God is the Love in which I forgive.
1. God does not forgive, because He has never condemned.
²And before forgiveness becomes necessary, there must have been condemnation.
³Forgiveness is the greatest need of this world, but that is because this is a world of illusions.
⁴Those who forgive are thus released from illusions; those who do not forgive are bound by them.I
⁵Just as you truly only condemn yourself, in the same way, you only forgive yourself.
2. Although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the foundation of forgiveness.
²Fear condemns, and Love forgives.II
³Forgiveness undoes what fear has made, and brings the mind back to the awareness of God.
⁴For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation.
⁵Forgiveness is the means by which illusions disappear.
3. Today’s exercises require at least three full five-minute sessions, along with as many shorter applications as possible.
²Begin the longer practice periods by silently repeating today’s idea, as usual.
³Close your eyes while doing so, and spend one or two minutes searching your mind for those you have not forgiven.
⁴It does not matter “how much” you have failed to forgive them.
⁵You have either forgiven them completely, or not at all.III
4. If you do the exercises properly, you should have no difficulty finding many people you have not forgiven.
²A helpful rule is to consider anyone you do not like as a suitable subject.
³Name each one specifically and say:
⁴God is the Love in which I forgive you, [name].
5. The purpose of the first part of the practice is to better prepare you to forgive yourself.IV
²After you have applied today’s idea to everyone who came to mind, say to yourself:
³God is the Love in which I forgive myself.
⁴Then spend the remainder of the practice adding related thoughts, such as:
⁵God is the Love with which I love myself.
⁶God is the Love in which I am blessed.
6. The form of these applications may vary considerably, but the central idea must not be lost.
²You might say, for example:
³I cannot be guilty because I am a Son of God.
⁴I have already been forgiven.
⁵It is not possible to hold fear in a mind that God loves.
⁶There is no need to attack, because Love has forgiven me.
⁷Do not forget that the practice should end by repeating today’s idea in its original form.
7. The shorter applications may simply consist of repeating the idea in its original form, or in a related form if you prefer, or through more specific applications when necessary.
²These specific applications will be needed any time during the day when you become aware of any kind of negative reaction toward someone, whether that person is present or not.
³In such cases, repeat silently:V
⁴God is the Love in which I forgive you.
I Matthew 16:19: “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
John 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
This is the key to forgiveness. When you forgive, you are telling yourself that it is not important, precisely because it is an illusion. Moreover, realize that this is not merely a mental process, for your heart also implores you, through its discomfort, to change your way of thinking.
Forgiveness is healing for your Soul; whenever you forgive, your Soul rejoices, and that is no fantasy, for you feel it in your whole being. Regaining your spiritual health also has repercussions on your body, which heals as well.
Remember that your body is nothing more than an idea in your mind about yourself, and when you force that idea to coexist with other poisonous ones of condemnation, it attunes itself to those malignant ideas and becomes ill.
Condemnation is the judgment that inevitably binds you to illusion—not so much because of its negative character, but because it makes illusion inescapably real to you. You only condemn what you consider certain and real.
This is the great spell of condemnation: granting reality to the illusory. In the same way, but in perfect opposition, the foundation of forgiveness is precisely the recognition that what is being considered is not real, and that is why it is forgiven, let go.
Who would linger with an illusion if he knew it to be one?
II This statement carries extraordinary light and tremendous liberating power.
If you become aware that every condemnatory judgment is, at its core, nothing but an expression of fear, you would not devote yourself so eagerly to your favorite activity: blaming.
Human beings blame with ease because, in condemning, they see themselves as most dignified judges in possession of truth. Yet if they became aware that in condemning they are, in fact, merely expressing their fear, they would be far more cautious in their judgments, for they would hardly find any dignity in being afraid.
III This, like virtually every declaration of this Course, is maximalist and true, in sharp contrast to the relativistic approaches of the world, founded on compromise.
Forgiveness is either total, or it is not forgiveness at all, because to forgive is to release, to let go—and this only occurs when the release is complete.
If you retain something, even in its mildest form, it remains fully with you. Failing to see this is like failing to understand why you are being electrocuted when you touch the electrical wire “just a little.”
Just as error implies separation from truth, forgiveness implies separation from error. And separation is an absolute concept: it either is, or it is not.
IV Today’s exercise is extraordinarily practical and effective, and if done wholeheartedly, it brings great release and healing. But to do it well requires absolute honesty. The way the proposal is formulated has little importance; what is essential is that there be a true willingness to forgive and to let go of past judgments.
V…and wholeheartedly: