FORGIVENESS

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Introduction

Forgiveness offers wings to prayer, to make its rising easy and its

progress swift. Without its strong support it would be vain to try to

rise above prayer's bottom step, or even to attempt to climb at all.

Forgiveness is prayer's ally; sister in the plan for your salvation.

Both must come to hold you up and keep your feet secure; your purpose

steadfast and unchangeable. Behold the greatest help that God

ordained to be with you until you reach to Him. Illusion's end will

come with this. Unlike the timeless nature of its sister, prayer,

forgiveness has an end. For it becomes unneeded when the rising up is

done. Yet now it has a purpose beyond which you cannot go, nor have

you need to go. Accomplish this and you have been redeemed.

Accomplish this and you have been transformed. Accomplish this and

you will save the world.

I. Forgiveness of Yourself

No gift of Heaven has been more misunderstood than has forgiveness.

It has, in fact, become a scourge; a curse where it was meant to

bless, a cruel mockery of grace, a parody upon the holy peace of God.

Yet those who have not yet chosen to begin the steps of prayer cannot

but use it thus. Forgiveness' kindness is obscure at first, because

salvation is not understood, nor truly sought for. What was meant to

heal is used to hurt because forgiveness is not wanted. Guilt becomes

salvation, and the remedy appears to be a terrible alternative to

life.

Forgiveness-to-destroy will therefore suit the purpose of the world

far better than its true objective, and the honest means by which

this goal is reached. Forgiveness-to-destroy will overlook no sin, no

crime, no guilt that it can seek and find and " love. " Dear to its

heart is error, and mistakes loom large and grow and swell within its

sight. It carefully picks out all evil things, and overlooks the

loving as a plague; a hateful thing of danger and of death.

Forgiveness-to-destroy is death, and this it sees in all it looks

upon and hates. God's mercy has become a twisted knife that would

destroy the holy Son He loves.

Would you forgive yourself for doing this? Then learn that God has

given you the means by which you can return to Him in peace. Do not

see error. Do not make it real. Select the loving and forgive the sin

by choosing in its place the face of Christ. How otherwise can prayer

return to God? He loves His Son. Can you remember Him and hate what

He created? You will hate his Father if you hate the Son He loves.

For as you see the Son you see yourself, and as you see yourself is

God to you.

As prayer is always for yourself, so is forgiveness always given you.

It is impossible to forgive another, for it is only your sins you see

in him. You want to see them there, and not in you. That is why

forgiveness of another is an illusion. Yet it is the only happy dream

in all the world; the only one that does not lead to death. Only in

someone else can you forgive yourself, for you have called him guilty

of your sins, and in him must your innocence now be found. Who but

the sinful need to be forgiven? And do not ever think you can see sin

in anyone except yourself.

This is the great deception of the world, and you the great deceiver

of yourself. It always seems to be another who is evil, and in his

sin you are the injured one. How could freedom be possible if this

were so? You would be slave to everyone, for what he does entails

your fate, your feelings, your despair or hope, your misery or joy.

You have no freedom unless he gives it to you. And being evil, he can

only give of what he is. You cannot see his sins and not your own.

But you can free him and yourself as well.

Forgiveness, truly given, is the way in which your only hope of

freedom lies. Others will make mistakes and so will you, as long as

this illusion of a world appears to be your home. Yet God Himself has

given all His Sons a remedy for all illusions that they think they

see. Christ's vision does not use your eyes, but you can look through

His and learn to see like Him. Mistakes are tiny shadows, quickly

gone, that for an instant only seem to hide the face of Christ, which

still remains unchanged behind them all. His constancy remains in

tranquil silence and in perfect peace. He does not know of shadows.

His the eyes that look past error to the Christ in you.

Ask, then, His help, and ask Him how to learn forgiveness as His

vision lets it be. You are in need of what He gives, and your

salvation rests on learning this of Him. Prayer cannot be released to

Heaven while forgiveness-to-destroy remains with you. God's mercy

would remove this withering and poisoned thinking from your holy

mind. Christ has forgiven you, and in His sight the world becomes as

holy as Himself. Who sees no evil in it sees like Him. For what He

has forgiven has not sinned, and guilt can be no more. Salvation's

plan is made complete, and sanity has come.

