Forgiveness noun /fəˈɡɪv.nəs/

• The act of forgiving or the willingness to forgive. 'She is quick to ask forgiveness when she has overstepped the line.'

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Forgive verb /fəˈɡɪv/

• To stop blaming or being angry with someone for something that person has done, or not punish them for something. 'Hopefully, she'll understand and forgive you.'

• Used in polite expressions as a request to excuse one's foibles, ignorance, or impoliteness. 'You will have to forgive my inquisitive mind.'

 

Forgiveness offers everything you want. Do you think there's something you could wish for that forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it to you. Do you want a serene mind and happiness? Forgiveness offers it to you. Do you want a harmony that can never be hurt, a calmness that cannot be distressed, a deep relief and a rest so perfect that it can never be distressed? Do you want to see a happy world of safety and of peace? All this forgiveness offers you, and more. And are there better gifts but these worthy to be sought?

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Is there anything out of all these gifts that one does not want? And yet, why is it not so easy for one to truly forgive?

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This is the "reasoning" that the universe is created, relies on, and is sustained upon: "You are the cause of my actions, your existence validates my anger, and you think and exist independently of me”; “You must be attacking me while I'm innocent, and your assault is what hurts me”. “I want you to acknowledge that you wronged me and have hurt me, and I want you to be sorry about that”. “I want you to be wrong while I am obviously right”. “I want you to feel remorse and guilt for your actions”. It is obvious to everyone that this "reasoning" makes no sense and does not follow from what it appears to be. However, since it seems as though the world is harming you, it makes sense. Therefore, it appears that there is no need to investigate causes other than the apparent. Yet, there is always another way of looking at the world, and you could always see peace instead of this.

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The main difficulty that one finds in genuine forgiveness on one’s part is that one still believes one must forgive the truth and not illusions. One thinks of forgiveness as a futile attempt to look beyond what is there, to overlook the truth in an unfounded effort to deceive oneself by making an illusion true.

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It is pretty impossible to think of sin as true and not believe forgiveness is a lie. Yet there is no world. There is no world apart from what you wish, there is no world apart from your ideas. The “physical person” that you think you really are, is but a dream, your body is but a dream. One day you will understand, one day you will awake, one day you will accept that your physical reality is formed by your thoughts and you will recognise yourself to be the dreamer rather than the dreamed, and you will then be ready to assume the active/conscious role in making up the dream while your mind acknowledges "This is not done to me, but I am doing this”.

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For you are the dreamer, the world you see does nothing; it has no effects at all. It merely represents your thoughts. At times, the world you see may seem to cause you pain. And yet the world, being causeless, has no power to cause for being an effect in itself, an effect of your thoughts, the world cannot make effects. As an illusion, it is exactly what you fancy it to be.

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Forgiveness acknowledges the illusion, it recognises the world for what it is, an effect and not a cause. Forgiveness does not argue, nor evaluate the errors that it wants to overlook. Forgiveness recognises that what you thought another person did to you has not actually occurred. Forgiveness does not ask for proof of innocence, nor pay of any kind. Forgiveness does not pardon sins and make them real, but rather it sees there was no sin. Forgiveness does not offer gifts in treachery, nor promise freedom while it asks for death. Forgiveness is still and quiet. Forgiveness does not judge, it does nothing.

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It is only your thoughts and your thoughts alone that cause you pain, because nothing outside of your mind can injure or hurt you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach out to you and harm you, no one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in this world that has the power to make you sad or sick, or fragile or weak. You and only you are the one who has the power to govern all the things you see, just by recognising what they are, perceiving the harmlessness in them.

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An unforgiving thought is one that makes a judgment that it will not question, even though it is not true. The mind remains closed and will not be released. The thought protects the projection and automatically the perception, tightening its chains so that the distortions are more veiled and more obscure; less susceptible to doubt and further away from reason so that nothing comes between the fixed projection and the goal that he has chosen and desired.

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In frantic actions an unforgiving thought pursues its goal, twisting, reshaping and overturning what it sees as interfering with the desired goal. Distortion is his purpose and also the means by which he will achieve it. He tries to break reality, not caring about anything that would seem to be a contradiction with his point of view.

 

When forgiveness is misrepresented and perceived as something that involves an unjust sacrifice, an unfair and undeserved gift you have to make, then it is viewed as simple eccentric madness. This twisted perception is easily corrected when it is understood and accepted that forgiveness is not required for what is true.

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Forgiveness is the only thing that represents the truth in the world of illusions. It sees their non-existence and looks straight through the uncountable forms in which illusions may appear. It looks at the lies, but it is not misled by them, it sees illusions as illusions and not as truth. It has the ability to overlook what is not there.

 

Only illusions can be forgiven, and they then disappear. Forgiveness is freedom, the escape from all illusions, and therefore it is impossible to forgive but partially. No one who hangs on to an illusion can see himself without sin, because in that illusion he still retains an error as lovely still. In this way, he ends up calling it "unforgivable" while making it a sin. How can he give forgiveness to someone else entirely when he does not receive it for himself? However, it is certain that he will receive it completely the moment he can give it completely for giving and receiving are the same. And so, his secret guilt would disappear, forgiven by himself.

 

It is sin’s non-existence that makes forgiveness natural and entirely sane, a profound release to those who offer it and a silent blessing where it is received. Not everyone is ready to accept it now, and one must go as far as one can go to let oneself be guided on the path to truth.

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While seeing illusion as illusion where no one thought of sin remains, forgiveness renders a picture of a world where suffering is ended, anger has no meaning and loss becomes impossible, madness is over, and the attack is gone. Is it possible to imagine suffering in such a world? Can the notion of loss still be supported? Through forgiveness, the world becomes a place of happiness, abundance, kindness, and ceaseless giving. Each flower of forgiveness offers all the world the silent miracle of love. Each flower of forgiveness turns darkness into light.

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Here is an effortless way to find the path to forgiveness. When you feel drawn to blame someone for some sin in whatsoever form it may take, do not let your mind abide on what you think they have done to you, for this is self-deception. You may want to see through illusions and ask yourself instead: "Supposing I had done it, would I accuse myself of having done it?”

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There is also another practical aspect that must be considered in forgiveness. The one who would not forgive must judge, he must consider sin as true, for he must justify his failure to forgive. He is in a dream of judgement, a dream in which he has exchanged Heaven for hell, sanity for insanity, and redemption for crucifixion. How can one awaken from such a dream? Since the dream will seem to last while he is part of it, he must judge not, and he will waken. Judge not, for so long as you judge the reality of others, you will not be able to avoid judging your own. Also, understand that you are never responding to anything directly but to your interpretation of it at that particular moment, your interpretation thus becomes the justification for the response. Give no power to sin, and it will have none. Give no power to sin, and the judgement will lose its scope and value and thus will fade away. Give no power to sin, and in your brother's sinlessness, your escape from fear will be found.

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If gifts are truly given and accepted, they are not made through bodies because bodies are incapable of offering, taking, or holding out. The mind and only the mind is able to assign values, and only the mind chooses what it would receive, and give, and hold and every gift it gives is always determined by what it wants. Offer now your brother the gift of flowers, not the crown of thorns, the gift of love and not the gift of fear, the gift of forgiveness, wherein lies his release and your redemption one with him, for by doing this, you offer all these gifts to yourself.