Forgive and be free! Forgive them for what they did or didn’t do! Exclude no one from the blessing of your forgiveness, including your Self. Forgive your 4th grade teacher, the co-worker who betrayed you, the military, parents, siblings, all relatives, enemies and friends! And whoever it was who scratched your car and forgot to leave a note. Right now as you read this, close your eyes and imagine that all is forgiven, the past, current issues and fears projected into the future! The power to change your mind i.e. what to think or how to think about something is up to you. That is where your true power lies. We have been brainwashed by parents, society, governments with laws but forgiveness, the release of judgment, is the trump card, your creative choice!
We live in a dualistic world: good and bad, hot and cold, short and tall, young and old, etc. We also have a split mind with two thought systems. We can listen to the ego or the voice of Love. YOU, the Decision Maker decides which system to follow. Choose the Christ mind, (Spirit, Source, God, Allah, Yahweh or Creator,) Love or the ego’s voice of fear, judgment, guilt and envy. Watch your mind to see these thought systems. For stress, choose the ego’s fear, pain, guilt and hate. For peace, choose the thoughts of forgiveness, equality, compassion, non-judgment and kindness. To tell which mind you are listening to ask yourself: How do I feel? A forgiveness thought brings a soothing balm. A blaming, judgmental thought brings guilt and fear of attack. The ego thought system is designed to keep the misery, disharmony and attack going. It can also make you sick, literally!
The purpose of the world is forgiveness! Forgiveness is our function over and above marriage, career, family etc. It brings inner peace. When you are upset there is something to forgive. We can be hurt by nothing but our thoughts and we can change all thoughts that hurt. For example: Someone at work really bugs you, he/she is a loud mouth, controlling, conniving busy body. Ask the voice for Love/Spirit in your mind: How can I see this differently? Then wait. A thought will come, maybe in the next few minutes, hour or even later but hang tight! Keep asking. If asked, the ego mind will bring up an attack or get even thought. The thought that brings a feeling of release and peace is the voice for love within your mind. Forgiveness sets in. Sometimes this has to be repeated because the ego is resistant. When we can see a person or situation differently, we understand that it was just a mistake; we had a lesson to learn about our perceptions, expectations and or projections. A projection is a judgment that we project out, onto someone else in order not to recognize it in ourselves. Like disliking someone who constantly interrupts when we in fact do the same thing but no one tells us!
How freeing to have a mind at rest! When tenseness, headache or worry sets in there is something to forgive. Forgive, release and laugh at it! Remember, your true identity is Spirit, eternal, residing in Oneness and Loved. So is everyone. How can the eternal be hurt? The only thing that seems to hurt is the ego and the ego is not who you are! It is false and has a loud shrill voice. Don’t listen to it. Choose the decision making mind and listen to Spirit, the eternal that is in you. Forgiveness enters and heals all wounds, judgments and grievances. We all have had painful experiences that seem beyond the forgiveness factor. The question is: How long do you want to hold onto the pain? We have a high tolerance for pain. It will last as long as you withhold forgiveness. Be pain free in 2010 and forgive everyone for everything!
Sally McKirgan, A Course In Miracles student, artist and poet lives in Ashland, Oregon.
Don’t Blame God!
Do you often wonder where the term an “Act of God” came from? It probably originated in ancient times when The Gods were blamed for everything. It put some “order” on chaos in order to explain the unexplainable. When disaster happens like a tsunami, earthquake, hurricanes, horrible accidents, disease and death, there is no reasonable explanation so God takes the hit. We blame God for the misery of the world. Psychologically we very neatly do what Sigmund Freud defined as projection: we see something we cannot accept in ourselves so we project it out (onto someone else) in order to get rid of it. That is what we do to God or anyone we blame for some unrest. Throughout the ages we have collectively projected our dark side out there and onto anyone and especially God, because we cannot tolerate it within. We deceive ourselves into thinking the problem is with someone else rather than in our own thinking. Poor old God takes the hit.
We have Free Will so we can think or do anything we want; however, we are miserable and bereft of comfort for we have thrown our comfort away. Like the baby, God went out with the bath water! In projecting “hateful old man” on God we are fearful. We think he is out to get us with his lightning bolt. Ask yourself if blaming God for misery is worth throwing love away. God cannot represent both love and fear. That is like mixing oil and water. God is one or the other. God does not control your life or your thinking….you do – remember free will? What you think is up to you. Give up blaming chaos on God or you will deprive yourself of Love. Remember your thoughts are not always true!
If God is LOVE as many spiritual traditions believe the Creator to be, then surely such an energy could never even conceive of creating evil or malice. A Loving God would never create wars, torture, havoc, birth defects, disease, death or natural disasters.
Speaking of natural disasters, Insurance companies need to stop using the term “an act of God” in their policies. Scientists tell us that global warming is the cause for more intense hurricanes, stronger storms and the shift in world weather patterns. Did God create global warming? Nope, you and I did and still do.
There is no doubt about it God is a great mystery. If there are a zillion people on the planet, we will have a zillion different concepts or ideas of what this mystery might be. But for the time being and until we can agree, let’s stop calling it an Act of God and take God out of the misery producing business. Let’s rid ourselves of the old worn out concept that God is a paranoid schizophrenic, maniacal invisible being, bent on our destruction. That concept has been engrained into our thinking over the Centuries by our very own ego – not God’s.
When you enter the beautiful solid glass doors at SOU, Schneider Museum of Art, in Ashland, Oregon, look down, and you will see these words engraved on a large granite stone: “Art is a Gift from God.”
If Art is a gift, then it would be through our gift of creativity that we could find evidence of God. This means the creative process which has come down over the millennia includes your creativity and the gifts you bring forth. Everyone is creative! What do we do with gifts? We share them with the world. We are born creative. We sing, dance, paint, draw, drum, count, create music, songs, symphonies, write books, plays, poetry, hold a hand, design buildings, bridges, houses, cars, trucks, motorcycles, tricycles, airplanes, wagons and E=mc2 … all gifts to be shared with the world.
Creativity includes Compassion, Trust, Tolerance, Joy, Generosity, Faithfulness, Honesty, Gentleness, Patience, Open Mindedness, Mercy, Kindness and Goodness. Next time you think “Act of God” visit a museum or create something and remember God is in the business of Love, so do something you Love and you will be closer to God! An Act of God then is something that comes from Love flowing through you and the act is in letting it out! You are the Actor!
– Sally McKirgan, July 15, 2009