Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
1. Let us review the meaning of “forgive,” for it is apt to be distorted and to be perceived as something that entails an unfair sacrifice of righteous wrath, a gift unjustified and undeserved, and a complete denial of the truth. ²In such a view, forgiveness must be seen as mere eccentric folly, and this course appear to rest salvation on a whim.
2. This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily corrected, when you can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is true. ²It must be limited to what is false. ³It is irrelevant to
everything except illusions.
* In other words, it only covers what the ego=god mentality has told us is real.
* This is taken care of completely by forgiving the original thought that separation was even a possibility.
* Then let the Holy Spirit guide you as you walk in life.
⁴Truth is God’s creation, and to pardon that is meaningless.
⁵All truth belongs to Him, reflects His laws and radiates His Love.
⁶Does this need pardon?
⁷How can you forgive the sinless and eternally benign?
* As I reflect on my ‘outburst’ with my group I realize that simply ‘being’ however it expresses itself IS Divine and Heavenly. The NEED for anything to be corrected is only an illusion or confusion anyway. God IS. And I can apply that in my walk in form as well as inside. 
3. The major difficulty that you find in genuine forgiveness on your part is that you still believe you must forgive the truth, and not illusions. ²You conceive of pardon as a vain attempt to look past what is there; to overlook the truth, in an unfounded effort to deceive yourself by making an illusion true. ³This twisted viewpoint but reflects the hold that the idea of sin retains as yet upon your mind, as you regard yourself.
* Yes, I concede this. I agree. What a blessing, to be able to walk in full forgiveness inside and out. And so it is.
* It may appear that I have given up on God rather than that I am yielding to God but it makes no difference to me what others think.
* I can live ‘in Spirit’ and be content in all circumstances. I will not be harsh with myself though when I find that emotions want to blow me over. God, through the Holy Spirit will allow me to ‘present’ as He sees fit. I just need to keep this internal awareness that God Is and that is ALL there is to it. Lol 
4. Because you think your sins are real, you look on pardon as deception.
²For it is impossible to think of sin as true and not believe forgiveness is a lie.
³Thus is forgiveness really but a sin, like all the rest.
⁴It says the truth is false, and smiles on the corrupt as if they were as blameless as the grass; as white as snow.
⁵It is delusional in what it thinks it can accomplish.
⁶It would see as right the plainly wrong; the loathsome as the good.
* For those who would say that the Course does not teach that there is a right and wrong I offer this statement.
5. Pardon is no escape in such a view.
²It merely is a further sign that sin is unforgivable, at best to be concealed, denied or called another name, for pardon is a treachery to truth.
³Guilt cannot be forgiven.
⁴If you sin, your guilt is everlasting.
⁵Those who are forgiven from the view their sins are real are pitifully mocked and twice condemned; first, by themselves for what they think they did, and once again by those who pardon them.
* Oh my! 😥
6. It is sin’s unreality that makes forgiveness natural and wholly sane, a deep relief to those who offer it; a quiet blessing where it is received.
* Sin is an unreality because God IS a REALITY!
²It does not countenance illusions, but collects them lightly, with a little laugh, and gently lays them at the feet of truth.
* “With a little laugh” not a hearty ruckus that only mocks.
³And there they disappear entirely.
* They disappear in the LIGHT of the TRUTH that GOD IS.
7. Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in the illusions of the world.
* Say that again:
* “Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in the illusions of the world.”
²It sees their nothingness, and looks straight through the thousand forms in which they may appear.
³It looks on lies, but it is not deceived.
* HEAR THAT, please! It looks on lies! You will be shown these things through the Eyes/Vision of the Holy Spirit.
⁴It does not heed the self-accusing shrieks of sinners mad with guilt.
* … because “it is not deceived.”! The Holy Spirit testifies that these things cannot be real because God IS!
⁵It looks on them with quiet eyes, and merely says to them, “My brother, what you think is not the truth.”
* I know. There are gang rapes and murders/suicides that appear to SCREAM otherwise but which would you rather be REAL????? God IS or hate is?????
8. The strength of pardon is its honesty, which is so uncorrupted that it sees illusions as illusions, not as truth.
* Amen.
²It is because of this that it becomes the undeceiver in the face of lies; the great restorer of the simple truth.
³By its ability to overlook what is not there, it opens up the way to truth, which has been blocked by dreams of guilt.
⁴Now are you free to follow in the way your true forgiveness opens up to you.
* The Holy Spirit will guide you.
⁵For if one brother has received this gift of you, the door is open to yourself.
9. There is a very simple way to find the door to true forgiveness, and perceive it open wide in welcome.
²When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is self-deception.
