Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do" - this is quite a well-known quote, but few of us really understand what it truly means.

It is so normal for us humans to resort to blaming, pointing fingers, and holding on to judgments and opinions without realizing that by holding on to these low vibration thoughtform, we are not part of the solution but actually part of the "problem". Love is always the answer, and compassion, being a high form of love, therefore is also always the answer.

I invite you to join me as we explore how we can choose to be beneficial presences by practicing forgiveness.

Transcript

Blessings and welcome to the path to freedom.

My name is Daniel Rocchio and as always I'm deeply grateful and honored that you are choosing to join me in this beautiful moment,

That you're choosing to tune in,

To turn away from your day or from the world for a moment of expanding our consciousness and a moment of raising our vibration.

Today we're talking about compassion.

Compassion,

Which is a high vibration of love.

It's a high state of love.

It's a high dimension of love.

And we are particularly talking about forgiveness.

And so the topic for today is forgive them for they know not what they do.

That is a quite well-known passage from scripture.

I believe he was Jesus.

He was on his way to being crucified or perhaps he was already on the cross and his disciples gathered around him and I don't know the whole story but he apparently said these beautiful words,

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

And this is compassion embodied.

Compassion for the purpose of this conversation we can define as the understanding of lack of understanding.

So we understand that another individual,

Whatever they do,

Whatever they don't do,

Whatever they say or don't say,

They are doing it because ignorance is running them.

It's not that they personally are ignorant,

They're just under the aegis of ignorance.

They're just under the aegis of veils covering up their spiritual eyes,

Limiting their ability to make high choices.

And I was having a conversation a few days ago with this beautiful individual and we came to talk and this individual asked about a particular incident.

There was an event somewhere in the States where this one individual had pulled up a gun and I don't know the whole story about this either,

But this individual had pulled up a gun and shot a number of people.

And so this individual that I was having this conversation with asked,

How can this be an act of God?

If God is all that there is,

How can this be an act of God?

And we got to explore what God is and how God works.

First of all,

This is not an act of God,

It's an act in God,

But it is not God's particular choice to act this way,

As is no harmful or hurtful paths that we may take.

No harmful or hurtful choices that we can make that lead to suffering,

That lead to pain.

Those are not ordained by God in any way,

Shape or form,

But God is all,

So they are in God.

But what does it mean then,

That phrase,

This phrase,

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

Well,

It means,

Imagine that God is a room and in the center of this room,

Now this is a metaphor,

It's an analogy,

But just imagine that God is a room,

It's a very large room,

It's very spacious,

And in the center of that room is a candle.

Now the closer we get,

The closer we are to the candle,

The more luminous our view will be,

The more lit up our view will be,

The more we will see,

Right?

And the farther we get from the candle,

The murkier our space will be,

The less we will be able to see.

And it is this seeing,

The clearer we see,

The clearer we get to see the truth and the essence of who and what God is and who and what we are,

That love is the only thing that really heals or reveals,

That nothing is accomplished by violence or by hatred or by oppression or by prejudice,

That fear and worry and doubt are just illusions,

They're just stories and beliefs that we hold on to,

That we hang on to,

That we tell ourselves over and over and over again,

That many of us are living in a sense of separation from the one source.

And so the farther away from the candle we get,

The more we are in that murky,

Dark space where the only thing available to us really are small and limited choices and small and limited options.

They are not the whole scope of options,

But they are the ones available to us because we cannot see.

So ignorance is not personal,

It's not our fault that we are at whatever distance from the candle that we are,

That's just where we are.

And the farther away,

The more we are under the aegis of ignorance,

The more we are under the aegis of ego,

Of fear and worry and doubt,

Of unawareness.

And it's been stated that choice is a function of awareness.

So in this particular case,

This one individual who acquired a gun and went into a crowd and just shot people,

From this individual's perspective,

That was the only option available to them.

They in this moment believed,

This is not about right or wrong,

This is not about judging,

This is not about having opinions,

But they in that moment believed that that was the best that they could do,

That that was the right choice for them to make.

Obviously,

It's very easy for most of us to realize that that was not a choice that is in alignment with love and light and all needs met and the equal value of all individuals,

But this was a choice made from a very small and limited paradigm,

A very small and limited way of understanding.

So not denying for one moment the suffering that arises out of this particular choice,

And every choice that gives rise to suffering.

We're not denying that there is suffering in the world,

Not at all.

We're not denying that there are people that are far away from unconditional love in consciousness,

That there are people that believe that might gives right,

And all of that.

