"According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of humanity is one of “original sin.” Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the NT was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence." (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth)
Maybe we have missed the mark by thinking that "sin" refers to the things we do that we shouldn't do and the things we shouldn't do that we do. This definition is both narrow and shallow.
What Tolle is suggesting is much bigger...that sin has to do with missing the mark of our "being" and not our "doing." According to him, our definition of being is too narrow and shallow. And here's the kicker! Because we grossly underestimate God's meaning of "being," we reduce our existence to the level of valuing ourselves and each other on the basis of doing. In other words, our greatest sin is that we diminish ourselves and each other.
I think the psalmist was thinking the same thing as he sang, "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!...When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8: 3-5)
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