Forgiveness

Many people struggle with the concept of forgiveness, whether to forgive themselves or others for the transgressions of the past. The very thought of even contemplating forgiveness is sometimes enough to trigger an emotional reaction. This can be further stoked by feelings of resentment, vengeance and a yearning for justice so that the actions of the perpetrators are brought to light.

An extreme example (but one that is more common than is reported) is of someone sexually abused by an authority figure who was once trusted and respected. The trauma of such an experience is retained deeply within the emotional body as an energetic reproduction of what happened. And it’s the same with any other type of shock that radically changes the life and takes away something that once had been cherished. The feeling is often that they can never forgive the person, group, country or regime for what they did. And yet it’s impossible to be free while anything or anyone is held as a psychological prisoner within the subconscious. Emotional pain and suffering lives off the vitality of the body which is the natural state of being within all life forms on the planet.

What happens inwardly is that the emotion of the pain becomes an anchor for the mind to focus upon. In time, the attachment to the excitation generated from the feeling self becomes an integral part of the person and influences how they respond to their worldly circumstances. As someone becomes more conscious of the workings of the inner self, the energy normally dissipated through an unconscious way of life is harnessed. This exposes more of what had previously been obscured by the emotional cladding of the self. At this stage, it will be important to avoid any self-judgment, despite the intensity of the emotions that may now be surfacing. By remaining still and surrounding the emotion with the loving presence of the inner being, the grip of the past traumas begin to weaken and eventually dissolve, leaving no trace of animosity or fear.

At a certain threshold of self-knowledge what is revealed is that this is not a personal life but life as a unity of the creative principle living through each of us. Until this is realised, the person will be vulnerable to the vacillations of their emotional self. There’s no provision for forgiveness in nature for the often savage and ruthless actions of the creatures of the wild. What transpires instead is an unwavering justice which ensures that eventually the predator becomes the prey, and so forth in the great harmonious cycle of life and death. In human affairs, the same unswerving justice has been supplanted by a judicial system at odds with the one good or universal law of life. With very few of the earth’s population responsible for life every moment in the present, the human race has had to resort to judge people for what happened in the past. This creates the agitation of mind, from which the need to forgive and be forgiven arises – and the never ending world of compromise, confusion and fear.

Could it be that, in truth, there’s nothing to forgive, regardless of what’s happened since the time of birth? Because when I, whoever I am, realise that I alone am responsible for all the circumstances in my life, who or what is left to forgive? Through observing my own emotional reactions to life, I become more knowledgeable as to why people often do the hurtful and cruel things they do. I see that even those who apparently ‘wronged’ me served in some way to disabuse me of my former ignorance. It may be necessary to take action to bring some matter to light, which may involve legal proceedings; but it’s not necessary to hold another captive within as an emotional prisoner. To perceive this truth is to be it, and to live it as the very essence of the being negates the need to forgive or be forgiven. For life is good now, and to stay with this is to never leave the point of existence: the guiding divine light within us all.