We're not denying any of this,

But we can still be compassionate about them,

And we can still have compassion for them in the sense that we not deny that this experience and these experiences,

That they give rise to emotions,

That they give rise to opinions and judgments and stories,

And that they gave rise to wishing that things were different.

But underneath all of this,

We get to be compassionate with this individual.

We get to wish them well.

We get to bless them.

We get to bless their consciousness.

They did not do this out of sheer malice,

But they did this because that was the only choice that was available to them.

That was the highest choice that they could make in that moment.

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

It doesn't mean that we don't hold people accountable for their actions.

We're all responsible for our actions.

But it does set us free,

Or actually,

It has the ability to set us free from judging,

From opinions,

From blaming,

From shaming.

Because all of these low vibration choices,

And if that's where we are,

That's where we are.

No need to resist it.

No need to deny it.

No need to wish that it was different.

But we're always wise to embrace and allow whatever we experience,

Wherever we are in consciousness,

To embrace and allow that.

But having this higher vantage point,

That it's not personal,

That it's not evil,

It's just lack of understanding.

It's just lack of understanding.

It's just ignorance running the show.

Ego running the show.

So we get to have compassion for that.

And we get to bless them.

Wish them well.

Wish for them that they wake up.

Wish for them that they may release and let go of the veil that is covering their eyes.

The veil that prevents them from seeing the higher choices.

The veil that prevents them from realizing that love is the only answer.

Hatred violence is never the answer.

It may appear as a temporary solution,

But it never is.

Hatred only births more hatred.

Violence only births more violence.

So love is the only answer.

Love is the only thing that heals.

So we get to love them to the best of our ability,

Which does not mean that we necessarily want to hang out with them.

But we get to seek to lift them up out of the black hole of ignorance that they are in.

To lift them up to higher vibrations.

To they begin to see that love,

Compassion,

Kindness is the only path forward in correcting anything.

In creating a world that works for everyone.

In healing the sense of not being enough,

The not having enough.

The sense of lack and separation that is running wild in the human consciousness.

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

Whatever they did,

Whoever they are,

The way we can serve best,

The way we can midwife The new world at the highest is by being compassionate.

Is by being loving.

Is by being kind.

Absolutely holding everyone responsible for their actions.

Accountable for their actions.

But we get to refrain from having judgements about it.

We get to refrain from having opinions about it.

We get to refrain from thinking and believing that I am holier than thou.

Because I would not do that.

That's just the ego,

The spiritual ego talking.

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

And this obviously,

This relates to us.

Whenever we fall short of our expectations of who and what we should be or who and what we should be able to do.

We get to be loving and kind with ourselves because it's not a personal flaw.

It's not me being in eternal sin.

It's not me not being enough that made this choice.

It's just because I could not see.

I was not able to make a higher choice in this moment.

Two moments from now I might very well be able to make a different choice,

A higher choice.

But in the moment that I make this choice,

In the moment that we make this choice,

This is the best that we can do.

Even if we perhaps can see that there are other choices available.

If we are not able to make them,

It is simply because we are not able to make them.

So we're still doing the very best we know how to do.

I'm reminded of an old Native American story or actually it's more like a statement or a saying that goes,

Holding on to resentment and actually I think the story goes,

Seeking revenge.

Seeking revenge is like swallowing poison,

Hoping that the other will die.

So this hatred that we hang on to,

This resentment that we hang on to,

This animosity that we hang on to,

It does very little for the other individual.

But it does a whole lot to our body,

To our mind,

To our soul.

It's like poison.

So we're wise to release and let that go.

Compassion,

Forgive them.

For they know not what they do.

This is our invitation and this is so much needed at this point in human evolution.

That we stop pointing fingers,

That we stop judging each other,

That we stop blaming each other.

That we all step up and begin to assume responsibility,

Not for what anyone else is doing,

But for what we are doing.

Not only in terms of the actions that we're taking,

But in terms of the thoughts that we are holding on to,

The thoughts that we are entertaining,

The vibration that we are emitting.

What are we putting out into the world?

What are we adding to?

Are we uplifting with our thoughts and emotions and vibrations?

Or are we contributing to the fear,

Worry and doubt?

The lack of separation,

The lack of not being enough.

So we're always wise to have a close scrutiny of ourselves and on ourselves.

So that's the invitation for today.

To forgive them,

Whatever they did,

Whoever they are.

To forgive them,

For they know not what they do.

To bless them.

To seek to lift them up.

Thank you so,

So much for tuning in,

For participating.

Until the next time,

I bless,

Bless,

Bless all of our days.

I bless,

Bless,

Bless all of our ways.

Much love.

Namaste.

Reviews

This is a very thought-provoking and spirit-nourishing talk! Thank you.