“The devil made me do it.” Whether this is said tongue-in-cheek, or by a believer in satanic influences, it is still the grand excuse. Too many people attempt to blame someone else for their own troubles or lack of personal achievement. If you want to see the devil, simply look at what is reflected in the mirror. Blaming yourself, even when it is justified, is quite difficult. “It isn’t my fault,” they usually say.
It is equally wrong for you to fault yourself for every misfortune and shortcoming. You can become your own devil when you allow the demons of your mind to rule your life. There are guilty people; others are ridden by guilt. All humans make mistakes; a few believe themselves to be hopeless. Each of us fail at some tasks; some persons feel doomed to failure. The psychologically impaired must ask for help or allow their maladies to be the grand excuse.
When tragedy impacts their life, some people reproach God. “How could He let this happen?” “My God failed me.” “If this can happen on Earth there is no God in heaven.” Unfortunately, too many religious leaders respond with sayings like “God works in mysterious ways” or “there must be a reason in God’s plan.” Most Hindus and Buddhists may point to karma, the consequences of our previous actions in this life or the last. While the latter might seem more reasonable than the former, they can both be types of the grand excuse. We too frequently want to excuse ourselves today and/or to wallow in self-pity. It is much easier to accuse another.
The grand excuse, or many variations thereof, is typically given for the reason not to seek divine oneness. “It is impossible to do.” “I do not have the time to try.” “I have given up trying.” So, these persons go on with their lives, conceding their limitations, finding partial satisfactions, wishing to avoid being blamed, and ending with a long list of failures. In many cases, at death those people have accepted that they will not go to heaven. They are usually right. Depending on their religious convictions, or personal beliefs, they may be born again to seek elusive perfection, go to a purgatory to work out their sins or, perhaps, pass on into oblivion. Lives are different; why not afterlives? Beliefs might become true.
Christianity offers a grand a priori excuse: we all are born in sin due to the fall of Adam. Many men accuse Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. The serpent isn’t talking unless you let it. Some Hindus call this serpent the kundalini, spiritual energy coiled in the base of the spine, which must first be released through the crown of the head, in greater consciousness, to reunite with the divine. Separation is the grand excuse of most religions; mystics realize it is just imagined. The mystical “truth” is that All is in One and One is in All here and now, in infinite and eternal Reality. Every person must actualize divine union in this life and then live in that awareness to be in eternal life in the divine. Your excuses can prevent that realization.
Get over it! Forget the excuses, even if some of them are valid. Forge ahead with what you can do. Try your damndest or you might be damned. If someone offers a simple and foolproof way to realize the divine life, either that person is attempting to fool you or you are a fool to believe it.