On Forgiveness

Logion 58 is fascinating, because it put forgiveness center stage. The terms doe come up elsewhere in the Jesus literature, but it was not till modern times, in A Course in Miracles, that things really get rolling on the forgiveness front. The reason for this is made clear in Gary Renards's Book The Disappearance of the Universe, rather early on. There Pursah basically explains that within the development of the world, some of the explanation was not all that easy until after Shakespeare, and modern psychology, not to mention quantum mechanics and so on. She in fact makes the statement that it was more rewarding to follow Jesus in this lifetime, after A Course in Miracles, than it was 2000 years ago, for that reason. Ken Wapnick has frequently pointed out the same thing. Hence the explanation of forgiveness in the Course is so important.

In simple terms, what the forgiveness process of A Course in Miracles entails is a three step process, and it is not at all your grandfather's kind of forgiveness. The traditional notion of forgiveness is really the ego's arrogance, playing wolf in sheep's clothing, for it says I'm so much better (holier, saintlier) than you, I can afford to forgive you, so the whole blackjack game of passing the guilt around continues (read Dan Greenberg's How to be a Jewish mother, if you're in doubt as to how it works). So, contrary to the traditional ditty, it's really guilt that makes the world go round, and what the world calls "love" is really nothing but a cover over love and a way of making the other party feel guilty. And again, if in doubt, check out this scene on YouTube, in Divorce Court of TP Lucas and his wife Rashida Lucas, and the 2nd episode here. This story makes no sense, unless you begin to fathom the dynamics of guilt, and how relationships are forged around bonds of guilt and not of love. Being "too loving" can be impossible to take, if you have a strong sense of guilt, so that love can be very threatening, which is also the theme of Dan Greenberg's gem of a book. So, for the person with lousy self-esteem (strong guilt feelings), love can be threatening, etc. Traditional forgiveness in this context is just another form of being "too loving," for it shoves the guilt back at the other person, and it is an attack. Again, this is a game of blackjack, and the last remaining holder of the guilt (black jack) loses.

Forgiveness as Jesus means it is different, and with the in depth explanation of it in A Course in Miracles -- and some people have referred to this as Quantum Forgiveness -- it becomes clear why in Logion 58, Jesus says that those who forgive, have "found life," for "life" is not this soap opera of resentments from the past which are artificially kept alive, and which we call "my life." Jesus's brand of forgiveness involves an understanding that we can never be upset at a fact, but only at an interpretation of, or an emotion about, a fact. Further, what is required, is an understanding, at least a beginning glimpse of the mechanism of guilt, and how we're all constantly accusing each other in some way, shape or form for the ontological guilt which results from the fact of taking ourselves too seriously, as in thinking that we exist. Ever since then we're engaged in this soap opera which we call life, where we pass the guilt around. But at some point you may begin to sense that you're really accusing the other of something that you are secretly blaming yourself for, perhaps in a different way. And it dawns on us sometimes by the time we begin to catch ourselves in certain repeating patterns in our lives. The woman who had seven abusive relationships in a row, finally goes to see a therapist, who helps her start to see that she picked them herself, so that she needs to focus on changing herself, not on fixing them, for that only sets her up to repeat the pattern, and so on... So, while the ego is always self-righteous about its position, forgiveness begins when we become willing to doubt if we were "right:"

1. Thus the first step of forgiveness is to wonder in the words of the Course: "Would I accuse myself of this?" This way, we stop projecting and start wondering about our own part in the situation.
2. Looking at the situation with Jesus or the Holy Spirit (or whoever works for you in that role), which means to overlook it, see it for what it is without judgment, for the "judgment" of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is total love - nothing happened, just a silly mistake, which you can let go now.
3. To let the situation go in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and wait until you know what is the most loving thing to do, which will often be nothing, until you are sure of what you should do.

Here is how the Course says it:

    There is a very simple way to find the door to true forgiveness, and perceive it open wide in welcome. When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is self-deception. Ask instead, "Would I accuse myself of doing this?"
Thus will you see alternatives for choice in terms that render choosing meaningful, and keep your mind as free of guilt and pain as God Himself intended it to be, and as it is in truth. It is but lies that would condemn. In truth is innocence the only thing there is. Forgiveness stands between illusions and the truth; between the world you see and that which lies beyond; between the hell of guilt and Heaven's gate. (ACIM:W-134.9-10).

The introduction to the Course  speaks of the "obstacles to love's presence" which we need to clear up with forgiveness. Every unforgiveness is such an obstacle, a maladaptive self defense, which would be unnecessary, if only we remembered who we are as spirit, as the Son of God. Forgiveness is the process of letting down our defenses, stopping to defend our silly ego identity, and along with that the memory of our immortal reality is restored to us, so we return home to the awareness that what we really are is pure spirit, and the Son of God, and the Kingdom of God is then indeed our "natural inheritance," as the introduction to the Course calls it. Logion 58 speaks of having found "life," which is the same thing. In the words of the Course, "there is no life outside of Heaven." So when Jesus speaks of life, he is not talking about this shabby existence on this planet, but about the real life of the spirit, in Heaven.

There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion. At best it seems like life; at worst, like death. Yet both are judgments on what is not life, equal in their inaccuracy and lack of meaning. Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven. Illusions are but forms. Their content is never true. (ACIM:T-23.II.19)