When we look at the world around us, whether we are experiencing personal crisis or being bombarded by the media with negative images of hate, war, and devastation on a global level, it can be hard to believe that there is a God. It’s definitely easier to feel alone, vulnerable, and limited to whatever resources we are lucky to get our hands on. We perceive one another as separate and find ourselves in a perpetual state of attack and defend based on our judgments. We fight to be right in a world that lacks justice. We have to fend for ourselves and always keep our radar up to protect ourselves from constant threats to our financial and personal security.
From this vantage point, it’s no wonder human beings succumb to disease, stress, and despair. The solution for most Americans is to run to the pharmaceutical dispensary and fill their bodies and medicine cabinets with magic pills to make it all go away. However, A Course in Miracles offers us a less expensive and more permanent solution to our pain and fear: forgiveness.
Forgiveness is a choice. When we see cruelty, we are seeing our own belief in fear and separation acted out in front of our eyes. Because we are experiencing the physical reality of our fear and can’t see God (or Source, Life Force, Higher Power, etc), it appears that the cruelty is true and God is a man-made idea to be used as a security blanket against the harsh truth of life on Earth. This makes sense because as human beings, we use our physical senses and judgment in order to survive. So, that which we physically experience on the level of form is easier to believe than that which we can only contemplate.
A way to remember God in light of all of this, is to practice seeing those around you as sinless and innocent - a pure reflection of Love. This becomes very hard to do when we think of people who are actively attacking and brutalizing others. However, Love is eternal and all encompassing. There is divinity within the criminal, the rapist, the attacker even though their actions defy this. They have forgotten who they are in Truth, and have allowed their misperceptions to control their behavior in a way that validates fear and separation. They remind us through their actions that the result of a fear-based consciousness is always painful.
We don’t condone the violent behaviors of those who have forgotten their true selves. We don’t deny the crimes against humanity that we see. However, on the level of consciousness, we hold the light for them and ask Spirit to show us the Truth of them. The reason for this, is because we never see our brothers and sisters of the Universe as they truly are, but through the filters of our own perception. They are far more than that, as are we.
We see in others what we believe to be true. When we respond defensively to someone in our personal lives who may appear to be tormenting us, we are actually reacting to what we believe to be true about ourselves and them. They are actually presenting us with the opportunity to look within our own minds and see what it is within us that this person is actually bringing to our awareness to be healed. This shift in perception makes it an inside job for the purpose of healing, rather than an inescapably powerless and victimizing situation.
A Course in Miracles states, "Anger involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one's own responsibility rather than being blamed on others."
This transforms the tyrant into the teacher and the victim into the student who chooses to grow in peace and return to Love. When we choose to see our brothers and sisters as sinless, regardless of outside circumstances, we realize that in our ability to see the light within them, we are now able to witness our own light and sinlessness as well.
A Course in Miracles says, "When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself ... for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself."
A Course in Miracles instructs us to ask God, “What could restore Your memory to me, except to see my brother’s sinlessness? His holiness reminds me that he was created one with me, and like myself. In him I find my Self, and in Your Son I find the memory of You as well.”
In less religious sounding language, what this is suggesting is, the fastest way back to Love is to see it within those around us – in everyone around us- and in our willingness to hold the Highest vision of them, they will lovingly mirror our own Higher Self back to us to be seen.
And when we behold the magnificence of the innocence and beauty of our true selves, we naturally remember God as we understand God.
We then see, hear, feel and witness our Source in all things. We may call it different names, but from this practice, It will no longer be a fairy tale concept, but much more real and compelling than the nightmares of fear and separation.
Forgiveness is a choice. We may prefer to be right, but choosing peace instead will show us the Truth. As the Course reminds us, "Love will enter into any mind that truly wants it."
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