well as developing your own empathy. Having ceased to feel guilty for something that the person is not actually to blame, it will become easier for him to accept himself and believe that he is not so bad, to make his own life more joyful. A developed empathy, i.e. the ability to feel the feelings and emotions of others, the ability to put oneself in the place of another, to understand what he experiences when he is treated in one way or another, will help him to be more careful with his neighbor and not hurt him with his actions, which means that he will objectively become better, i.e. e. stop sinning.
Get rid of guilt
Sometimes guilt is mistakenly confused with conscience when a person is worried about his unseemly acts and seeks to correct them. But guilt is something else. This is a feeling of personal responsibility for something for which a person, in principle, cannot answer.
Work with guilt is necessary, and usually the process is lengthy. Sometimes you can not do without the help of a specialist psychologist. You can start it with an understanding of the following important principles.
1. Each person is not like others, and has the right to live as his conscience, reason, common sense, religious beliefs, intuition tell him. It is impossible for everyone to like, it is unrealistic to become good for everyone. Of course, reasonable compromises with others are the best way out of possible conflict situations, but the concessions should be mutual and not harm the individual.
2. Do not let it be blamed on you for which you cannot be held responsible: in bad weather and a tense international situation, in the fact that the child brought the next "deuce", the pensioner mom has pain in her joints, and the boss has a bad mood. If you feel that the interlocutor is trying to do just that, it’s better to just get away from communication, and postpone the resolution of important issues for later.
3. You are not responsible for the consequences of your actions that you could not have expected. So, it’s not your fault that you gave your mother a tourist voucher, and she, on this trip, broke her leg.
4. You are not to blame for the fact that you live richer, more comfortable or happier than your relative, friend or colleague (unless, of course, you have achieved this at his expense). If you still feel guilty about this, do something useful for those around you, without demanding gratitude from them: break a flowerbed in front of the house, help your neighbor load things for moving to the cottage.
Feeling guilty is a destructive state that can lead a person to a consciousness of his own inferiority, so you need to start working with him as soon as possible.