Forgiveness

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The practice of forgiveness is one of many means by which you as an individual can boost your own spiritual light, that shining aspect of yourself which is unconsciously perceived by your comrades in the flesh, but which is quite clearly seen by those who have passed beyond the material form or who have been created by other means.

In your strivings for spiritual growth, my friends, it may be useful to think of yourself as a beacon, a light, and consider how you can direct your actions in a way that will increase your own personal intensity. Remember that a light which may shine most brightly does so without noise, without harm. Be like the beacon of light that shines forth from the lighthouse.

Forgiveness, yes, it's a way of boosting your light power, your brightness. A most noble spiritual attribute, one which does not come so easily to those of material origin, biological creation. Forgiveness involves the laying aside of anger, pride. Yes, your own greed and selfishness. And returning love where your material self may have experienced insult.

When you practice forgiveness, you will know that you are on the right track when you sense an easiness within yourself, a lightness of being, some have said. It has been said that it is as if a great weight is lifted from one's shoulders when forgiveness comes.

It is important to understand why forgiveness is difficult for you. That is because biology is moved by primal urges, the instinct to survive, the instinct to feed, and the urge to reproduce. When an animal senses a threat to its ability to carry out any or all of these three urges, the animal is instinctively driven to strike out. Anger ensues. Pride wells up. And a chain of events occurs in order for the animal mind to protect the interests of the animal.

Think of the times that the acts of other humans have angered you, lead you to harbor resentment and withhold forgiveness. How many of those incidents have truly involved a threat to your life? How many of those times has there really been a genuine and unquestionable threat to your family, to your capacity to earn a living? It is most likely that the vast majority of such episodes in your life have not been true threats to your material existence, much less to your spiritual existence. And yet it is the almost universal experience of mortal beings to carry a large burden of anger and resentment stored up over a lifetime about bygone incidents.

Like weeds growing in a garden, eventually such incidents can choke off healthy growth. Do not let this happen to yourselves. Assess your stock like the good gardener, carefully pull out the weeds. Yes, it is important to protect yourselves, but you must consider your motives. If you sincerely wish to increase your personal light, then make an effort to differentiate between the rare true threat and the common false threat. The false threats are meaningless, my friends. They can be forgiven so easily. And when you as living human examples behave in such elevated fashion, be assured that others will observe and imitate. Again, to behave in such a way is yet another step on the road to being in the world, but not of it.

Let the clean fresh water of forgiveness cleanse your mind. Let it wash away so much that hinders you in your aspirations to be like the Master, to be a worker helping to pull your world out of its turmoil and toward Light and Life. With forgiveness comes joy and peace. 

When you neglect to forgive, it is as if there is a shadow over your spiritual light, like a cloud covering the sun. It is not necessary. There are so few things in your material existence that are worth holding onto with retrogressive behaviors and feelings, so very few. And yet, of course, if your forgiveness is not sincere, it is not - it will not help you or anyone else. Keep that in mind as you work on your own capacity to be more forgiving. It will be a struggle. None of this is expected to be easy. But you will find it to be most rewarding.

Question: For the first fifty years of my life I said and felt that I was proud of my enemies. Probably during the last few years, I have been ashamed of my enemies because I haven't made them friends. I feel that I'm doing pretty good along the forgiveness line, but I still need to work on it.

Answer: You need not necessarily embrace the person you forgive. Rather, you are expunging the negative feelings toward the individual from your own mind. Were you to sense forgiveness toward those whom you refer to as your enemies, you would find that rather than being enemies, they would simply be neutral persons. It is not intended that you necessarily must have intimate and close associations with all other beings on the planet at this time, however, if your interaction can be peaceful, without rancor that would be most appropriate now. Also, there is no reason why you cannot guard yourself against those who you sense may not have your best interest in mind. Even the Master did that during His sojourn here, if you would review the chronicle of His life as presented to you. There is no need to hasten your own physical demise by putting down your protective behaviors. Simply, if you can refrain from hating the enemy. There is power in loving your enemy. It does not mean that there are not some who would not harm you.

This is a complicated issue, and one which deserves lessons of its own. But there has been much misunderstanding of what forgiveness is and how it should be properly applied in human interaction. But be assured, my friends, that your own personal feelings toward another individual or group of individuals are most powerful. Those which are imitative of Father are powerful in the sense of growth and movement toward Light and Life, and those which are regressive limit growth. There are two different aspects to forgiveness: one is to the person being forgiven, and the other, most important, is to the forgiver himself.

