A Course in Miracles is an intellectually sophisticated book that blends spiritual inspiration with deep psychological understanding. One of its core concepts is forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the process of letting go of our psychological investment in this world and exchanging it for the Holy Spirit’s reality. Let’s take a look at the first step of the process: forgetting everything that you would remember.
The Origin of the Problem
During a period of deep personal crisis in her life, Helen Schucman began to hear an inner voice. At first, she was horrified. But soon, she realized that this was no ordinary voice. It was the voice of Jesus speaking to her through the words that later became A Course in Miracles.
The Course has two parts: a Text Book, which provides the spiritual, metaphysical and psychological background, and a Workbook, consisting of 365 lessons to be read and practiced daily. The Workbook lessons are self-explanatory, and most of them require only a brief reading and brief practice periods.
One of the main complaints that comes up against the teachings of the Course is that it doesn't tell you how to forgive. But this is a serious misreading of the teachings.
The Decision to Forgive
Forgiveness requires a willingness to let go of negative emotions, whether they involve the person who wronged you or your own reactions to him. Forgiving someone also means accepting that he did the best he could with his limited resources and abilities. In the case of a serious offense, that may include understanding that his actions were out of his control. It might be necessary to avoid contact altogether. This type of forgiveness is often referred to as “heroic” or “ultra-forgiveness.” acim podcast
Those who are willing to forgive can benefit from its positive effects on their emotional and mental health. It can help them feel more connected and compassionate toward others, even those who have wronged them. It can also improve relationships, including the one with yourself.
The key to forgiveness is to make it a conscious choice. It’s important to understand that forgiving doesn’t mean resuming the relationship or even picking it up again. In fact, you might never have that same relationship. In some cases, you might not even know the person who has wronged you.
A Course in Miracles is a spiritual teaching that teaches forgiveness and other spiritual principles. It uses Christian terminology but is ecumenical in nature. It describes itself as a restatement of the core wisdom found in every religion.
Many people struggle to forgive. They find it difficult to release their anger, bitterness and feelings of betrayal. They may not want to let go of their resentment and hostility even when loved ones urge them to do so. This is because forgiveness is an internal process, not something you can do for others.
You must decide to forgive on your own, in your own time and in your own way. You can choose to meditate on the text of the course, or use an affirmation to help you release your negative emotions and replace them with love. You might write about your decision to forgive in a journal or tell someone else about it.
The first part of the book, the Text Book, provides a theoretical basis for the second part of the course, the Student Workbook. The Workbook contains 365 lessons, one for each day of the year. It is designed to be read and practiced daily, but it can be used at any time.
The Experience of Forgiveness
Some people struggle to forgive those who have hurt them. Their feelings of anger, betrayal, and pain can be very strong. In these cases, it might be helpful to seek professional help and/or to practice forgiveness exercises on a regular basis. Research has shown that forgiveness training can reduce emotional stress and improve psychological and physiological well-being.
One of the main reasons for this is that forgiveness reduces reactivity and increases compassion, which can help lower blood pressure, reduce heart rate, and decrease activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Practicing forgiveness also helps you to learn to release the belief that others cause your problems, and instead recognize that your own thoughts create your reality.
When you forgive, you let go of the ego's version of events and replace it with Holy Spirit's vision of love and unity. It is this new perspective that will allow you to let go of the need for revenge and punishment.
Many of us will not be faced with forgiving such a catastrophic offense as the murder of a loved one. Nevertheless, most of us can learn to become more forgiving by practicing forgiveness in our daily lives. Forgiveness of small upsets can also offer fertile ground for healing family relationships.
There are a number of different models of forgiveness, with some focusing on the forgiveness of the wrongdoer, and other focusing on the forgiveness of self or others. Forgiveness practices have been found to increase positive emotions, boost the immune system, and provide protection against future negative experiences.
Regardless of which model is chosen, it is important to remember that forgiveness is always your choice. Ego forgiveness tries to undo things that it has made real, while Holy Spirit's forgiveness permanently overlooks errors because He knows they are not real. This is why it is so important to keep your focus on the true goal of forgiveness, which is transforming the false beliefs and perceptions of the ego into the truth of God's Reality. Forgiveness is the way to freedom. Eventually, it will become your natural state of being.
The Reaction to Forgiveness
Many people find it hard to forgive someone for something they've done. This is because the person may have caused them real pain and discomfort. However, if they hold onto this pain they will never find peace and hope for the future. Forgiveness is a process that allows you to let go of those negative feelings and move on.
Forgiveness is often a difficult process and requires practice. This is why it is important to seek guidance from a spiritual teacher who can help you with the forgiveness process. In addition to finding a teacher, there are a number of books and websites that provide forgiveness meditations and other tools that can help you on your forgiveness journey.
One major contemporary critic of the standard view that forgiveness has positive moral status is John Kekes (2009), who holds that it is not permissible to forgive unless it entails "giving up the judgment that you have been a victim of undeserved, unjustified and non-trivial harm." Kekes's argument has two important flaws. First, it assumes that resentment is a morally problematic attitude in its own right and that resentment is at the core of blame. Second, it overlooks the fact that forgiveness can also entail excusing wrongdoing, a process that is not morally suspect as long as disapproval of the wrongdoer's action and character remain (see Pettigrove 2012: 6-7).
On some accounts of forgiveness, the overcoming or forswearing of angry reactive attitudes characteristic of it must be rooted in and expressive of certain virtues such as magnanimity or sympathy. These views are sometimes referred to as virtue-based, as opposed to duty-based, approaches to forgiveness (see Roberts 1995).
A few clarifications are in order here. For one thing, defenders of performative forgiveness need not think that the statement "I forgive you" possesses only one kind of illocutionary force. It can function as behabitive, commissive, and declarative, among others (Warmke 2016b). The point is simply that the act itself can be construed in several different ways, depending on how it is performed. In this way, the performative account is not implausible.