FORGIVENESS IS THE KEY

NOTE: A few readers expressed interest in our I Ching posts, asking them to continue.

Others liked them but hoped for a return to the blog posts they’d become used to for the past year.

So…. These regular Sunday blog posts will continue, but…

Look for a new feature: weekly (or perhaps monthly? Or bi-weekly? I’m not sure yet) I Ching readings!

These will be podcasts, embedded on my website, www.johnafrederick.com and also on my YouTube channel, @johnnyfrederick01

Subscribers will be able to access longer and more comprehensive I Ching readings on my Patreon and Substack accounts.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement!

-- Johnny

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) has a lot to say about forgiveness. A lot!

The Course states repeatedly that we live in a dream, an entirely fabricated illusion of our own making. This dream-world is all based on one “mad idea” – that we could somehow be separate from God. Not true, of course, but we believe it. As a result, because we are so creatively powerful, the illusion began….

This insane thought creates this world of illusion. It leads our minds to see separation everywhere: separate bodies, separate lives, separate loves, separate places and times, past and future, and causes (in our imagination) all manner of disassociation with Reality.

Because we believe we are separate – from Love, from each other – the world we made is filled with pain, sadness, despair, and death. All these illusions (seeming real but entirely made up) reinforce each other and lead us deeper into the maya of the world, a concept at the heart of both Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Course then tells us that there is one (and ONLY one) illusion that doesn’t amplify illusions, that doesn't lead us deeper into the chaos. This illusion is a tool we’ve been given so we can move out of the world of deception and wake up in the light of Truth, Truth that never changes, Truth that has always been true, is true now and remains true forever, into eternity.

The one illusion that brings us up out of this morass of lies is…. forgiveness.

Why is forgiveness an illusion? Because, just as in a dream, the things we seem to do – the “sins”, the mistakes, the injuries, etc. – were never done in Reality.

If in your dreams you injured someone, when you woke up you wouldn’t believe you actually did anything wrong or bad. You would know it was “only a dream.” You would shake it off and go on about your day.

So, in this physical existence, those times where you’ve done something – either intentionally, by mistake, or out of fear, hatred, delusion, or illusion – these things never really happened – not in Reality.

And it is in Reality where we sleep and dream that we are in this mess of a world. Reality is where we really live our true lives as our true selves – holy and whole children of our Creator who made us “in God’s image and likeness.”

We are made out of perfect Love and could never be anything less.

So, although nothing happened in Reality – no injury, nothing needing pardon or reparation – because we are powerfully creative beings immersed in this illusion of our own making, we believe we actually did something wrong!

And so, forgiveness comes in as a healing illusion that allows us to wake up – to awaken into the eternal dawning light where we are forever at home and at peace, untroubled by anything.

Vague memories of the world of our making – that chaotic, insane, miserable place where nothing makes sense (as in a dream) and fortunes can and do flip in an instant without warning, rhyme or reason – those memories will quickly fade as we realize we are in our true home, free and safe, loved and at peace.

Forgiveness is our way up and out of the world of illusions. ACIM Workbook Lesson 121 tells us, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” It states:

Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever finding quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; here the end of all uncertainty ensured at last. (ACIM, W-121.1:1-4)

Quite a list of promises! And there are more – promises in abundance that appear throughout the Course, as we learn what power lies in forgiveness.

One reason forgiveness is so powerful is because it clears up the great illusion that we can attack another. If I think I can attack you, it stands to reason that I will believe that I can be attacked as well.

We see (or seem to see) injury, hatred, attack, sickness and death, poverty, etc. all around us. We believe we are vulnerable to these woes, these ailments, these disasters.

But if we can forgive another for their (seeming, imagined) slights, insults, injuries – then it stands to reason that we can also be forgiven!

In the Course’s text, Chapter 16, we are told to:

Release your brothers [and sisters] from the slavery of their illusions by forgiving them for the illusions you perceive in them. Thus will you learn that you have been forgiven, for it is you who offered them illusions. In the holy instant this is done for you in time, to bring you the true condition of Heaven.

Remember that you always choose between truth and illusion…

(ACIM, T-16.VII.9:5–10:1) (emphasis added)

By freeing others, I am made free! By forgiving others, I will see that I have already been forgiven. This is the formula that is expressed in, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Then, Lesson 122 in the Workbook promises that: Forgiveness offers everything I want.

What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

All this forgiveness offers you, and more.

(ACIM, W-122.1:1–2:1)

I could have everything the world has to offer, but if I don’t have peace of mind, quietness and serenity, then what are all these worldly things worth? Nothing!

Forgiveness is powerful and effective. People think forgiveness is difficult, but it is quite easy, with some practice and mindfulness.

It is the “easier, softer way,” as the AA Big Book describes the spiritual path.

A few weeks ago, in the blog post entitled, “Forgive Us Our Debts” (April 23, 2023) I spoke about the Ho’oponopono prayer, in which we ask everyone who comes to mind to forgive us for anything we might have done. The chain of love and healing that we start whenever we begin the process of forgiveness, grows, and expands, a chain of forgiveness that can surround and envelope the whole world and everyone in it.

We may never know how our forgiveness heals another -- or many others; what series of miracles can arise from the softening of our hearts and minds, in love and compassion, in release and forgiveness to those who we see as “enemies.”

We can, and will – literally – heal the world!

I love you

I’m sorry

Please forgive me

Thank you,

Happy Sunday,

Johnny

I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.Please contact me at prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com or sign up on my website: http://www.johnafrederick.com