Question: Is there a difference between forgiveness on an intellectual level and an emotional level?

Answer: They are both variations of the mortal mind. There is a difference between the two - the two
methods you discuss, and the spiritual - but intellect and emotion are both biological in origin, although
there is the tendency to consider the intellectual workings of the mind to be more sophisticated than
emotional. This is not necessarily true however. Because my thought takes structured and logical form
does not necessarily mean that it is higher in its form. 

Question: Regarding forgiveness, I am wondering if, as we grow spiritually and as we do forgive more and
learn what that actually means and how that feels, if it actually becomes less and less necessary for us to
forgive or that we more than likely are inclined to forgive immediately when we sense a transgression
and then understand and then we forgo any of the pain and suffering or mental confusion or spiritual
aberration that comes from harboring resentment?

Answer: You have a good understanding of the concept. Remember, my friend, that at an earlier stage of the development of man an insult would be returned by an axe blow or the strike of a club on the head of the insulted. Slowly and arduously man has learned other responses to perceived insult. Now it is the time to let even those subtle but damaging feelings of anger, resentment, desire for revenge, and so on, pass by, and instead become more agile at the practice of instant forgiveness that you allude to. Eventually, with practice, you will find that it will indeed become an automatic response. Some of you here, in fact, have done quite well in your work along this line, and I commend you.

Today, brothers and sisters, I will speak on forgiveness. It is a special quality of our Creator Son, and to ready ourselves to appreciate His Divinity, goodness, beingness, light truth, beauty, and the miracle of His bestowal here. We will speak and discuss forgiveness, for truly Michael of Nebadon (Jesus) is the mercy-God of this universe. We will also speak on forgiveness because this is a trait, a practical trait, which you each may broaden in your life by actual doing. 

Michael of Nebadon is the God of mercy and forgiveness. God The FATHER, one of his inherent attributes is forgiveness. I cannot even say instant forgiveness for God is infinite and not time bound, but to you humans it would be instant, it would exist before you even requested it.

Forgiveness is not repentance, or justice, even. It is part of justice, but it is love in action. Forgiveness has not to do with the wrong that was done but to do with your individual capacity to love others. It matters not the injury to your selfhood. It matters not the level of wrongdoing - even if real on the part of your fellows. Even, yea, unto sin it matters not, for forgiveness has to with your own spiritual ability to love as The Father loves.

Forgiveness is a fruit of the Spirit and a Divine gift. It is true that The Father forgives you in fact, but your experience of this forgiveness, children, cannot be had by you until you forgive others. This is an important distinction, children: forgiveness exists, but you cannot know it until you forgive others. Thus, forgiveness may be thought of an actual muscle and as you exercise it, it grows stronger and you, then, take in more forgiveness for yourself.

Michael and The Father and the Mother Spirit, our Divine parents, have more mercy and forgiveness for each of us than we can ever imagine; but there are limits to forgiveness, and these limits are set by the person, being, in error and not by the Divine. 

When a human sins - and by sin I do not mean error, I mean a conscious rejection of the will of God, a rejection of Godliness, truth, beauty and goodness, a conscious decision to do one's own will, to hurt, etc., others - the four human problems of ego, deceit, and greed-anger, and fear, when one consciously decides to engage in these selfhood acts, and consciously rejects the will of God, that is a sin. Intentionally planning.

When one becomes sinful it becomes a habit like eating chocolates, and the habit of sin is reinforced. There are material, often, rewards for this behavior, and one can go further and further away from higher values. Therefore, habitual sinners sometimes, sadly, become iniquitous. For these beings engaged in iniquity there is no forgiveness because they will not ask or receive it.

An iniquitous being cannot, will not, ask The Father for forgiveness, nor will that being receive it. Truly it is: “ask and it shall be granted.” That statement was made by Jesus specifically about forgiveness. If these beings would ask they would be forgiven, but they cannot because they are unable to forgive. Life, the Universe, whatever their list of wrongs are, they cannot forgive, therefore can they not receive Divine forgiveness.

And Divine forgiveness, encompasses the concept of rehabilitation, not repentance - there is a difference - but rehabilitation, spiritual rehabilitation: the willingness on the part of the being to exercise higher values, to live more fully at the spiritual level, to change unevolved behaviors, to forgive and love others. That is spiritual rehabilitation. At the time of this rebellion, when the dastardly Caligastia and Daligastia entered into Satan and Lucifer's personal liberty iniquitous rebellion, many many beings followed. They were in error, not even in sin or evil. These beings were offered forgiveness by Michael of Nebadon. And many accepted. They were sent to work until the adjudication of the rebellion. They were rehabilitated spiritually.
Repentance was not asked for. Repentance is a human and primitive concept which means self-sacrifice,
animal sacrifice, money, good deeds, working off original sin, etcetera. Repentance is a not real or highly evolved spiritual concept. What is real is rehabilitation, is recognizing error and changing it. That is rehabilitation, growing more Godward.

