III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 3
3 There is no compromise that you can make with guilt, and escape the pain that only guiltlessness allays. Learning is living here, as creating is being in Heaven. Whenever the pain of guilt seems to attract you, remember that if you yield to it, you are deciding against your happiness, and will not learn how to be happy. Say therefore, to yourself, gently, but with the conviction born of the Love of God and of His Son,
What I experience I will make manifest.
If I am guiltless, I have nothing to fear.
I choose to testify to my acceptance of the Atonement, not to its rejection.
I would accept my guiltlessness by making it manifest and sharing it.
Let me bring peace to God’s Son from his Father.
Journal
I want to be happy and I cannot be happy if I think I am guilty or anyone else is guilty. It is not true and can never be true and there is no compromise in this. As I began to realize how destructive is the belief in guilt, I began to ask the Holy Spirit to remove that belief from my mind. What happened is the Holy Spirit helped me to see the many ways that guilt shows up in my mind. By that I mean I began to become aware of guilt in all its guises.
I realized that any time I judged anyone that was guilt. Anytime I wished someone was different that was guilt. I began to notice these conversations I was having with people, not aloud, but in my head. For instance, I have a friend who gets drunk and inevitably gets into trouble. I become concerned for him and in my head I am saying things like, “Don’t you see how self destructive you are? Have you talked to your therapist about the root cause of this desire to hurt yourself?” I may as well be saying, “Do you know how guilty you are?”
I might as well be saying, “Myron, do you know how guilty you are?” I am teaching myself that I am guilty of judging him and being afraid for him and not trusting him. The ego mind calls it concern and caring. The ego mind thinks this is love. But it hurts. The more I think about his behavior, the more frightening it appears to be and the worse I feel. Love is not painful or frightening. Love doesn’t hurt. This is not love, it is guilt, and in finding him guilty of self destructive behavior, I am myself being self destructive. I am destroying my peace and my happiness.
So I asked the Holy Spirit for a different way to see this. How do I see the situation without judging it and without using it to increase the belief in guilt? Here is what I heard.
Holy Spirit: I choose to testify to my acceptance of the Atonement, not to its rejection. Accept the Atonement for this situation. I have said that Atonement is undoing. Accept your innocence and you will accept innocence everywhere. Accept innocence here and you will accept it for yourself. Guilt is the rejection of the Atonement. Love and devotion are the acceptance of it. Love and devotion will undo the belief in guilt, and innocence will assert itself. Being afraid for your beloved friend will increase guilt and will not help.
Me: How do I do this? It seems so clear that this person is going down the wrong road and is hurting himself and others. How do I not see this?
Holy Spirit: While you are focused on the problem you will be lost in the problem. Give your loving attention to the truth, to his reality, to his innocence. Give your attention to your innocence because there is nothing your innocence cannot do. Did you think that you found Nouk’s article this morning by happenstance? Have I not told you that your journey through this experience is not random? Use her words, her practice as your own and this will help you take your mind off the problem and put it on the solution.
You found your devotion and felt the joy of it. Now use it in order to keep it in your awareness. Devote yourself to the truth and to love and do this indiscriminately and universally. There is no circumstance in which love is not the answer. Your beloved friend does not need your psychoanalysis, and certainly he does not need your fear. Love and devotion do not flourish in guilt and fear. Make manifest your love and devotion by turning your attention from guilt and fear and placing it on the truth. Bring peace to your brother and you will have peace.
Here is the process I was led to this morning. It is from an article by Nouk Sanchez and the link to the full article follows.
For this exercise only, I have adapted the following review lessons in A Course in Miracles to reflect the deeper meaning within the word “holiness.” Please join me and Jesus in opening our one heart to a whole new depth of Love through first accepting and then extending our incorruptible Innocence.
This is not an intellectual exercise. This is to be a deeply tender and “felt” practice; one that is lovingly seen, accepted and expressed with great reverence and gratitude. The Holy Instant of innocence awaits us. It is ultimately realized through heartfelt acceptance of our (and others) guiltlessness which translates to our unchanging and uninterrupted state of incorruptible Innocence. This is our Holiness. This is our literal immunity from all pain, all sickness, all conflict, all loss and suffering of any kind. This is the Will of God.
W-58.1. (36) My incorruptible Innocence envelops everything I see.
From my innocence does the perception of the real world come. Having forgiven, I no longer see myself as guilty. I can accept the innocence that is the truth about me. Seen through understanding eyes, the innocence of the world is all I see, for I can picture only the thoughts I hold about myself.
W-58.2. (37) My incorruptible Innocence blesses the world.
The perception of my innocence does not bless me alone. Everyone and everything I see in its light shares in the joy it brings to me. There is nothing that is apart from this joy, because there is nothing that does not share my innocence. As I recognize my innocence, so does the innocence of the world shine forth for everyone to see.
W-58.3. (38) There is nothing my incorruptible Innocence cannot do.
My innocence is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power to save. What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are all illusions except false ideas about myself? My innocence undoes them all by asserting the truth about me. In the presence of my innocence, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish.
W-58.4. (39) My innocence is my salvation. Since my incorruptible innocence saves me from all guilt, recognizing my innocence is recognizing my salvation. It is also recognizing the salvation of the world. Once I have accepted my innocence, nothing can make me afraid. And because I am unafraid, everyone must share in my understanding, which is the gift of God to me and to the world.
W-58.5. (40) I am blessed as a Son of God.
Herein lies my claim to all good and only good. I am blessed as a Son of God. All good things are mine, because God intended them for me. I cannot suffer any loss or deprivation or pain because of Who I am. My Father supports me, protects me, and directs me in all things. His care for me is infinite, and is with me forever. I am eternally blessed as His Son.
takemetotruth.org/nouks-blog/a-profound-lesson-in-innocence/
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