Forgiveness is the call to sanity, for who but the insane would look

on sin when he could see the face of Christ instead? This is the

choice you make; the simplest one, and yet the only one that you can

make. God calls on you to save His Son from death by offering

Christ's love to him. This is your need, and God holds out this gift

to you. As He would give, so must you give as well. And thus is

prayer restored to formlessness, beyond all limits into timelessness,

with nothing of the past to hold it back from re-uniting with the

ceaseless song that all creation sings unto its God.

But to achieve this end you first must learn, before you reach where

learning cannot go. Forgiveness is the key, but who can use a key

when he has lost the door for which the key was made, and where alone

it fits? Therefore we make distinctions, so that prayer can be

released from darkness into light. Forgiveness' role must be

reversed, and cleansed from evil usages and hateful goals.

Forgiveness-to-destroy must be unveiled in all its treachery, and

then let go forever and forever. There can be no trace of it

remaining, if the plan that God established for returning be achieved

at last, and learning be complete.

This is the world of opposites. And you must choose between them

every instant while this world retains reality for you. Yet you must

learn alternatives for choice, or you will not be able to attain your

freedom. Let it then be clear to you exactly what forgiveness means

to you, and learn what it should be to set you free. The level of

your prayer depends on this, for here it waits its freedom to ascend

above the world of chaos into peace.

II. Forgiveness-to-Destroy

Forgiveness-to-destroy has many forms, being a weapon of the world of

form. Not all of them are obvious, and some are carefully concealed

beneath what seems like charity. Yet all the forms that it may seem

to take have but this single goal; their purpose is to separate and

make what God created equal, different. The difference is clear in

several forms where the designed comparison cannot be missed, nor is

it really meant to be.

In this group, first, there are the forms in which a " better " person

deigns to stoop to save a " baser " one from what he truly is.

Forgiveness here rests on an attitude of gracious lordliness so far

from love that arrogance could never be dislodged. Who can forgive

and yet despise? And who can tell another he is steeped in sin, and

yet perceive him as the Son of God? Who makes a slave to teach what

freedom is? There is no union here, but only grief. This is not

really mercy. This is death.

Another form, still very like the first if it is understood, does not

appear in quite such blatant arrogance. The one who would forgive the

other does not claim to be the better. Now he says instead that here

is one whose sinfulness he shares, since both have been unworthy and

deserve the retribution of the wrath of God. This can appear to be a

humble thought, and may indeed induce a rivalry in sinfulness and

guilt. It is not love for God's creation and the holiness that is His

gift forever. Can His Son condemn himself and still remember Him?

Here the goal is to separate from God the Son He loves, and keep him

from his Source. This goal is also sought by those who seek the role

of martyr at another's hand. Here must the aim be clearly seen, for

this may pass as meekness and as charity instead of cruelty. Is it

not kind to be accepting of another's spite, and not respond except

with silence and a gentle smile? Behold, how good are you who bear

with patience and with saintliness the anger and the hurt another

gives, and do not show the bitter pain you feel.

Forgiveness-to-destroy will often hide behind a cloak like this. It

shows the face of suffering and pain, in silent proof of guilt and of

the ravages of sin. Such is the witness that it offers one who could

be savior, not an enemy. But having been made enemy, he must accept

the guilt and heavy-laid reproach that thus is put upon him. Is this

love? Or is it rather treachery to one who needs salvation from the

pain of guilt? What could the purpose be, except to keep the

witnesses of guilt away from love?

Forgiveness-to-destroy can also take the form of bargaining and

compromise. " I will forgive you if you meet my needs, for in your

slavery is my release. " Say this to anyone and you are slave. And you

will seek to rid yourself of guilt in further bargains which can give

no hope, but only greater pain and misery. How fearful has

forgiveness now become, and how distorted is the end it seeks. Have

mercy on yourself who bargains thus. God gives and does not ask for

recompense. There is no giving but to give like Him. All else is

mockery. For who would try to strike a bargain with the Son of God,

and thank his Father for his holiness?

What would you show your brother? Would you try to reinforce his

guilt and thus your own? Forgiveness is the means for your escape.