So, Michael, Himself, knew that the evil ones would never accept forgiveness, but his mercy extended, and they were given much time to ponder their situation. As you know, they are no longer. That is the result of evil: non existence. The result of forgiveness is spiritual growth, extended love, and a more Godlike behavior toward one's fellows.

God is your Father and He loves us the way a father, a good father, loves a child. So much of what you think needs forgiveness, in actuality brothers and sisters, does not, for you are just children and like all children, make mistakes, The Father does not need to forgive you for your honest mistakes. He just gently guides the twig to grow in a healthy direction.

Truly evolved ascendant beings do not need to forgive others for they never take offense. Offense is an ego function. When Jesus said “resist not evil” this is what He meant: forgiveness. Not to condone evil or sin, no, never! But it is not up to us to judge. Our goodness and love should be so powerful, our Godliness should be so all-encompassing that neither sin nor evil can hurt us! For is not God more powerful than the force of darkness? Is not the Divine more powerful than the imperfect? Is not the light brighter than the darkness? Fill yourself with God's love and your forgiveness shall flow, for nothing can hurt or offend you.

This will not probably ever be accomplished consistently in any of your lives. But it should be consciously worked towards. Forgiveness is one of the highest qualities the human can attain here on this planet. It is attainable but one must fight one's human ego. This is a battle with self. I pray that you each work on this area. In each of your lives there are little thorns which need to be picked off. Select one thorn this week and actively work on forgiving the offense as you see an offense. Spiritual beings do not hold grudges. They do not engage in the act of anger and prolonged anger which is such a spirit poison. We do not look towards revenge. We do not judge. We try only to love our fellows - even when they are unlovable to us.

I want each of you - I request - to work on forgiving either a present hurt or past. Just one. And when you truly forgive you will feel The Father's forgiveness for your transgressions and mistakes flow into you and fill you with love, which leads to, children, inner peace! You are all so troubled in so many ways. And you look for peace. There is no Divine or mystical way to achieve peace. It comes through forgiveness, to love, to peace: the peace which surpasses all human understanding. And so I humbly ask that you work on this
this week.

Student: Thank you Rayson for a very inspiring lesson. It confirmed my study of the Bible which indicates that the only quality which Jesus said was qualified was the quality of forgiveness, because it was always reported as “forgive as you forgive others.”

Question: One of the questions last week bears on today's lesson about forgiveness. I asked about protecting ourselves from those who want to hurt us, and the second part of you answer hit on what I had in mind. It was about the one who looks at you and says “Oh you're too good, you're too nice, you're too honest I'm going to show that you're not really that good and therefore there is no God.” The hardest forgiveness job to me is to forgive those sorts. And some of them attain positions of high power and can do much to harm us, can even strip us of our ability to practice our professions, and its very very hard to let loose of.

Rayson: What happens when "all things earthly crash?" I know this is not a consolation, but it is the truth, spiritually, that the important things are yours and can never be taken away.

Question: I've found that the most difficult person to forgive is myself. I wonder if you might address
self-forgiveness.

Answer: Self forgiveness is difficult for you humans for you do not put yourself in the place of The Father. You are a father and if your child made a mistake would you not simply correct him and continue to love him and move on? You do not do this - humans - with yourselves. You continue to hurt yourselves for what you perceive as your mistakes or transgressions or errors. And this is not spiritually correct behavior because you must also forgive yourself. And you are also now capable of judging the severity or gravity of your actions. So you tend to overemphasize small growth problems which every ascendant being passes through, and hurt yourself about them.

These must be let go. A good father does not continue to re-remind the child of what that child did when they were one or two or three or four years old. A good father loves the child as they are now and encourages them to grow strong and healthy. This you must do - we must all do - with ourselves. We must not concentrate on what went before. That is for the Supreme. That is part of the Supreme: good,
bad, indifferent.

We must use our spiritual, mindal, emotional, and physical energies in tandem now to become more evolved beings. We must use all of our energies now to live higher values. This use of energy in past events is retarding growth. You may pray - all of you - to experience self-forgiveness, and that might be your choice to work on this week if that is your stumbling block.

