If truly forgiving one person leads to salvation for all, why are we still here? Q #1007: In Lesson 108 of A Course in Miracles , it is stated that, To forgive one brother wholly is enough to bring salvation to all minds. Yet Jesus wholly forgave the entire brotherhood and this did not bring salvation to all minds. He frequently insists that we are one with him, can do what he did, etc. Yet, apparently, one of us, not Jesus, must be the one who wholly forgives at least one brother. Am I looking at this correctly? A: No, you are not quite looking at this correctly. The title of Lesson 108 is, To give and to receive are one in truth. This is a statement that makes no sense from the egos perspective, which is that we are separate beings (i.e. bodies) with separate interests. The ego tells us that our very survival depends on taking what we need at someone elses expense. For example, if I am hungry and there is not enough food, I need to find a way to feed myself. If you are there and are hungry too, I have to make sure that it is my body and not yours that receives whatever limited nourishment is available. In other words, I have it only if I keep it. If I give it to you, I lose it. As long as we believe that we are bodies and that this world is real, that dynamic appears to be true. But Jesus knows we are not bodies. We are not even separate minds. We are the one mind of Gods One Son, dreaming we could be separate from our Source and from each other. So, in reality (because we are mind and not a body), we cannot really give anything away. What we give, we keep. The reflection of this within this dream world is that when we think hateful, angry, or fearful thoughts about another, we are filled with hate, anger, or fear. When we think loving thoughts about another, we feel love. This is the perspective Jesus is coming from when he states, One thought, completely unified, will serve to unify all thought. This is the same as saying one correction will suffice for all correction, or that to forgive one brother wholly is enough to bring salvation to all minds (W.pI.108.5:1,2) . What he means is that one thought of total forgiveness will forgive everyone in our mind . This is so because true forgiveness means forgiving a brother for what he has not done to us -- recognizing that we merely imagined that anothers actions could take away our peace. And if we truly recognize this fact in relation to one person, we have to realize that it must be true for everyone -- no one can hurt us because no one has the power to deprive us of the peace of God. Thus, within our mind, we will have brought salvation to all minds. This is, in fact, all we need to worry about because, in truth, there is no one -- and, indeed, no world -- outside our mind. The Course is not saying that one of us needs to forgive a brother in order to change the world. It is telling you that by completely forgiving one brother, you can entirely change your experience of the world. And in this way, you can remember that salvation is already there for you, in your mind, should you choose it. When, like Jesus, we have learned to let the Holy Spirit (the memory of Gods Love) become our only internal Voice, we will become a consistent reflection of love and forgiveness within this dream. This could serve as a reminder to others that none of their imagined sins have had any effect on reality and that salvation is already theirs if they choose to experience it. But when, if, and how they make that choice need not concern us. facimoutreach.org/qa/questions/questions205.htm#Q1007
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 13:48:27 +0000
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