I want to perceive forgiveness as it is.
1. Let us review today what it means to “forgive,” for it is a concept prone to distortion, often seen as involving the unjustified sacrifice of legitimate indignation, an unearned and undeserved gift, and a total denial of the truth. I
²From this perspective, forgiveness must appear to be nothing more than extravagant foolishness, and it makes it seem as though this Course bases salvation on whimsy.
2. This distorted view of what forgiveness means is easily corrected when you can accept the fact that you are not being asked to forgive what is true.
²Forgiveness is limited solely to what is false.
³Forgiveness applies only to illusions.
⁴Truth is the Creation of God, and forgiving that makes no sense.
⁵All that is true belongs to Him, reflects His Laws, and radiates His Love.
⁶How could this require forgiveness?
⁷How can you forgive what is sinless and eternally kind?
3. Your greatest difficulty in truly forgiving is still the belief that you must forgive what is true, and not illusions. II
²You see forgiveness as a futile effort to ignore what is really there, to overlook the truth in a misguided attempt to deceive yourself by affirming an illusion.
³This mistaken perspective merely reflects how firmly the idea of sin still grips your mind, as you see yourself.
4. Since you believe your sins are real, you see forgiveness as deception.
²For it is impossible to believe that sin is real and not believe forgiveness is a lie.
³Thus, forgiveness becomes just another sin like all the rest.
⁴It declares truth to be false, and smiles upon the corrupt as if they were as guiltless as grass, as white as snow. III
⁵Forgiveness fools itself about what it thinks it can achieve.
⁶It wants to see what is clearly wrong as right, and the despicable as good.
5. From this perspective, forgiveness does not set free.
²It is merely another sign that sin is unforgivable—something that, at best, must be concealed, denied, or called by another name, for forgiveness is seen as betrayal of the truth.
³Guilt cannot be forgiven.
⁴If you sin, your guilt is everlasting.
⁵Those you forgive suffer twice the mockery and the condemnation if you believe their sins are real.
⁶First, their own, for what they believe they have done.
⁷And then yours.
6. It is the unreal nature of sin that makes forgiveness a natural and entirely sane response.
²A deep relief for those who offer it, and a quiet blessing for those who receive it. IV
³True forgiveness does not support illusions; it gently lays them down, with a light smile, at the feet of truth. V
⁴And there they disappear completely.
7. Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in the illusions of the world.
²It sees their insubstantial nature, and looks past all the thousands of forms they may appear in.
³It sees the lies, but is not deceived by them.
⁴It pays no attention to the screams with which sinners, mad with guilt, accuse themselves.
⁵It looks upon them with calm eyes and simply says:
⁶My brother, what you think is not the truth.
8. The strength of forgiveness lies in its honesty, which, being incorruptible, sees illusions as illusions and not as truth.
²Because of this, when it faces lies it becomes the great disillusioner, the mighty restorer of simple truth.
³Through its ability to overlook what does not exist, forgiveness opens up the way to truth, which was blocked by dreams of guilt.
⁴Now you are free to walk the path true forgiveness opens.
⁵For if a brother has received this gift from you, the door is open to yourself.
9. There is a very simple way to find the door to true forgiveness and to see that it stands wide open in welcome.
²Whenever you feel tempted to accuse someone of any kind of sin, do not allow your mind to dwell on what they did, for that is self-deception.
³Instead, ask:
⁴Would I accuse myself of doing this?VI
10. In this way, you will see the alternatives in terms that make sense, and you will keep your mind as free from guilt and pain as God Himself intended it to be, and as it truly is.
²Only lies condemn.
³Innocence is the only thing that truly exists.
⁴Forgiveness stands between illusions and the truth, between the world you see and what lies beyond, between the hell of guilt and the gates of Heaven.
11. Across this bridge, as powerful as the Love that blessed it, all dreams of evil, hatred, and attack are quietly brought before the truth.
