…meeting ground between our humanity and divinity…

Have you heard of the supposedly miraculous powers of forgiveness?

If you’ve been around the block in the expansive scene of eclectic spiritual ideas and teachings, most likely you have.

Whether as a concept that’s been bandied about, in hands-on application of the ubiquitously popular Ho’oponopono prayer or other practices, forgiveness has been widely recognized as a key component on a committed path to comprehensive healing and peace.

While I realize this sounds rather high-minded and idealistic, I honestly believe our current world stage needs nothing so much as true Forgiveness and Compassion to help us all awaken out of our collective and individual nightmares and move on to brighter days. Or dreams.

But how and why does something as simple as forgiving work such miracles?

If you’re curious, follow along as I explore a few of my many meandering thoughts around this topic and how it relates to and interconnects with just about everything else that matters to me - Love, Surrender, Acceptance, Transcendence, Quantum Leaps, Time-line Shifts, Compassion, “Ascension”, you name it. (Maybe even tea. I’ll have to contemplate that one…)

Before we get all wrapped up in the How’s though, I think I need to elaborate a little on my idea of Forgiveness to avoid confusion with what often passes as our common understanding of that term.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

Let me start by looking at what my definition of True Forgiveness is NOT:

**Forgiveness is not a show of superiority over a wayward, errand soul;**

**it is not a finger of blame, pointed and magnanimously retracted in an act of goodwill or naïveté;**

**it most definitely is not a carte blanche of consent for continued abuse and mis-alignment,**

nor is it a means of saving another from their own foolishness and mistakes.

Rather, I see Forgiveness as an interface between Divinity and Humanity; it may just be our fastest route to consciously returning to a sense of Wholeness, Healing and Unity.

But in order to practice that kind of Forgiveness, we must first be willing to take 100% responsibility for our own experiences. All of them!

THE BACKBONE OF TRUE FORGIVENESS IS FULL RESPONSIBILITY.

As you may know if you’ve been following my posts, I am a big fan of Swiss Psychoanalyst and Mystic, Carl Jung, whose impressive life work would seem to back me up on this point when he says:

“Projection [of our own Shadow] makes the whole world a replica of our own, unknown self.”
and
“Unless you face your own shadows you will continue to see them in others, because the world outside of you is only a reflection of the world inside you.”

Jung’s pioneering work related to our inner “Shadow”, the Collective Unconscious and projection of our unconscious beliefs out onto the movie-screen we call the world presents a psychological interpretation of ancient spiritual wisdom traditions as well as modern Quantum Physics.

All of the above share the premise that we create our own version of “reality” by the power of our (mostly unconscious) collective and personal thoughts, beliefs and emotions. Some traditions refer to this so called “reality” as a mere dream.

Any shape and form “reality” takes as witnessed through our senses collapses back into pure potentiality when there is nobody there to observe it.

Or, in Einstein’s famous words:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

Stretch with me a little - outside the comfort zone of our habitual way of thinking; if we accept the old wisdom of the ages, the relatively new findings of western science and the brilliant explorations into the (fascinatingly convoluted) human psyche pioneered by Freud and Jung, we will have to come to the conclusion that this includes everything and everyone showing up in our personal experience.

World news. People. Relationships. Circumstances. Events and happenings. All called into our field of awareness because of the attractive force of the thoughts and vibrations we send out into the world.

As uncomfortable as such a viewpoint may be, there is enormous power in embracing and owning it.

When we are willing to take 100% responsibility for creating our reality, we take back the power to change it. All of it.

Big claim?

I know. I didn’t make it up though. I am merely one of the many seekers reclaiming this knowingness to shift and “heal” the world - my own, personal world. Because that’s the only world there is…

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Before I take a tentative dive down that particular rabbit hole, let me first get back to what any of this has to do with Forgiveness as I understand it.

If I accept that I am the one creating every experience in my life, and if I understand that how people show up for me is a pure reflection of what I have first projected unto them…then there really isn’t anyone out there to forgive - except myself. There really isn’t any “out there”, either.

Oops.

Feel free to read that one again.

I am the creator and the center of my own universe - I project and manifest everything and everyone who makes an appearance in it. You play the role I assign to you - and as the playwright of my own creation, I am the only one who needs to be forgiven if I don’t like what I experience…

But - who is the “I” in all of this?

My current focus of consciousness.

If “I” shift my focus to a different frequency of thinking and feeling, “I” will now perceive and inhabit an alternate “time-line”, a subtly or starkly different version of my previous reality.

