Messages 2008
Indignation and Resentment.
December 10th, 2008
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, Jesus.
I want to focus on two emotions that every person has felt: indignation and resentment.
People generally have self-respect, and when someone does or says something that we feel is offensive, then these two emotions are at the door,
Now let me be clear that they can be felt simultaneously, but nevertheless, they are two entirely different emotions.
Indignation tells us that something is not right, that dignity or justice has been violated. But resentment goes one step further in judging and condemning the offending person.
Indignation wants to rectify the balance of goodness, while resentment wants to punish and be negative. They are very different because their purposes are different.
I know you have recognized how similar this channeling is to the one I gave you on righteous indignation and anger. Indeed, they are very similar.
It is every person’s responsibility to sort through one’s feelings and then respond in a positive, loving way. This means that the negative feelings of resentment and anger must be discarded, and the positive feelings of indignation be harnessed so that they bear good fruit.
Everyone is capable of this self-assessment, and so if people neglect this purifying process, then they have simply chosen to act out their negativity rather than take the harder but more correct path of self-control and constructive engagement. We are all the keeper of our own soul, and on us falls the credit or the blame for the choices we make.
In order to discard a negative emotion such as resentment or anger, we must first identify it without judgment. Once we can say to ourselves, “I am angry,” or “I am resentful,” then we can just let that emotion go. It is surprising how easy it is to let go once we are objectively conscious of this negative emotion in us.
But there can be confusion because in your language, resentment can sometimes actually mean indignation. The difference between them is a difference of purpose.