Lesson 121

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.”

A great practical lesson for the day.

Okay, here we go:

“Think of someone you do not like, who seems to irritate you, or to cause regret in you if you should meet him; one who you actively despise, or merely try to overlook. If does not matter the form your anger takes. You probably have chosen him already. He will do.”

“Now close your eyes and see him in your mind, and look at him a while.”

Try to perceive some light in him somewhere, a little gleam which you had never noticed.

Try to find some little spark of brightness shining through the ugly picture that you hold of him.

Look at this picture till you see a light somewhere within it, and then try to let this light extend until it covers him, and makes the picture beautiful and good.

This is an awesome lesson. Most people merely tell a story about other people, gossip, complain, or simply ignore a person saying “they don’t get it” or “they’re not in the same space that I am in.”

A lot of relationships get broken off at this point.

A lot of grievances start here.

A lot of justification begins here.

But this lesson asks you to LOOK AT HIM. Look at the guy that irritates you. Include him/her in. Stop ignoring the person. Stop trying to correct or change him. Stop thinking you are doing something different/better from him.

That guy is your savior.

The one who pushes all your buttons, who is a total screw up, who says cruel things to you, who attacks you, who tells you you’re fat, ugly and worthless … that guy is your savior.

Your enemy is your savior.

Your forgiveness of him is your forgiveness of yourself and the world.

THIS is how healing is accomplished. It’s very simple.

Find the light in them. Look beyond their body. Look beyond the past story you’ve been telling. Be present. Come with NO ideas of who you think the person is, or their relationship to you. Just see them in your mind, and find the light, the spark, and let it cover them.

“Perceive him now as more than friend to you, for in that light his holiness shows you your savior, saved and saving, healed and whole.”

Then…..

“Then let him offer you the light you see in him, and let your “enemy” and friend unite in blessing you with what you gave.”

“Now are you one with them, and they with you.”

“Now, you have been forgiven by yourself.”

This lesson is so damn good.

It asks me to love all things.

Jesus asks me to love my neighbor, my enemy and God.

Love everyone and everything.

Let go of judgment.

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

It shows me that I’ve been wrong about everything. It shows me that all my grievances are false. All my stories are fiction, and that my brother is my friend and savior.

What a relief.