“You” may still be in my reality - but it’s a different version of “you”, matching the vibration of my current universe…or screenplay. Because “you” don’t exist in my world except as the version of you “I” project onto “you”…

“But wait a minute”, you may say - “am I not entitled to my own creation, my own universe?” Off course you are. But now…you are the “I” - the point of perception, the center of the universe. And since “you” are here, reading “my” words, “I” am now a figment of “your” imagination, a player in “your” script…

Convoluted, I know - but also fun to think about, isn’t it? Just a different perspective of our human humdrum and conundrums.

Parallel universes, timeline jumps, past lives, future lives, multidimensional realms, quantum leaps…we are rapidly realizing that many of the entertainingly outrageous storylines of science-fiction are, in actuality, true science-faction…

Just like different radio-stations or TV channels inhabiting the different wavelengths on a spectrum of frequencies all around us - FM, AM, shortwave, what have you - we can tune in to different “channels” of “reality”…at will, if we know how to.

These “channels” represent a full range of potential choice-points in various versions of the life/self we are currently focused on, as well as so-called past-lives, future-lives, alternate or parallel realities, different universes, inter-planetary incarnations…you name it, you pick your show.

HOW DOES FORGIVENESS HEAL?

Just as fascinating and factual as our unfolding scientific discoveries, are the many claims of the healing power of True Forgiveness.

With the increasing popularity of the modern, shortened version of an ancient Hawaiian healing ceremony - the Ho’oponopono prayer - miracle stories espousing the power of Forgiveness abound.

Perhaps one of the most noted is the experience of Dr. Hew Len, who “healed” and transformed a whole high security ward of violent, mentally disturbed convicts by the mere power of this prayer;

all he did, for weeks and months, was to continuously forgive himself for any and all feelings, thoughts, judgments and emotions arising within him as he read the severe criminal case files of the patients - murderers, rapists and all - without ever seeing any of them in person.

Within a short amount of time, the chronic violence ceased, staff stopped taking sick leave, prison conditions improved drastically for inmates and staff alike, inmates were being released and within a couple of years, the whole ward was shut down for lack of need.

Dr. Hew Len, along with Dr. Joe Vitale, continued spreading the teachings of Ho’oponopono - I highly recommend searching for and trying it for yourself.

One word of caution from personal experience however - once you start committing yourself to this work, it’s like taking the stopper out of a long bottled up pressure cooker - stuff you had no idea you were sitting on will keep coming up to the surface for healing!

Which is great - that’s what we want and need - and …it can also be rather intense and uncomfortable to begin with. In this, Forgiveness is just like any other potent healing method apt to induce a herxheimer reaction before cleansing becomes obvious…just perhaps even more potent, since we are getting right to the heart of all our unconscious undertow…

So - why does forgiving ourselves have the potential to heal, not just ourselves and our lives, but the circumstances and conditions of others around us? How does this work???

And - what exactly am I forgiving myself for??

These questions are very much interrelated.

I am forgiving myself for falling prey to the illusion of separation. For forgetting that I am Love, that I am Spirit - part of and one with All That Is.

In forgiving myself, I remember my Self. I remember how much I am loved by Spirit. I remember my Wholeness, my Perfection.
As I remember my Wholeness, my Inner Being of Love, I remember it for everyone and everything in my life, since they are “merely” an extension and projection of me.
As I choose Love over strife, Connection over separation, I am raising my frequency.
As I raise my frequency, I am shifting from one timeline of denser emotions to another, reflecting a higher potential of me; this choice-point is opening into a parallel universe that may look similar to my old experience in many ways, yet attracts different, higher vibrational interactions, experiences and relationships into my life.

Everyone else showing up in this version of my timeline will be a more healed, higher vibrational version of themselves - if you smile at your mirror, your reflection smiles right back at ya.

These shifts and changes can be instantaneous - for in “reality” (whatever that is), time does not exist, linear progression does not exist. Hence the experience of a “Quantum Leap”, or “Timeline Jump”…or of spontaneous “miracle” healing…

Everything is always happening in the NOW moment. We are merely living out a memory of something we choose to focus our attention on. The wave, once observed, becomes a particle; pure potential shakes out into form.

Time is only a vehicle, accommodating our need to embrace new truths and ways of being slowly, lest our sense of “self” and “reality” be too rattled and jarred by too many occurrences of spontaneous miracles in action.

Every time I remember myself as pure Love, I am fully healed, the world and everyone in it is fully healed, brought back to Wholeness. This moment of Being Love, though it may appear as only a fraction of a second in our linear experience, is naturally eternal.