How pitiful it is to make of it the means for further slavery and

pain. Within the world of opposites there is a way to use forgiveness

for the goal of God, and find the peace He offers you. Take nothing

else, or you have sought your death, and prayed for separation from

your Self. Christ is for all because He is in all. It is His face

forgiveness lets you see. It is His face in which you see your own.

All forms forgiveness takes that do not lead away from anger,

condemnation and comparisons of every kind are death. For that is

what their purposes have set. Be not deceived by them, but lay them

by as worthless in their tragic offerings. You do not want to stay in

slavery. You do not want to be afraid of God. You want to see the

sunlight and the glow of Heaven shining on the face of earth,

redeemed from sin and in the Love of God. From here is prayer

released, along with you. Your wings are free, and prayer will lift

you up and bring you home where God would have you be.

III. Forgiveness-for-Salvation

Forgiveness-for-salvation has one form, and only one. It does not ask

for proof of innocence, nor pay of any kind. It does not argue, nor

evaluate the errors that it wants to overlook. It does not offer

gifts in treachery, nor promise freedom while it asks for death.

Would God deceive you? He but asks for trust and willingness to learn

how to be free. He gives His Teacher to whoever asks, and seeks to

understand the Will of God. His readiness to give lies far beyond

your understanding and your simple grasp. Yet He has willed you learn

the way to Him, and in His willing there is certainty.

You Child of God, the gifts of God are yours, not by your plans but

by His holy Will. His Voice will teach you what forgiveness is, and

how to give it as He wills it be. Do not, then, seek to understand

what is beyond you yet, but let it be a way to draw you up to where

the eyes of Christ become the sight you choose. Give up all else, for

there is nothing else. When someone calls for help in any form, He is

the One to answer for you. All that you need do is to step back and

not to interfere. Forgiveness-for-salvation is His task, and it is He

Who will respond for you.

Do not establish what the form should be that Christ's forgiveness

takes. He knows the way to make of every call a help to you, as you

arise in haste to go at last unto your Father's house. Now can He

make your footsteps sure, your words sincere; not with your own

sincerity, but with His Own. Let Him take charge of how you would

forgive, and each occasion then will be to you another step to Heaven

and to peace.

Are you not weary of imprisonment? God did not choose this sorry path

for you. What you have chosen still can be undone, for prayer is

merciful and God is just. His is a justice He can understand, but you

cannot as yet. Still will He give the means to you to learn of Him,

and know at last that condemnation is not real and makes illusions in

its evil name. And yet it matters not the form that dreams may seem

to take. Illusions are untrue. God's Will is truth, and you are one

with Him in Will and purpose. Here all dreams are done.

" What should I do for him, Your holy Son? " should be the only thing

you ever ask when help is needed and forgiveness sought. The form the

seeking takes you need not judge. And let it not be you who sets the

form in which forgiveness comes to save God's Son. The light of

Christ in him is his release, and it is this that answers to his

call. Forgive him as the Christ decides you should, and be His eyes

through which you look on him, and speak for Him as well. He knows

the need; the question and the answer. He will say exactly what to

do, in words that you can understand and you can also use. Do not

confuse His function with your own. He is the Answer. You the one who

hears.

And what is it He speaks to you about? About salvation and the gift

of peace. About the end of sin and guilt and death. About the role

forgiveness has in Him. Do you but listen. For He will be heard by

anyone who calls upon His Name, and places his forgiveness in His

hands. Forgiveness has been given Him to teach, to save it from

destruction and to make the means for separation, sin and death

become again the holy gift of God. Prayer is His Own right Hand, made

free to save as true forgiveness is allowed to come from His eternal

vigilance and love. Listen and learn, and do not judge. It is to God

you turn to hear what you should do. His answer will be clear as

morning, nor is His forgiveness what you think it is.

Still does He know, and that should be enough. Forgiveness has a

Teacher Who will fail in nothing. Rest a while in this; do not

attempt to judge forgiveness, nor to set it in an earthly frame. Let

it arise to Christ, Who welcomes it as gift to Him. He will not leave

you comfortless, nor fail to send His angels down to answer you in

His Own Name. He stands beside the door to which forgiveness is the

only key. Give it to Him to use instead of you, and you will see the

door swing silently open upon the shining face of Christ. Behold your

brother there beyond the door; the Son of God as He created him.