Return to love

"Traditionally, we think of forgiveness as something we are to do when we see guilt in someone.

In the Course, however, we’re taught that it’s our function to remember that there is no guilt in anyone,

because only love is real. It is our function to see through the illusion of guilt, to the innocence that

lies beyond. “To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and

those that were given you. All the rest must be forgotten.” We are asked to extend our perception

beyond the errors that our physical perceptions reveal to us—what someone did, what someone said

—to the holiness within them that only our heart reveals. Actually, then, there is nothing to forgive.

The traditional notion of forgiveness—what The Song of Prayer calls “forgiveness-to-destroy”—is

then an act of judgment. It is the arrogance of someone who sees themselves as better than someone

else, or perhaps equally as sinful, which is still a misperception and the arrogance of the ego.

Since all minds are connected, then the correction of anyone’s perception is on some level a

healing of the entire racial mind. The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the

healing of the world. Angry people cannot create a peaceful planet. It amuses me to think how angry I

used to get when people wouldn’t sign my peace petitions."

"Forgiving the past is an important step in allowing ourselves the experience of miracles. The only

meaning of anything in our past is that it got us here, and should be honored as such. All that is real in

our past is the love we gave and the love we received. Everything else is an illusion. The past is

merely a thought we have. It is literally all in our minds. The Course teaches, “Give the past to Him

Who can change your mind about it for you.” To surrender the past to the Holy Spirit is to ask that

only loving, helpful thoughts about it remain in our minds, and all the rest be let go."

"We’re all assigned a piece of the garden, a corner of the universe that is ours to transform. Our

corner of the universe is our own life—our relationships, our homes, our work, our current

circumstances—exactly as they are. Every situation we find ourselves in is an opportunity, perfectly

planned by the Holy Spirit, to teach love instead of fear. Whatever energy system we find ourselves a

part of, it’s our job to heal it—to purify the thought forms by purifying our own. It’s never really a

circumstance that needs to change—it’s we who need to change. The prayer isn’t for God to change

our lives, but rather for Him to change us.

That’s the greatest miracle, and ultimately the only one: that you awaken from the dream of

separation and become a different kind of person. People are constantly concerning themselves with

what they do: have I achieved enough, written the greatest screenplay, formed the most powerful

company? But the world will not be saved by another great novel, great movie, or great business

venture. It will only be saved by the appearance of great people."

"Just treating the symptom of a problem isn’t really treating it. Take nuclear bombs, for example.

If we all work hard, sign enough petitions and elect new officials, then we can ban the bomb. But if

we don’t get rid of the hatred in our hearts, what good will that do, ultimately? Our children or our

children’s children will manufacture a destructive force more powerful than the bomb, if they are still

carrying within them enough fear and conflict."

"Forgiveness is the key to inner peace because it is the mental technique by which our

thoughts are transformed from fear to love. Our perceptions of other people often become a

battleground between the ego’s desire to judge and the Holy Spirit’s desire to accept people as they

are. The ego is the great fault-finder. It seeks out the faults in ourselves and others. The Holy Spirit

seeks out our innocence. He sees all of us as we really are, and since we are the perfect creations of

God, He loves what He sees. The places in our personality where we tend to deviate from love are

not our faults, but our wounds. God doesn’t want to punish us, but to heal us. And that is how He

wishes us to view the wounds in other people.

Forgiveness is “selective remembering”—a conscious decision to focus on love and let the rest

go. But the ego is relentless—it is “capable of suspiciousness at best and viciousness at worst.” It

presents the most subtle and insidious arguments for casting other people out of our hearts. The

cornerstone of the ego’s teaching is: “The Son of God is guilty.” The cornerstone of the Holy Spirit’s

teaching is: “The Son of God is innocent.”

The miracle worker consciously invites the Holy Spirit to enter into every relationship and

deliver us from the temptation to judge and find fault. We ask Him to save us from our tendency to

condemn. We ask Him to reveal to us the innocence within others, that we might see it within

ourselves.

“Dear God, I surrender this relationship to you,” means, “Dear God, let me see this person

through your eyes.” In accepting the Atonement, we are asking to see as God sees, think as God

thinks, love as God loves. We are asking for help in seeing someone’s innocence."

"If someone treats us with love, then of course love is the appropriate response. If they treat us

with fear, we are to see their behavior as a call for love."