²They are not kept to swell and roar and terrify the helpless dreamer who believes in them.
³He has been gently awakened from his dream by recognizing that what he thought he saw never truly existed.
⁴And now he can no longer believe escape is denied to him.
12. He no longer has to struggle to be saved.
²He does not need to slay the dragons he imagined pursued him.
³He does not need to build strong walls of stone or iron gates he thought would keep him safe.
⁴He can now lay down the heavy, useless armor made to chain his mind to fear and misery.
⁵Now his step is light, and each time he lifts his foot to go ahead, a star is left behind to guide the ones who follow.
13. You must practice true forgiveness, for the world cannot grasp its meaning, nor will it offer you any guidance to help you understand its blessings.
²There is not a single thought in all the world that leads you to comprehend the laws forgiveness follows or the Thought it mirrors.
³Forgiveness is as foreign to this world as is your own reality.
⁴But it is what links your mind to the reality that lives in you.
14. Today we practice true forgiveness so that the moment of union may no longer be delayed.
²For we wish to meet our Reality in freedom and in peace.
³Our practice becomes the footsteps that illuminate the path for all our brothers, who will follow us to the Reality we share with them.
⁴To make this so, let us spend fifteen minutes twice today with the Guide Who understands the meaning of forgiveness and Who was sent to teach it to us.
⁵Let us then ask Him:
⁶I want to perceive forgiveness as it is.
15. Then choose a brother as He directs, and list his “sins” one by one as they cross your mind.
²Be sure not to dwell on any of them in particular.
³Realize you are using his “offenses” to save the world from all belief in sin.
⁴Briefly consider each of the negative things you have thought about him, and ask yourself each time:
⁵Would I condemn myself for doing this?
16. Release him from all the thoughts of sin you held about him.
²And now you are prepared for freedom.
³If you have practiced with willingness and sincere intent, you will begin to feel a sense of lifting, a lightening of the chest, a deep and unmistakable sense of relief.
⁴Use the rest of the time to feel yourself being freed from all the heavy chains you tried to lay upon your brother, but which were binding only you.
17. You must practice forgiveness throughout the day, for there will still be many times when you forget its meaning and attack yourself.
²When that happens, let your mind see beyond that illusion, while saying to yourself:
³I want to perceive forgiveness as it is.
⁴Would I accuse myself of doing this?
⁵I will not chain myself to this.
⁶And in everything you do, remember this:
⁷No one is crucified alone.
⁸And no one enters Heaven by himself.
I This is an especially magnificent Lesson among the magnificent Lessons of this Workbook. It is very clear, simple, and it precisely describes the most powerful resource you have at your disposal to free your mind from the insidiousness of the world’s thought. Read it very slowly, with great attention, and, after each line, ask yourself whether what you have just read is true. Take all the time you need to study this Lesson in depth—it will be time very well spent.
II The world is a story.
Stories are narratives that describe concepts related to each other in a coherent way. We could say that the story is the form, the container for the content that one intends to explain. When someone believes in something, it is because he thinks that the content of a given story is real—that it exists on its own, independently of the story told about it. To believe or not believe a certain story is a decision of the mind made through the will.
From the standpoint of the world’s science, to perceive is to imagine—that is, to construct images, sounds, and sensations in the brain from electrochemical impulses coming from certain bodily organs called “senses.” This is something science today is quite clear about, although it still does not understand it, for there is no consensual description to believe in regarding how the pure cognitive process of becoming aware of that sensory information works to turn it into a coherent whole—a story. In any case, no scientist doubts that the perceptual and cognitive process is the brain’s interpretation of physical signals coming from the external world.
