ACIM Workbook Lesson 249 Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss. In this lesson, we learn that through forgiveness the world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving.
Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss.
1. Forgiveness paints a picture of a world where suffering is over, loss becomes impossible and anger makes no sense. ²Attack is gone, and madness has an end. ³What suffering is now conceivable? ⁴What loss can be sustained? ⁵The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. ⁶It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. ⁷And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.
2. Father, we would return our minds to You. ²We have betrayed them, held them in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. ³Now would we rest again in You, as You created us.
Forgiving My Thoughts
I was talking with a group today about forgiveness. What I have discovered about forgiveness is that it is always about forgiving my thoughts. For instance, in reading the news, I might have the thought that what we need is more compassion in the world. This is, in effect, saying that some people are guilty of not acting in a compassionate way. I would be saying that I have a grievance against these people and this is an attack on them. It is an attack even if the thought never becomes verbal and even if it is not directed against a particular person.
What I would do about that if it were the thought in my mind is to withdraw it from where I think I see it, and look for it in my own mind. Have I ever acted without compassion? Well, clearly, it would be that I was not being compassionate of these people I read about. They are doing the best they can right now from the perspective of their present beliefs. They need and deserve my compassion for where they are. If I am not feeling compassion, and certainly I am not if I am judging them, then I can forgive my thoughts about this and forgive the idea that they must change in order for me to be at peace.
Idle Wishes and Grievances
You may remember that in Lesson 73, Jesus said this. 2. Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world you see. ²The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego’s need for grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures that seem to attack you and call for “righteous” judgment. ³These figures become the middlemen the ego employs to traffic in grievances. ⁴They stand between your awareness and your brothers’ reality. ⁵Beholding them, you do not know your brothers or your Self.
3. Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is traded back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange.
I am ready to stop bartering guilt. I am ready to end all suffering and loss through forgiveness. There is no judgment, no attack thought, no grievance that is so important to me that I would trade my happiness and my peace of mind so that I could keep it. Sure, they come into my mind as idle wishes but I remember that, in reality, there are no idle wishes. All thoughts produce form at some level, so as soon as I notice one, I forgive it. I am so grateful for the healing power of forgiveness. It has changed my experience of this life.
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