everyone who has ever hurt you if you want perfect health and happiness. Forgive yourself by getting your thoughts in harmony with divine law and order. You cannot really forgive yourself completely until you have forgiven others first. To refuse to forgive yourself is nothing more or less than spiritual pride or ignorance.
In the psychosomatic field of medicine today, it is being constantly stressed that resentment, condemnation of others, remorse and hostility are behind a host of maladies ranging from arthritis to cardiac disease. They point out that these sick people, who were hurt, mistreated, deceived or injured, were full of resentment and hatred for those who hurt them. This caused inflamed and festering wounds in their subconscious minds. There is only one remedy. They have to cut out and discard their hurts, and the one and only sure way is by forgiveness.
Forgiveness Is Love In Action
The essential ingredient in the art of forgiveness is the willingness to forgive. If you sincerely desire to forgive the other, you are fifty-one percent over the hurdle. I feel sure you know that to forgive the other does not necessarily mean that you like him or want to associate with him. You cannot be compelled to like someone, neither can a government legislate good will, love, peace or tolerance. It is quite impossible to like people because someone in Washington issues an edict to that effect. We can, however, love people without liking them.
The Bible says, Love ye one another. This, anyone can do who really wants to do it. Love means that you wish for the other health, happiness, peace, joy and all the blessings of life. There is only one prerequisite and that is sincerity. You are not being magnanimous when you forgive, you are really being self, because what you wish for the other, you are actually wishing for yourself. The reason is that you are thinking it and you are feeling it. As you think and feel, so are you. Could anything be simpler than that?
Technique Of Forgiveness
The following is a simple method which works wonders in your life as you practice it. Quiet your mind, relax and let go. Think of God and His love for you, and then affirm, “I fully and freely forgive (mention the name of the offender); I release him mentally and spiritually. I completely forgive everything connected with the matter in question. I am free, and he/she is free. It is a marvelous feeling. It is my day of general amnesty. I release anybody and everybody who has ever hurt me, and I wish for each and everyone health, happiness, peace and all the blessings of life. I do this freely, joyously and lovingly and whenever I think of the person or persons who hurt me, I say, 'I have released you, and all the blessings of life are yours.' I am free and you are free. It is wonderful!”
The great secret of true forgiveness is that once you have forgiven the person, it is unnecessary to repeat the prayer. Whenever the person comes to your mind, or the particular hurt happens to enter your mind, wish the delinquent well, and say, “Peace be to you.” Do this as often as the thought enters your mind. You will find that after a few days the thought of the person or experience will return less and less often, until it fades into nothingness.
The Acid Test For Forgiveness
There is an acid test for gold. There is also an acid test for forgiveness. If I should tell you something wonderful about someone who has wronged you, cheated you, or defrauded you, and you sizzled at hearing the good news about this person, the roots of hatred would still be in your subconscious mind, playing havoc with you.
Let us suppose you had a painful abscess on your jaw a year ago, and you told me about it, I would casually ask you if you had any pain now. You would automatically say, “Of course not, I have memory of it but no pain.” That is the whole story. You may have a memory of the incident but no sting or hurt anymore. This is the acid test, and you must meet it psychologically and spiritually, otherwise, you are simply deceiving yourself and not practicing the true art of forgiveness.
To Understand All Is To Forgive All
When man understands the creative law of his own mind, he ceases to blame other people and conditions for making or marring his life. He knows that his own thoughts and feelings create his destiny. Furthermore, he is aware that externals are not the causes and conditioners of his life and his experiences. To think that others can mar your happiness, that you are the football of a cruel fate, that you must oppose and fight others for a living, all these and others like them, are untenable when you understand that thoughts are things. The Bible says the same thing. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7.
Summary Of Your Aids To Forgiveness
1. God, or life, is no respecter of persons. Life plays no favorites. Life, or God, seems to favor you when you align yourself with the principle of harmony, health, joy and peace.
2. God, or life, never sends disease, sickness, accident or suffering. We bring these things on ourselves by our own negative thinking based upon the law as we sow, so shall we reap.
3. Your concept of God is the most important thing in your life. If you really believe in a God of love, your subconscious mind will respond in countless blessings to you. Believe in a God of love.
4. Life, or God, holds no grudge against you. Life never condemns you. Life heals a severe cut on your hand. Life forgives you if you burn your finger. It reduces the edema and restores the part to wholeness and perfection.
5. Your guilt complex is a false concept of God and life. God, or life, does not punish or judge you. You do this to yourself by your false beliefs, negative thinking and self condemnation.
6. God, or life, does not condemn or punish you. The forces of nature are not evil. The effect of their use depends on how you use the power within you. You can use electricity to kill someone or to light the house. You can use water to drown a child or quench his thirst. Good and evil come right back to the thought and purpose in man's own mind.
7. God, or life, never punishes. Man punishes himself by his false concepts of God, life, and the universe. His thoughts are creative and he creates his own misery.
8. If another criticizes you, and these faults are within you, rejoice, give thanks and appreciate the comments. This gives you the opportunity to correct the particular fault.
9. You cannot be hurt by criticism when you know that you are master of your thoughts, reactions and emotions. This gives you the opportunity to pray and bless the other, thereby blessing yourself.
10. When you pray for guidance and right action, take what comes. Realize it is good and very good. Then there is no cause for self pity, criticism or hatred.
11. There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. There is no evil in sex, the desire for food, wealth or true expression. It depends on how you use these urges, desires and aspirations. Your desire for food can be met without killing someone for a loaf of bread.
12. Resentment, hatred, ill will and hostility are behind a host of maladies. Forgive yourself and everybody else by pouring out love, life, joy and good will to all those who have hurt you. Continue until such time as you meet them in your mind and you are at peace with them.
13. To forgive is to give something for. Give love, peace, joy, wisdom and all the blessings of life to the other, until there is no sting left in your mind. This is really the acid test of forgiveness.
14. Let us suppose you had an abscess in your jaw about a year ago. It was very painful. Ask yourself if it is painful now. The answer is negative. Likewise, if someone has hurt you, lied about and vilified you, and said