Question: I do have one other aspect of forgiveness, and that is when we ask someone else to forgive us
sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I wonder how you might comment on that phenomenon.

Answer: We cannot ask for - we may ask but we cannot control another's forgiveness. All you can do when you perceive that you have hurt another is to not engage - to change your behavior. Part of that is for your own growth. Whether a person forgives you or not is between that person and God. You may humbly ask for forgiveness. You may apologize and correct your behavior to a more loving style.

Question: Could you comment on the relevancy of any of the confessional styles of dealing with remorse and guilt. Some of us have been through 12-step programs which instruct us to examine ourselves and admit the exact nature of our sins to God, ourselves, and another human being and humbly ask for forgiveness. That's also the style of the psychotherapeutic technique that's currently used. I have to admit
it seemed at the time I went through it that it was very helpful to me, although maybe primitive compared to other .....

Answer: It is a useful emotional and psychological technique to be self-reflective and aware of one's life-actions in a spiritual light. It often helps one to recognize patterns of negativity and areas that need improvement. It is also emotionally a release from the past - guilt cleansing - to discuss this with another
human who is non-judgmental and unconditionally accepting - loving of the present self.

Confession is a more psychological tool than spiritual. Confession is not part of prayer. No, prayer - pure prayer - does not involve a request for the self, nor even a request for one's fellows. Pure prayer as you border on to worship involves consciousness of the Divine which becomes worship. So, confession is not a spiritually pure tool, but it does lead to more spiritual growth. It is not harmful, it is helpful for the human psyche and often leads to great periods of spiritual growth, but it is not a purely spiritual tool in and of itself.

Question: I'm a very forgiving person, but when driving I find sometimes I get irritated. I have taken a real
look, I really think that my irritation is the other driver's irritation that my sensitivity is picking up. I may be wrong on that, but many times that's really the only forgiveness that I work on. I attempt to be a mirror and return love to them instead of the regular highway hate that the crowded conditions seem to promote. Could you comment on that? What is the best way to return something like that?

Answer: First, I do not agree with your assessment that you are merely reflecting other's irritation for you are not a pond, you are a free-will creature, and you are reflecting your own irritation, not that of others. Perhaps other's irritation sets off your own, but you are responsible for your own responses, for you have free will, and should not so easily throw your negative emotions to others. You must realize that they are part of your personality, albeit a part which you would like to erase or move beyond.

Your imperfections are part of your gift of creation. This universe, Grand Universe, of evolution is designed that through creature experience and ascension you will become perfect. So your imperfections are a part of your gift from The Father. To pretend that they are not “you” is a disservice to your creator and to your own growth. Better, for yourself and for your spiritual growth to say “Yes, something in this situation annoys me, irritates me, makes me short-tempered or edgy. What can I do with these emotions? How may I constructively use self-mastery?” Read the lecture on self mastery in the Jesus section of the Urantia Book, for this is what your true soul question consists of.

I think that there is pain in you and the pain remains because forgiveness has not been fully achieved. So
you should - perhaps, although it is not pleasant examine some of your inner pain because a sore that
still hurts is open and to close this sore one needs the Divine waters of forgiveness. You are not seeing
clearly events in your own life which continue to hurt you because you have not fully understood them
and forgiven yourself or another.

Question: I was meditating earlier today on forgiveness, and it's interesting that you should choose that as
a topic. I was going to ask for a spiritual exercise for our forgiveness muscle and it has come to me that the prayer that Jesus, Christ Michael, taught us to pray is that exercise. Can you confirm that?

Answer: That is absolutely correct. That IS the prayer of forgiveness: “forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive the trespasses of others.” That is forgiveness in one sentence, the fact, and then the experience -
as we forgive others.

Question: And in praying that prayer, we experience it. (Yes.) And feel like working out physically (Yes, that is correct.) in praying that prayer (that is correct) will help, because sometimes we just need something and that ....

Rayson: - to focus our being on the act of forgiveness. It involves the two steps: asking for The Father to forgive us, and our simultaneous forgiveness of others. To join the kingdom, to enter the kingdom, takes only one decision. But to make continued progress takes much much continuous action. An important part of this is forgiveness.

Question: I am beginning to see that with forgiveness is the beginning of freedom. I've been beginning to
experience that in some small ways, probably, universal realities that speak to me and I can begin to see that and hold on to that.

Answer: Yes, sometimes small illuminations are fleeting. And we have a hard time holding on the truth of the Divine, and this must be constantly striven for. But yes, forgiveness is freedom, it is spiritual freedom.

