Jul 06, 2014

Pondering’s

I have mentioned forgiveness a few times in the past, including that God did not have to forgive us, for we have not done anything that could hurt God, therefore God has nothing to forgive.

 

We, however, even though we are a branch of God and therefore part of God, live in a world of relativeness. There are no absolutes, only values that are relative. Strong statements, but look at history: values have changed enormously over the eons of humanity, slowly becoming less accusatory and more accepting of the nature of humanity as created by God, our Eternal Wisdom.

Since we live in a relative world, forgiveness is a trait that is essential to understand and use; in fact, it is one of the most important things we are in this realm to understand. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for the one forgiving. Too often the one being forgiven has no idea why we are angry at them, accusing them of acts which often they have no idea they committed, so often a thoughtless gesture without ill intent but one that causes us much pain, imagined or real.

Forgiveness! Such a strong term, so often misused or grudgingly accepted for the sake of peace. That is not forgiveness is meant by our Eternal Wisdom. No, forgiveness in the eyes of God is far beyond that. Forgiveness, as seen through the eyes of Love, means casting away, letting the ills of the deed (real or imagined) became forgotten, never to have existed in our memory and minds. The deed itself happened, but that is only a fact. The remembered ills are gone, not to be remembered in our emotions.

Tough order! Letting it go as a bad memory, a nightmare, something not meant or intended, no matter what the deed. This is a difficult task, one that we spend our entire life coming to terms on, sometimes and often requiring many returns into this world of relativeness before we can even begin to move in the direction of achieving. Jesus said it so well: “Forgive them, for they knew not what they did!”

This is sometimes achievable in the beginning by recognizing slights and clumsy attempts as just the result of someone not havIng the capacity to do differently. Achieving this level of acceptance is a marvelous achievement. How many times have we nursed some slight, often imagined, for years before we can move beyond that point, if we ever do. Did some relative or friend say something that we took as an insult, and we have stopped speaking with them? Often for years? So often, if we could take the effort and swallow our pride to the point of asking the person, they may have no memory of the occasion, and certainly no idea that it affected you (or me) in the way it did.

I recall clearly an occasion in the late 80’s that in a meeting at our local parish someone said something accusing my wife and our pastor of some nebulous thinking of moving the parish in a more “progressive” manner. They said it in a very angry and put-down manner, and I was insulted in behalf of my wife. It took me almost 20 years to forgive that person, and to understand that that expressed where and who they were at that time, and did not reflect a true attempt to hurt or injure the ones being accused, but was an expression of their feelings at that time. I had looked at that moment often over the years, and eventually recognizing their failure to understand, and then moved to the point of true forgiveness.

We all have points of similar nature, events put Into our lives to allow us to move into a more positive world. Unless something like this occurs, we can not truly become forgiving, understanding events like our Eternal Wisdom understands. We learn to forgive by having something to forgive, not by reading about it, but by practice. Thus events occur that require our forgiveness for us to move forward, making these seemingly “bad” events actually “good” events, giving us the ability to truly Forgive, if we wish to grow in our spirit.

That is the purpose of life.

The purpose of life is to move into a consciousness that more reflect the consciousness of God, our Eternal Wisdom. It may, and probably will, take many events of similar nature until we become the one to forgive as God forgives, recognizing that the other could not have acted in a different manner, for that is how they are at that point in time.

Now they may not move off that point during this lifetime or even the next, but that is not our concern. We have only to deal with who we are. These events are given us to work through, no matter how many lives it takes.

To learn to forgive, truly forgive as our Eternal Wisdom forgives. What a goal in life. To be able to understand that each one of us, all seven billion of us, always does the best we can at that moment in time, no matter how hurtful or how filled with blessing that it is at that moment. If we are filled with that Truth, then we will see the world, no matter how disguised it appears, to be the best it can be.

When we can see our world in that light, we can begin to see the what our task is on earth: that we be part of the force that can potentially move the center of the emotional earth in a direction that will provide for the Kingdom of God on earth, and create Heaven on earth, as is the desire of God. Jesus was very firm on this task. The Kingdom of God is not up there, or ever there, it lies within. And lying within puts the kingdom of God here, in our midst, ready to burst out into a glorious rainbow of Love and Radiance in this world of ours, if only we allow it to occur.

It all centers on forgiveness. All of the word’s pain exists around our inability to forgive. Humanity has done unspeakable things to persons, family, neighbors, former friends, nations, regions, religions, reacting in pain and creating more pain, and we are part of that humanity and each of us have done our share of creating pain, all because we can not forgive.

Those of us who are Christians pray in the Lord’s prayer: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” But we forget those words the instant they are said. “Love your enemy”, “if one takes your cloak offer them your garment as well”. Time after time Jesus tried to tell us to forgive, for that is each of these quotes from Jesus are: Forgive, Forgive. That is the purpose of life.

I will repeat that: the purpose of life is to learn forgiveness as God forgives. Jesus told us that directive, and it is the most ignored directive of Jesus I know, for all the teachings of Jesus stems from the act of Forgiveness.

Meditation

 

My Eternal Wisdom, give us the wisdom to open our eyes, our internal consciousness, to understand that each of us is always doing the best we can do at each moment. Help us to understand and to pray with Jesus: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Give us the courage and humbleness of heart to understand that each person is doing their best, and their actions reflect that fact, even if the result of the action seems to injure us. We ask that God help us to do that step that will raise us to the next level of person we could be. We give thanks and express our gratitude for these apparent injuries that are our stepping stones to a higher life, to living closer to entering into that Kingdom that lives within each of us that gives us the opportunity to learn to forgive as our Eternal Wisdom forgives.