On Forgiveness

©1997 Frank Sant'Agata



It is the nature of our egos to want an apology, to seek revenge--punishment--suffering from one who did us wrong. In truth, only our own thoughts about an incident can make us feel attacked or violated. We play the scene over and over in our minds, and feel we were the victim of this person's actions. Thus is the attack validated, made real to us, and given all the sustaining power to cause us pain.

When we forgive, we acknowledge that nothing has the power to hurt the Son of God, our true identity. What ever it was that someone seemed to do had no effect on us. If a person was being rude or hurtful, accept that this was their nature, and it had nothing to do with you. We accept this about animals--if a dog barks or digs up the garden that is its nature; if a cat claws the furniture, we may be upset for a moment, but very quick to forgive. That is because we are not dealing directly with the pet's ego. We understand that the creature did not act that way to hurt or injure us. Their nature is accepted as we need to accept the nature of people who are at a stage in their spiritual development in which they believe that is the way to be.

Remember, when a person seemingly attacks, it is because they fear something. If we can be insightful enough to recognize their fears, it becomes easy to see the cause of their actions. On the other hand, if we react to a perceived attack, we are also doing so with fear. Find the fear that was precipitated by that attack, as the Holy Spirit would have you do, so that you may work on that phase of your own spiritual development. Salvation and forgiveness are our only true function. We need to ultimately let go of all our fears, and replace them with love, to fulfill that function.

So, a workable forgiveness process can be:

Open your awareness to the attacker's fears, acknowledge them and forgive him for having them. Accept that until that person grows, the fears will be present, and may result in behavior that can be perceived as attack. This is the "nature of the beast."

Become aware of the fears that we have that were activated by the perceived attack.
Ask the Holy Spirit to teach us where these fears came from, so that we may learn to let them go.

Forgive ourselves for having those fears, and work on replacing them with love.

Relax in the Peace of God that follows, as you learn these steps.

Father, in my most desperate moments, hold a light to guide me to true understanding of my brother's actions and help me to understand his fears. Let me not perceive his actions as attack, but accept them as errors. Keep me from reacting with fear, but with compassion. He is your Son as I am too. Let me not hold any grievances against your Son and Myself. As I forgive Him, so shall I forgive Myself. You have never condemned, and so, have no need to forgive. Teach me through these lessons that I may be as You are my Father. Amen

INDEX


Essay: On TRUE and FALSE
Essay: On LOVE and FEAR
Verse: "Oh Love !"
Verse: "My Error"
Meditation: LAKE
Meditation: ONENESS
Meditation: SIMPLICITY
Meditation: LIGHT
The Great Way
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The works herein © are the exclusive property of Frank Sant'Agata. They may be copied and distributed freely, for personal and ACIM study group use, only if credit to the author and this message are included.