³Ask instead, “Would I accuse myself of doing this?”
* This causes confusion for some. Do not let it bother you. You are not going to get all of the nuances that are being taught in the Course the first or tenth time over it. Live life and let the Spirit teach you what you are ready and those within your sphere of influence/story need to see and hear. Trust that all things are working out the way that they should.
10. Thus will you see alternatives for choice in terms that render choosing meaningful, and keep your mind as free of guilt and pain as God Himself intended it to be, and as it is in truth.
²It is but lies that would condemn.
³In truth is innocence the only thing there is.
⁴Forgiveness stands between illusions and the truth; between the world you see and that which lies beyond; between the hell of guilt and Heaven’s gate.
* Heaven’s gate is nearing the truth of living in full awareness of
God’s Presence. (from what I understand and experience today)
11. Across this bridge, as powerful as love which laid its blessing on it, are all dreams of evil and of hatred and attack brought silently to truth.
²They are not kept to swell and bluster, and to terrify the foolish dreamer who believes in them.
³He has been gently wakened from his dream by understanding what he thought he saw was never there.
⁴And now he cannot feel that all escape has been denied to him.
* Do not think you will not realize that there are those who chose to stay in that story though.
12. He does not have to fight to save himself.
²He does not have to kill the dragons which he thought pursued him.
³Nor need he erect the heavy walls of stone and iron doors he thought would make him safe.
⁴He can remove the ponderous and useless armor made to chain his mind to fear and misery.
⁵His step is light, and as he lifts his foot to stride ahead a star is left behind, to point the way to those who follow him.
13. Forgiveness must be practiced, for the world cannot perceive its meaning, nor provide a guide to teach you its beneficence.
²There is no thought in all the world that leads to any understanding of the laws it follows, nor the Thought that it reflects.
³It is as alien to the world as is your own reality.
⁴And yet it joins your mind with the reality in you.
14. Today we practice true forgiveness, that the time of joining be no more delayed.
²For we would meet with our reality in freedom and in peace.
³Our practicing becomes the footsteps lighting up the way for all our brothers, who will follow us to the reality we share with them.
⁴That this may be accomplished, let us give a quarter of an hour twice today, and spend it with the Guide Who understands the meaning of forgiveness, and was sent to us to teach it.
⁵Let us ask of Him:
⁶Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
15. Then choose one brother as He will direct, and catalogue his “sins,” as one by one they cross your mind.
* OH MY HECK! WHY WOULD YOU NOT WANT TO FORGIVE THE ONLY ONE THAT THERE IS AND BE DONE WITH IT??????
* FORGIVE CHRIST FOR THE ORIGINAL ERROR OF BELIEF IN SEPARATION FROM GOD THAT RESULTED IN ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD BE AWAY FROM GOD OR UNREAL.
* Yet, if you MUST start here but understand you have not touched true forgiveness until you forgive the Whole that is Christ/Creation.
²Be certain not to dwell on any one of them, but realize that you are using his “offenses” but to save the world from all ideas of sin.
³Briefly consider all the evil things you thought of him, and each time ask yourself, “Would I condemn myself for doing this?”
* “Would I condemn myself for doing this?” WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!!!
* Forgive Christ as a Whole and be done with it. Step into Heaven and Eternal LIFE with God as your GUIDE in the Holy Spirit as you untangle the trains of thought that keep us separated in fiction only.
16. Let him be freed from all the thoughts you had of sin in him.
²And now you are prepared for freedom.
* NO.
* Not until the Whole has been forgiven will you be nearly free.
If you have been practicing thus far in willingness and honesty, you will begin to sense a lifting up, a lightening of weight across your chest, a deep and certain feeling of relief.
⁴The time remaining should be given to experiencing the escape from all the heavy chains you sought to lay upon your brother, but were laid upon yourself.
* Perhaps I have such a firm conviction of the need to forgive the Whole Christ because of the 60 years I had spent studying the words of Jesus that led me to understand that the Body of Christ was those who knew that God IS.
* People have blocked me over this. THAT is their loss.
17. Forgiveness should be practiced through the day, for there will still be many times when you forget its meaning and attack yourself.
²When this occurs, allow your mind to see through this illusion as you tell yourself:
³Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
⁴Would I accuse myself of doing this?
⁵I will not lay this chain upon myself.
⁶In everything you do remember this:
⁷No one is crucified alone, and yet no one can enter Heaven by himself.
* Thank you, God!
(ACIM, W-134.1:1–17:7)
Till next time, God bless, debi.
Freedom Principles; At-One-Meant Now 
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