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Forgiveness and Gratitude
By Sal Rachele

To all you healers and lightworkers: If you are NOT experiencing a joyful, exciting, prosperous, loving life and meeting life's challenges with enthusiasm, then may I suggest that there is a deficiency in one of these areas. Either you have not forgiven yourself and others completely, or there is a lack of gratitude for all of life's lessons and experiences.

I feel it important to spend a little time here because everything you do in your healing work (and you are ALL healers) will be enhanced and magnified directly in proportion to your ability to forgive and be grateful.

Let's cover a few basics and put a little humor into the pot:

When you got your Life Instruction Manual... (you did get one, didn't you? Oh, I thought I was the only one that misplaced mine)... Oh, okay, maybe God forgot to provide one, anyway...

If you have one, you will notice that the word "easy" is not found anywhere within it. In other words, there are going to be difficulties somewhere, sometime, even if you are having one of those rare "plateau" lifetimes, meaning that you are cruising along with few challenges. All those on a plateau raise your hands... I didn't think so.

Okay, for the rest of us, we are healing lifetimes of outdated belief systems, karmic relationships, guilt, judgment, fear and all that stuff in a matter of a few decades. Lately, we have been growing and healing so rapidly that what used to take a lifetime now may take only a few days. So this in itself is something to be HUGELY GRATEFUL for!

Does it feel good? Sometimes. Does it feel like going through a meat grinder? Sometimes. Have you ever wanted to scream at God? Probably. Yet, it is important to realize that WE SIGNED ON FOR THIS! God never promised us it would be a gentle ride, although it is our own selves that make it more difficult than it needs to be. So the first step is to realize the magnitude of what we are undertaking here. We are not in kindergarten anymore. (Or Kansas either - unless you happen to live there.)

Okay, so we find ourselves in the Calculus division of the life classroom. The funny thing about so-called "higher" math is that it is not inherently difficult. The principles of calculus, for example, are quite easy. I could sum them up in a few paragraphs (but I won't). However, you must know everything that comes before calculus VERY WELL or you will get lost in a hurry. So back to Life 404. In order to go through this life with a smile on our faces, we must utilize everything we have learned to date and apply it intelligently, in the moment, without making things more difficult than they need be.

Now, here's the paradox: At the same time that we bring our lifetimes of knowledge into the present, we must not be attached to what we have learned in the past. We must look at everything with "fresh" eyes. And that's where forgiveness comes in. Forgiveness is an illusion that dispels illusions. Huh? What did you say? Okay, I'll repeat it. Forgiveness is an illusion that dispels illusions. Consult "A Course In Miracles" for a 700-page explanation of this. Or read on for a couple of paragraphs of explanation.

In Genesis 1:1, it states that we were created in the image and likeness of God. I guess there's a little truth in the Bible after all, because this appears to be an accurate definition of WHO WE ARE. God created perfection. Notice I did not say "perfectionism". That is a whole different ballgame. In fact, perfectionists have the hardest time forgiving because they see deficiency in everything. "Perfection" as used in the spiritual sense, means whole and complete and lacking nothing. In other words, from the beginning of Creation, we have had everything we need to fulfill our Divine Blueprint of evolution and ascension. Not only that, God created us to be happy, playful and joyful. Just look at little children. And God certainly has a sense of humor. Tropical fish are proof of that. Anyway, anything that God did NOT create is an illusion, because God created ALL THAT IS. So if it does not look like part of Creation, it does not really exist.

Forgiveness is an illusion because there is really nothing to forgive. You are already perfect. There is nothing broken that needs fixing. There is nothing sinful that needs atonement or repentance. Forgiveness means to overlook what is not there. However, forgiveness is essential as long as you believe there is something there that needs to be forgiven. You need to forgive as long as you believe in illusions. Let's review some of our favorite illusions:

Do you country bumpkins recall a Charlie Rich song, "Somebody done somebody wrong"? Let's sing along... "Hey, can you play, another somebody done somebody wrong song..." I can't hear all of you singing. Anyway, a sick groan later you get my point. As long as you believe you have been injured in any way, there is a need to forgive. Even fundamentalist Christians get started in the right direction here. According to the Bible, as Jesus was laying on the cross, hands bleeding, birds pecking at his eyes, in the hot blazing sun, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." If you can imagine the pain he was in (you probably cannot - I cannot), to be able to see beyond the pain and suffering to the perfection beneath it was the supreme act of forgiveness. It's too bad the fundamentalists bombed out on the next lesson. I still don't understand how Jesus died for our sins. Can anyone explain that one to me? I guess I'm a little dense.

Jesus had good reason to believe he had been injured, yet he still forgave. So take a look at your own life. Most likely it is a bit more benign than hanging on a cross, although psychologically we tend to hang ourselves there for not measuring up to the imaginary standards we set for ourselves. Let's take a moment right now to forgive ourselves for all the times we failed to life up to our own expectations. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. (Don't forget to open them long enough to read the next sentence.) Say, "I forgive myself totally and completely now." Say it several times slowly, breathing deeply between each statement.

When we identify with our physical bodies (and start believing we ARE a physical body) we can find all sorts of 'F'alse 'E'vidence 'A'ppearing 'R'eal (FEAR). It seems these frail little bodies are subject to all sorts of horrible possibilities. Someone could hack us up with a knife as we walk down a dark street. We could be tossed out in the cold and snow to freeze in a gutter somewhere. We could be beaten and tortured in a prison camp. Or worse yet, we could be fed all sorts of chemically preserved foods. :-) It sure seems like we can be injured, if we identify with this instrument we inhabit. But who's in charge of the instrument? If it's the ego, we might see an ugly, obese, wrinkled, flabby, and sorry looking bag of skin and bones that constantly hurts or that constantly needs care and attention. OR... if it's Spirit, we might see a fit and trim holy vessel that temporarily houses our higher presence until it is no longer useful.

With Spirit in control of our physical body, we are told what to do and where to go to maximize our happiness, soul growth and well-being. We are able to psychically detect danger and avoid it, thus preserving the physical form. We are able to intuitively know what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat to keep the vessel eternally youthful and disease-free for as long as we desire to express in physical form. So with Spirit in control, there is truly nothing to forgive. People can still call us names, hurl insults, banish us from churches, levy taxes on our estate, and even run us out of town, but Spirit always provides exactly what we need, and so we are not concerned.

So to truly forgive, we must come from the perspective of Spirit and see that in truth, nothing can assail us, nothing can hurt us in any way. We must hold the image of ourselves given in Genesis 1:1. That is, no matter what happens, we are created perfect, we are eternally innocent, we are completely free. That is the truth of our being. It has taken this long for us to realize our own perfection even though it has been there all along. Take a deep breath and spend a few moments contemplating your own perfection. You have everything you need in this eternal now moment. All that the Father has is yours. You are whole and complete. Nothing can assail you. You are co-creators with Father/Mother God. Everything that has ever happened to you, willingly or unwillingly, has gotten you to this sacred moment of realization. Therefore, it is ALL perfect, every last stone thrown at your bleeding body, every last insult hurled as you walked in shame from the village square, every last lash of the whip as you lay broken in a dungeon somewhere...

"All this has not occurred because you remain as God created you...perfect and sinless."
-- from A Course In Miracles


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Contact Sal: srachele2004@yahoo.com