[acimlessons_list] Lesson 121 - May 1

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 121 - May 1

"Forgiveness is the key to happiness."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To learn to give forgiveness and see that, when you do, you receive
forgiveness.

Morning/evening practice: Two times, for ten minutes.

* Identify someone to forgive. Think of someone you dislike or despise or
find irritable or want to avoid. The one that has already come to your mind
will do.

* Close your eyes and see him in your mind, and look at him a while. Try to
find some little spark of light in your picture of him. You are looking for
some loving or true quality in him, or perhaps some kind thought or caring
gesture of his - some distant reflection of the light of God in him.
Everything hinges on this, so take your time. Once you find something, see
it symbolized as a tiny spark of light somewhere in your dark picture of
him. Then see this tiny spark slowly expand until it completely covers your
picture of him, replacing all the darkness with light. In other words, see
him only in light of this one loving quality or act. See this as the only
clue to who he really is. If you succeed, he will seem to be a holy person,
without a single flaw, radiating light. You might even imagine Great Rays
shining out from him. Now look at this changed picture a while. Appreciate
how lovely and spotless it is.

* Now think of someone you consider a friend. Try to transfer the light you
saw around your "enemy" to this friend. This makes the friend seem to be
much more than a friend. He is revealed to be your savior, with power to
enlighten you with just one glance of his holy eyes.

* Now let your savior offer you the light you gave to him. Then let your
former enemy unite with him, so that they both offer you this light. Why
wouldn't they give this holy gift to you, when you gave it to them, and
revealed your holiness in the process? See rays of forgiveness pouring off
of them and onto you, absolving you of your "sins," causing you to radiate
the same Great Rays that they do. See yourself at one with them, united in
the holy light of forgiveness that you have given and received. "Now have
you been forgiven by yourself" (13:3).

Frequent reminders: Every hour - do not forget.

Repeat, "Forgiveness is the key to happiness. I will awaken from the dream
that I am mortal, fallible and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of
God." To understand these lines, it helps to insert "through forgiveness" at
the beginning of the second sentence. Remember the old adage "To err is
human, to forgive divine"? Forgiveness is what proves to us that we are more
than human, that we are divine. 

One more point: If you are really going to say these lines every hour,
you'll need to either spend time memorizing them or have them written down
on a card.

COMMENTARY

The longer I study the Course the more this lesson makes sense. When I first
read it, it seemed unlikely to me that forgiveness was the key to happiness.
I could see it being a key but not the key. As the Course's explanation of
the root of our problems began to sink in, however, I began to see that in
one way or another, unforgiveness was behind every problem. Then it began to
make sense that forgiveness would solve them all.
Look at the litany of ills that comprise this description of "the
unforgiving mind" (2:1 - 5:5):

  *  Fear 

  *  A cramped, constricted mindset that offers no room for love to grow and
thrive 

  *  Sadness, suffering, doubt, confusion, anger 

  *  The pairs of conflicting fears; the one that speaks to me most 
    eloquently is "afraid of every sound, yet more afraid of stillness"
(3:1)

  *  The distortion of perception that results from unforgiveness,
    making us unable to see mistakes as what they are, and perceiving sins
instead

  * Babbling terror of our own projections (4:2)

I recognize myself, or at least memories of myself, in so many of these
phrases: "It wants to live, yet wishes it were dead. It wants forgiveness,
yet it sees no hope" (4:3 - 4). I've felt like that. These paragraphs
describe us all. I think that if someone does not recognize themselves
somewhere in here, they are not being honest with themselves. And the most
awful thought of all is this one: "It thinks it cannot change" (5:3). Hasn't
that fear struck at your own heart at one time or another? I know it has
struck at mine.

When we admit to ourselves that these descriptions fit us, that we find
ourselves in one or another of these states of mind, the very word
"forgiveness" sounds like an oasis in the Sahara. Cool, soothing and
refreshing. As we were told in Lesson 79, we have to recognize the problem
before we realize what the solution really is.

"Forgiveness is acquired. It is not inherent in the mind" (6:1 - 2). This
states a fundamental principle that explains much of the methodology of the
Course, and explains why some sort of transition is necessary between where
we think we are and where we already are in truth. If we are already
perfect, as God created us, why do we have to learn anything at all? Because
the solution to the problem of guilt is forgiveness, and forgiveness was not
part of our mind as God created it. There was no need for it. Without a
thought of sin the concept of forgiveness is meaningless. Because we taught
ourselves the idea of sin, now we must be taught the antidote, forgiveness.
Forgiveness has to be acquired.

But the unforgiving mind cannot teach itself forgiveness. It believes in the
reality of sin, and with that as a basis, forgiveness is impossible.
Everything it perceives in the world proves that "all its sins are real"
(3:3). Caught in unforgiveness, we are convinced of the correctness of our
perception of things. We do not question it. From that perspective there is
no way our minds can even conceive of true forgiveness. This is why we need
the Holy Spirit: "a Teacher other than yourself, Who represents the other
Self in you" (6:3). There has to be a "higher Power" Who represents a
different frame of mind. The source of our redemption has to be outside of
the ego mindset, apart from it, untainted by it. And so He is.

He teaches us to forgive, and through forgiveness, our mind is returned to
our Self, "Who can never sin" (6:5). Each person "outside" of us, each
representative of that unforgiving mind crowd, "presents you with an
opportunity to teach your own [mind] how to forgive itself" (7:1). Our
brothers and sisters, manifesting their egos, full of the fear, pain,
turmoil, and confusion of the world, snapping at us in their terror, are our
saviors. In forgiving them we forgive ourselves in proxy. As we teach
salvation we learn it. As we release others from hell, we release ourselves.
As we give, we receive.

This is what the Course is all about. As we practice today, let's realize
that we are engaging in the central exercise of the Course; we are learning
"the key to happiness." And let's not think we already know forgiveness; let
us come with humility, ready to be taught by One Who knows.