To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
“Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.”
Forgiveness means letting go of illusions. Forgiveness means laying down my defenses against God, against my Identity as part of God. As I forgive, or let go of illusions of separation from God, I remember that I rest in God eternally. I remember that nothing has changed.
Just because I choose to let my mind become involved with a false story of conflict, division and death does not make the false story true. Forgiveness means being willing to lay the false story down. Forgiveness means being willing to be open to the truth. All is still in God and of God. Only God is real. Only Love is real. Anything else is trying to make something that is the opposite of God real. Nothing is opposite to God.
Forgiveness, or laying the story down, offers me peace. As the story is laid down, the truth returns to my awareness. All is one in God. All is safe. And dreams of death and destruction are seen for the illusions they are. As I see forgiveness as it is, my mind is healed. It is like a healing balm that shows me what is not real. As I lay what is not real down, what is real comes to take its place.
We all rest in God. We cannot change that by wild and crazy stories of destruction. Forgiveness is seeing past illusions to the truth. I open my mind today and see that my job is to practice forgiveness as it is, to practice seeing straight through the thousand forms in which they may appear. I practice letting my mind be healed today of all the fanciful dreams that never were in reality. I practice remembering that I rest in God, now and forever. Truth is true and nothing else is true. God is truth. I practice remembering the truth today.
Once again I see how central the idea that this world does not exist is to my healing. It is the basis of true forgiveness. Everything my body’s eyes show me cannot be real if the world does not exist. Everything that seems to upset me in any way is always about some form that I object to. If it is form, it is different, and therefore separate from me. But the Course tells me that only Love is real. And Love is one. Love knows no distinctions, only unity, equality. The moment I recognize that what I thought was cause for upset is not real and does not exist, forgiveness is natural and automatic, for it is seen that there is nothing to forgive. No change, no harm occurred.
The practice of forgiveness could be called the practice of recognizing illusions for what they are and seeing past them. I cannot rely on my own understanding to accomplish this. My understanding as a separate identity is based on a false foundation that separation is real. On this false foundation, it is impossible to achieve an understanding of truth. By the grace of God, I have a Voice in my mind that can bring me the understanding I need to recognize what is unreal and look past it to the real. I must practice listening to this Voice if I would free myself from the pain of sin and guilt.
Each day as I take time to quiet my mind and receive the words of my inner Teacher, the recognition of illusion comes easier and truth is seen more clearly. Sometimes my mind chatter seems very persistent and I need to frequently disengage from it and open to the peace of my inner Teacher. Sometimes the chatter seems to be so attractive that I am not able to fully open to the healing message of Holy Spirit. But in each moment, I am grateful for whatever willingness I have in that instant, however weak it may seem to be. The Holy Spirit uses that little willingness on my behalf and I feel at least some relief.
I may need to come back and try again a little later and the Holy Spirit assures me He is always there, never impatient, always gentle and loving, ready to offer me His comfort. And so I practice again and again and again. In times of my own impatience, I can look back and see much progress has been made. It is truly worth the effort. This gives me encouragement to continue the practice, for I truly want the peace and freedom that forgiveness offers.
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