Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
W-pI.134.1. Let us review the meaning of 'forgive,' for it is apt
to be distorted and to be perceived as something that entails an unfair
sacrifice of righteous wrath, a gift unjustified and undeserved, and a complete
denial of the truth. 2 In such a view, forgiveness must be seen as mere
eccentric folly, and this course appear to rest salvation on a whim.
W-pI.134.2. This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily
corrected, when you can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is
true. 2 It must be limited to what is false. 3 It is irrelevant to everything
except illusions. 4 Truth is God's creation, and to pardon that is meaningless.
5 All truth belongs to Him, reflects His laws and radiates His Love. 6 Does
this need pardon? 7 How can you forgive the sinless and eternally benign?
W-pI.134.3. The major difficulty that you find in genuine
forgiveness on your part is that you still believe you must forgive the truth,
and not illusions. 2 You conceive of pardon as a vain attempt to look past what
is there; to overlook the truth, in an unfounded effort to deceive yourself by
making an illusion true. 3 This twisted viewpoint but reflects the hold that
the idea of sin retains as yet upon your mind, as you regard yourself.
W-pI.134.4. Because you think your sins are real, you look on
pardon as deception. 2 For it is impossible to think of sin as true and not
believe forgiveness is a lie. 3 Thus is forgiveness really but a sin, like all
the rest. 4 It says the truth is false, and smiles on the corrupt as if they
were as blameless as the grass; as white as snow. 5 It is delusional in what it
thinks it can accomplish. 6 It would see as right the plainly wrong; the
loathsome as the good.
W-pI.134.5. Pardon is no escape in such a view. 2 It merely is a
further sign that sin is unforgivable, at best to be concealed, denied or
called another name, for pardon is a treachery to truth. 3 Guilt cannot be
forgiven. 4 If you sin, your guilt is everlasting. 5 Those who are forgiven
from the view their sins are real are pitifully mocked and twice condemned;
first, by themselves for what they think they did, and once again by those who
pardon them.
W-pI.134.6. It is sin's unreality that makes forgiveness natural
and wholly sane, a deep relief to those who offer it; a quiet blessing where it
is received. 2 It does not countenance illusions, but collects them lightly,
with a little laugh, and gently lays them at the feet of truth. 3 And there
they disappear entirely.
W-pI.134.7. Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in
the illusions of the world. 2 It sees their nothingness, and looks straight
through the thousand forms in which they may appear. 3 It looks on lies, but it
is not deceived. 4 It does not heed the self-accusing shrieks of sinners mad
with guilt. 5 It looks on them with quiet eyes, and merely says to them, 'My
brother, what you think is not the truth.'
W-pI.134.8. The strength of pardon is its honesty, which is so
uncorrupted that it sees illusions as illusions, not as truth. 2 It is because
of this that it becomes the undeceiver in the face of lies; the great restorer
of the simple truth. 3 By its ability to overlook what is not there, it opens
up the way to truth, which has been blocked by dreams of guilt. 4 Now are you
free to follow in the way your true forgiveness opens up to you. 5 For if one
brother has received this gift of you, the door is open to yourself.
W-pI.134.9. There is a very simple way to find the door to true
forgiveness, and perceive it open wide in welcome. 2 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. 3 Ask instead, 'Would I
accuse myself of doing this?'
W-pI.134.10. 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. 2 It is but lies that
would condemn. 3 In truth is innocence the only thing there is. 4 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.
W-pI.134.11. Across this bridge, as powerful as love which laid
its blessing on it, are all dreams of evil and of hatred and attack brought
silently to truth. 2 They are not kept to swell and bluster, and to terrify the
foolish dreamer who believes in them. 3 He has been gently wakened from his
dream by understanding what he thought he saw was never there. 4 And now he
cannot feel that all escape has been denied to him.
W-pI.134.12. He does not have to fight to save himself. 2 He does
not have to kill the dragons which he thought pursued him. 3 Nor need he erect
the heavy walls of stone and iron doors he thought would make him safe. 4 He can
remove the ponderous and useless armour made to chain his mind to fear and
misery. 5 His step is light, and as he lifts his foot to stride ahead a star is
left behind, to point the way to those who follow him.
W-pI.134.13. Forgiveness must be practiced, for the world cannot
perceive its meaning, nor provide a guide to teach you its beneficence. 2 There
is no thought in all the world that leads to any understanding of the laws it
follows, nor the Thought that it reflects. 3 It is as alien to the world as is
your own reality. 4 And yet it joins your mind with the reality in you.
W-pI.134.14. Today we practice true forgiveness, that the time of
joining be no more delayed. 2 For we would meet with our reality in freedom and
in peace. 3 Our practicing becomes the footsteps lighting up the way for all
our brothers, who will follow us to the reality we share with them. 4 That this
may be accomplished, let us give a quarter of an hour twice today, and spend it
with the Guide Who understands the meaning of forgiveness, and was sent to us
to teach it. 5 Let us ask of Him:
6 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
W-pI.134.15. Then choose one brother as He will direct, and
catalogue his 'sins,' as one by one they cross your mind. 2 Be certain not to
dwell on any one of them, but realize that you are using his 'offenses' but to
save the world from all ideas of sin. 3 Briefly consider all the evil things
you thought of him, and each time ask yourself, 'Would I condemn myself for
doing this?'
W-pI.134.16. Let him be freed from all the thoughts you had of sin
in him. 2 And now you are prepared for freedom. 3 If you have been practicing
thus far in willingness and honesty, you will begin to sense a lifting up, a
lightening of weight across your chest, a deep and certain feeling of relief. 4
The time remaining should be given to experiencing the escape from all the
heavy chains you sought to lay upon your brother, but were laid upon yourself.
W-pI.134.17. Forgiveness should be practiced through the day, for
there will still be many times when you forget its meaning and attack yourself.
2 When this occurs, allow your mind to see through this illusion as you tell
yourself:
3 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. 4 Would I accuse myself of doing this? 5 I will not lay this chain upon myself.
6 In everything you do remember this:
7 No one is crucified alone, and yet no one can enter Heaven by
himself.
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