In truth, nothing and nobody is healed, nor do we ever need healing. It’s the Remembrance of our Essential Nature that returns us back to Holiness, which - in truth - we never once left, except in our “thoughts”.

Such is the Healing Power of True Forgiveness!

TRUE FORGIVENESS IS ALWAYS MARRIED TO DIVINE SURRENDER - THEIR UNION CREATES MIRACLE-MINDEDNESS

While the Ho’oponopono prayer and Forgiveness can be and have been used to consciously improve our lives, situations and relationships, it is vital to be fully aware of our intentions and motives behind it all - which part of us is making this decision for change?

Yes, the power of Forgiveness can absolutely bring about positive change, even Miracles!

But only if and when it is coupled with Divine Surrender!

What do I mean by this?

I am saying that this True Forgiveness I am talking about is intrinsically interconnected with a full surrendering to Divine Will; a letting go of our ego-attachment to outcome.

Our egos may think they want a certain thing, person or result; but could they possibly know what’s in our best interest?

If I desperately want to manifest a relationship with a particular person, or a certain job or situation, convinced they are the only route to my happiness and success, …which part of me is craving to create this?

Certainly an aspect grounded in old wounds of lack mentality and fear. Which, vibrationally speaking, is leagues out of alignment with the Divine Spark within each one of us where Miracles are born.

In other words, yes, I could potentially manifest something amazing with sheer tenacity and focus of my will; more likely than not, however, I may come to find out sooner or later that this creation is not what I had hoped it would be. And so, the wild goose chase for what passes as happiness and love and abundance continues.

When I use the term Miracles, however, I am talking about a true, life and mind-altering shift in consciousness.

Miracle-Mindedness is the natural offspring of the coupling of Forgiveness with Surrender to Divine Will.

Miracle-Mindedness is the return Home to our place of Remembrance of our Divine Essence of Love and Perfection.

When we truly accept and know everything to be wholly perfect just the way it is; when we are radiantly in Love with Life in all its manifestations; when we have let go of artificial meaning and judgments of “good or bad”, “better or worse” - that is when we are in alignment with true Miracles.

What these Miracles look like, when and how and if they show up in our lives, is no longer of any concern - because we are already truly and wholly happy and fulfilled, right here, right now.

THE GIST OF IT ALL:

In the end, none of this conceptualizing and theoreticizing really makes any difference.

But it sure is entertaining, and our logical minds like to have something to toss around and hang a proverbial hat on. In this, it may help a bit to get a certain sense of what we are angling at.

It may help us drop some defenses and settle in to a deeper part of Self, where a Holy Ghost of a memory still lives on within us. I love being haunted by this Ghost!

I know I talk a lot about our Shadow Self and the importance of becoming aware of and healing our deeply hidden wounds. And I stand by that - it’s these wounds that create the stories that dictate and direct our life’s script, these shadows we project out into the world.

Without a certain amount of awareness of this, we are mostly stuck in unconscious patterns, reactivity and inauthentic, unfulfilled versions of self and life.

With conscious awareness, we have a choice.

It’s this choice that gives us back the power we thought we lost. The power to choose our TV channel, our Radio Station, to switch between channels, or to dial in high enough to where we go beyond the individual wavelengths back to their very Source.

And yet, at the end of the day - the stories don’t matter. The particular nature of our illusions don’t matter.

What matters is that we recognize we are buying in to an illusion, reacting from a wounded part of self - therefore perpetuating the illusion and making it real.

All that’s needed is Forgiveness and choosing again, choosing Love and Holiness, if even for just a second. And then choosing again, forgiving again, when our old patterns catch up with us once more. Because they will. This is a human game of polarity we are playing down here, after all.

By and by, in our experience of time, the wounds - bathed in Love - heal. The reactive patterns lessen, then cease. The world within and all around us changes, reflecting the Peace of non-judgmental Love.

Peace on earth starts with each and every one of us. How often have we heard or even said this? Now we know why this wise saying is so true.

Now we have our intellectual permission-slip to go and have fun with it.

So, by all means - do hold an intention to become a happier, healthier version of you. Do call in Love and loving relationships, Abundance and the life of your dreams.

Do forgive yourself fully anytime you find yourself doubting your ability to have all of the above, anytime you catch yourself believing in limitations, or judging yourself and others for anything at all.

And then - let go of the why’s and how’s and when’s and if’s.

That’s not for us to decide or manifest. That part is better left up to Spirit in Its infinite Wisdom and limitless Power to Create from the Infinite Field of Pure Potentiality.

Anything else is just a dream - let’s practice being the lucid dreamers!

The Healing Power of Forgiveness