According to the “cognitive sciences,” the brain is a biochemical machine capable of translating “reality” into consciousness and knowledge. What science still does not understand is the concept of “subject” or “self-awareness”—which, moreover, is quite surprising and somewhat disturbing, since that is precisely what the scientist himself identifies with, he who studies and develops cognitive science. The scientist believes that the story he tells himself, although perhaps incomplete, is true—that is, that the contents of that story have an existence independent of himself. You, though you may not be able to articulate a story as detailed and precise as his, also believe that: the world is real, you live in it, and you are something separate and apart from everything you perceive.
It is evident that this story has many dark spots, but it is also clear that you believe it wholeheartedly and organize your life according to that belief. By now, you are probably able to admit that the description of the world you believe you live in is a story. The question is: is it a true story?
Before answering this question, take a close look at how your mind works.
When you deeply question any story you tell yourself—especially one you still want to believe in—what you usually do is overlook, forget, or set aside any uncomfortable issue that might endanger its truthfulness, and you move on without further ado. That allows you to remain functional and operative within your belief system, but that voluntary forgetting creates in you an underlying and permanent unease, because in truth you are unable to face your lack of honesty. That is why you do not fully trust yourself; deep down you know that, when fear presses upon you, you are prone to lie, deceive, and deceive yourself. Only partial forgetfulness of your “sins” provides you some relief and allows you to carry on as if nothing had happened.The world you believe you live in is a purely formal story: it has no real content. Its content is also form; its content is not real. You have confused form with content; you believe that the content is the form the story describes, and now you think the content is real—but it is not. Perception is not cognitive, because through perception nothing is “known”: things are merely imagined and believed in. To grant reality to the content of perception is a whim of the ego. Forgiveness, however, is no whim: it is what a sane mind does when confronted with something empty of content. To forgive is the healthiest and most rational thing the mind can do in a world of illusions.
III Isaiah 1:18 “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’”
IV Realize that when you condemn something, someone, or yourself, you are telling yourself a story of guilt that you believe to be true. But is it true? You certainly insist that it is, and that you are right, and to that end you set your mind to elaborate a series of arguments to justify your indignation. And though you may not be very aware of it, that requires support from a complex and absolutely artificial moral construction to which you subject your thinking.
Wanting to be right is nothing but stubbornly insisting that the story you tell yourself is true. That is the epitome of arrogance, an expression of utter lack of honesty, the most flagrant proof that you are using your mind in a profoundly irrational way, and that you not only do not know—you do not even know that you do not know.
It is very important that you become fully aware that forgiveness feels good to you. You must forgive not only because what you see before you is not real; you forgive because every time you do, your heart rejoices and confirms that your mind has made the right decision. You do not need to involve yourself in complex ontological reasoning to determine the nature of what is real. Your heart will show you in a very simple way.
T-29.VII.1:9 “Would you rather be right or happy?”
V Understand that forgive comes from the Latin per donare. Donare means “to give,” and the prefix per indicates that the giving is done completely and in a permanent, final, and total way. You forgive and give the world you see because it is unreal and not for you; it does not belong to your holy mind, which is real. The proof that this is so is in your heart, which clearly tells you that your mind becomes indigestible when it holds onto the things of the world, because they do not sit well with it. Therefore, forgive the world—truly forgive it; give all your interpretations to the Holy Spirit so that He may purify them and return them to you with precise instructions on how to manage them.
VI You are not yet fully aware that you only relate to the contents of your own mind; you only relate to yourself. Yet you can test this statement and see whether it is true. Do so, and you will understand that it is. Do you not realize that when you condemn, accuse, and attack someone, it hurts you? How could that be possible unless what you are attacking is your very own self?
When you see someone doing something wrong from your point of view, do the following:
First, think that that person is you.
Second, if something is being done wrong, it is either out of ignorance or out of fear—and most often due to both. Ignorance is lack of light, and fear is lack of love. From this it follows, with perfect clarity, that what you must do there is provide the light and love that are missing—nothing more and nothing less.
Now ask for help in managing that provision of light and love that is required, do as you are guided, and do not forget that everything you do, you are doing to yourself. So you had better do it well.