Question: Along the line of forgiveness, there are times when people have done some very mean and cruel
things, for instance, to a child over a long sustained period of time. Such a person doesn't really have any desire to change, has more or less you might say “gotten by with the crime.” What would be your advice to an individual who has been victimized by such a cruel and inhuman person?

Answer: This is my advice. Forgiveness does not entail continued interaction with an unchanging, sinful, mean, evil human. You may forgive but may choose not to interact with this human at all. Forgiveness also does not impinge on the societal right of justice. As Jesus was on the cross and two convicted criminals hung at His side, He said “My son, indeed you have committed the action for which our society has put you to death. or will put you to death, or is in the process of taking your physical life from you. But my son, I see in your heart that you did not intend to do this crime, but indeed you have committed it and the rules of your fellows must be enforced. This does not mean that The Father has not already forgiven you.” So, societal justice - even to physical death – is allowable, concurrent with Divine and human forgiveness.

Question: In the light of what you were just discussing, does that mean that - having forgiven our brother who continues to do distressing things - we can still go ahead and love this being without having to be in continual contact. We don't have to go and try to force our love upon them in an effort to change them. 

Answer: That is correct. For only The Father, the Indwelling Adjuster, the Angels, the Spirit of Truth, and other celestial ministers can sometimes reach a human in error. All you can do is inspire through your own life and make your choice. Some people are capable of continuing to love and not be hurt by another less-evolved human. Some are not. Each situation is different. But it is spiritually acceptable and correct to discontinue relations with a human who is hurtful and still forgive them and love them and know that someday - perhaps not on this world but perhaps far along, these hurts will no longer exist between personalities.

Question: Then does that mean that if one can receive from that person rejection and not feel hurt that its
okay then to continue to reach out to that person?

Answer: That decision-action should be based upon personal prayer, guidance, and your free-will choice.

Question: I have a question about a process or progression toward forgiveness. I think I know who that
thorn is going to be for me. There is still a lot of anger in the way, so that - is it correct to say that its
important to go through the psychological process of getting that out before jumping to forgiveness? It
just seems like I would get ahead of myself and not be real - if I don't get out the human selfish stuff
first.

Answer: That is correct. Anger is a spirit poison and you have much on this issue. Perhaps you can work on forgiveness with another human while you go through the psychological-emotional purging which will take you quite some time on this other issue.

Question: Back in the middle ages the Popes used to sell indulgences. After they did, it was alright for a person who bought an indulgence to sin. I just wondered...

Rayson: This is quite humorous. This is not spiritually evolved.

Student: I didn't think so...

Rayson: - and they will have quite a surprise when they are resurrected.

In spirituality, many find it is a bit more easy to forgive others than to have self-forgiveness. Many condemn themselves to a life of atonement or having to pay back certain debts, pay back for mistakes made. In this self-condemnation there is such a shadowing of light that could perhaps be shined and shared. Many mortals find that self-punishment is a way to atone for the past. This self-punishment is crushing to the soul.

In my work to touch base with you, I endeavor to help you have self-understanding. Self-understanding is removing the shadow that keeps you imprisoned. To completely believe without a doubt that you are an evolutionary being is to not have concern for self-forgiveness or self-condemnation. To have memory of past circumstances and actions taken, lead to healing and self-forgiveness, understanding that - yes, you have always had the best of intentions, although things may not have turned out satisfactorily.

Your relationships have either helped you to condemn yourself or some have helped you feel loved with the bestowal of freedom. You must believe that each person is most of the time thinking they are doing the very best that they are capable of. Real forgiveness begins with yourself. Real capacity to bestow Fatherly affection begins with being able to receive Fatherly affection.

Our Master, believing He had such Fatherly affection, made no apologies for normal evolutionary mistakes.  He believed Himself to be a learning child and found no need for self-forgiveness. He found it not within Father's will to have self-condemnation. In His knowledge of Father, He saw no need for self-punishment. Mistakes made by Him were to be made known so He may begin correction. His mistakes were made known by Father to His conscience, and He understood Father to have a corrective action ready for Him to take action on.

I would ask you, my children, for your awareness, to lean toward the receiving of personal Fatherly affection and self-understanding, self-forgiveness.

• Forgiveness is a recognition that the playing field is uneven but only in the mind’s eye. 
• Forgiveness assures the forgiver that all can be made well because all at one time was well. 
• Forgiveness reassures the forgiven that a fellow human being can reach the correct conclusion.