Welcome to Active Meditation.
A Course in Miracles,
Lesson 134 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Let us review the meaning of forgive,
For it is apt to be distorted,
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.
Pardon is irrelevant to everything except illusions.
Truth is God's creation,
And to forgive truth is meaningless.
All truth belongs to God.
All truth reflects God's laws.
All truth radiates God's love.
Does this need pardon?
How can you forgive the sinless?
How can you forgive the eternally benign?
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.
Forgiveness does not countenance illusions,
But collects them lightly with a little laugh,
And gently lays them at the feet of truth.
And there,
Illusions disappear entirely.
Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth.
In the illusions of the world,
Forgiveness sees their nothingness,
And looks straight through the thousand forms in which illusions may appear.
Forgiveness looks on lies,
But is not deceived.
Forgiveness does not heed the self-accusing shrieks of sinners mad with guilt.
Forgiveness looks on them with quiet eyes,
And merely says to them,
My friend,
What you think is not the truth.
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.
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.
This twisted viewpoint reflects the whole that the idea of sin retains as yet upon your mind as you regard yourself.
Today,
We practice true forgiveness,
That the time of joining be no more delayed,
For we would meet with our reality in freedom and in peace.
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.
Let us ask,
Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Then,
Choose one person as your guide will direct,
And catalog their sins as,
One by one,
They cross your mind.
Let's practice this now.
Say to yourself,
Repeat after me,
Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Now,
Take a few moments to identify a person in whom it is possible to list their sins.
As this person comes to mind,
Begin to list and detail their sins.
Be certain not to dwell on any one of them,
But realize that you are using their offenses to save the world from all ideas of sin.
Now briefly consider all the evil things you thought of them,
And each time you think of one,
Ask yourself,
Would I condemn myself for doing this?
Let them be freed from all the thoughts you had of sin in them.
Free them now.
Let them go.
Now,
You are prepared for freedom.
If you have been practicing thus far in willingness and honesty,
You will begin to sense a lifting up,
A lightening of the weight across your chest,
A deep and certain feeling of relief.
The time remaining should be given to experiencing the escape from all the heavy chains you sought to lay upon your person,
But were laid upon yourself.
Ponder on this now.
Forgiveness should be practiced through the day,
For there will still be many times when you forget its meaning and attack yourself.
When this occurs,
Allow your mind to see through this illusion as you tell yourself,
Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Would I accuse myself of doing this?
I will not lay this chain on myself.
In everything you do,
Remember this,
No one is crucified alone,
And yet no one can enter heaven by themselves.
Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Would I accuse myself of doing this?
I will not lay this chain upon myself.
Nothing real can be threatened,
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
