‘Already the rosy dawn glows in the ethereal sky as a sign that the day now approaches’ (from Resurrection Morn by Abd-ru-shin)
The goal of our existence here on earth is to learn to live a spiritual life, and we must, therefore, understand what it means to be spiritual. In the intense experiences within the Material spheres, where the friction and challenges are meant to awaken and focus our striving toward maturity, we must always look up to the Light and to our spiritual home in the Kingdom of the Father. The levels of the challenges and difficulties we encounter are intended to produce the necessary friction that will ensure that we not only remain on the path but also make progress toward higher spiritual goals.
Everything in Creation must bow to the Will of God that forms the foundation, the bedrock of Creation, the Laws of Creation. Any volition, thought, word, or deed that contravenes these Laws of Creation that bear the perfection of the Creator’s Will is a sin. And any sin, as such, is capable of separating us from communion with God.
While He was amongst us, Jesus told us that “whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:23 ASV). This is an injunction to forgive our neighbors’ offenses against us without a demand that they must request forgiveness beforehand, irrespective of how frequent the offense is. However, for the offender to benefit from this forgiveness, he or she must recognize that he or she has committed an offense.
In this Lenten period, as we prepare to commemorate Easter, we need to reflect deeply on sin and forgiveness. Forgiveness serves, in the first place, to sever the bond between the offender and the victim of the offense. However, although the one offended can forgive an offense against himself or herself by fellow human beings, these must also be worked out in the perfection of the immutable Laws of the Creator. A third party who is not directly involved cannot mediate this forgiveness, which negates the presumptuous practice of confession and absolution by a priest.
Forgiving those who offend is of immense benefit, mainly to the one who forgives but also as loving support to the one who offends. And so, we have been admonished to forgive no matter how serious the offense and how many times it is repeated. The benefit to the offender depends largely on how he or she uses the opportunity provided by the forgiveness. The forgiveness from the victim of an offense remains primarily an anchor of help and support for the offender. It detaches him or her from the bond with the victim and, if he or she recognizes that they have sinned, grants him or her the opportunity to adjust his or her further path in Creation.
Every sin, at least in part, embodies a component against the Will of God in Creation since we are in Creation and use the Power of the Creative Will of God to produce our works. Therefore, every sin goes against the order in Creation, the work of the Holy Spirit of God, and must, in part, be worked out in His Creative Will. When we offend another individual, and he or she forgives us, we must still personally experience that this was an offense and change in order to once more achieve the balance in Creation.
We must genuinely repent, and repentance only comes through a recognition that you have offended. Recognition that we have offended, however, can only come by consciously experiencing the consequences of the offense, its impact on the order of Creation, the household of God..
Sins or offenses against the order of Creation, i.e., against the Will of God in Creation, must be experienced or worked out only in the immutable Laws of Creation. Only thus can sins against the Creative Will of God, the Holy Spirit, be forgiven. Hence, the important admonition that sins against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven as simply as sins against the individual but must be redeemed in the experiencing of it.
Sins against the order in Creation, i.e., against the Creative Will of God in Creation, the Holy Spirit, cannot be forgiven but must be lived through in the experiencing until we recognize the fault. We must reap what we sow in Creation! Thus, forgiveness is achieved only by recognition, genuine repentance, and rejection of the sin. With this recognition and thus repentance, the sin is wiped off Creation as if it has never been because the individual has changed, becoming a new creature (the old has passed away), and it is as if the offense and its perpetrator no longer exist in Creation.
When we grant forgiveness to our neighbor for personal offenses against us, this, as with all forms of forgiveness, must also mean that we wipe off the offense completely as if it never existed. It is not forgiveness when we keep the memory of an offense in mind and still treat the forgiven one as a criminal. We must recognize this because the Law of Love demands complete forgiveness or none at all. When we forgive, we must truly forgive and offer the offending individual the opportunity to grow and mature, free of lingering ill will and suspicion. Unfortunately, this has remained difficult for most of us because of lingering distrust.
The betrayed trust that is often a part of the offense remains challenging for human beings to deal with. Trust requires time to rebuild, and we must recognize this as distinct from the act of forgiveness. We must learn to offer the opportunity for trust to be rebuilt, but in this, the offending party must play a significant role in living a life that indicates that he/she has really repented.
The problem of trust arises because, in Matter, particularly in gross matter, individuals with different levels of spiritual maturity must live together. Direct contact, family binding, marriage, friendships, etc., which only exist in gross matter, constitute strong bonds that challenge trust. We are, therefore, continuously in contact with the offender and necessarily will experience the stages of maturing with him/her as he/she struggles to overcome the weaknesses and challenges that led to the offense in the first place.
In finer spheres and in higher realms, the Laws are more mobile, and human spirits are segregated in obedience to the Laws of Spiritual Gravity and Homogeneity. As such, the similarity in maturity reduces the difficult issues of trust, and offenses against individuals are less likely because of homogeneity.
Beyond gross material existence, individuals on the same level are brought together because of similar faults and offenses they had committed against the order of Creation and are meant to experience the returning fruits in the Laws. True, they inflict pain on each other from their dominant weaknesses that brought them together, such as hate, envy, greed, and lust for power, money, or pleasures of the flesh, etc., but these are no longer personal but mutual exchanges, and personal forgiveness is not required. These are offenses against the Laws of Creation, offenses against the Holy Spirit that must be experienced, and segregation according to homogeneity facilitates this. Only in the right experience can the individual expiate them and move on.
On earth, in the physical gross material plane where direct personal offenses are possible, we also must learn to aim to achieve the level of vibration of the Laws of Creation in higher planes because that is what we are studying to mature into. We must, therefore, learn to forgive cleanly without any lingering ill wishes and as if the offense is completely wiped off.
While on earth in gross matter, we must also strive to recognise our own homogeneity and avoid binding or being yoked with people whose striving toward the Light is not homogenous with ours. Even in the common modes of address, we must avoid the familiarity that reinforces such bonds except in cases where a serious life commitment is intended.
In this sense, forgiveness granted at the point of departure (death) is often of immense benefit for the individual because he or she thereafter moves on and does not continue to exist in the same space and time limitation as the offender. In some cultures, in the not-so-distant past, wisdom required that offenders were banished and segregated from the communities and only reintegrated if they changed completely. In such societies, there were no prisons and no necessity for prisons.
To achieve genuine forgiveness, we need to understand the difference between trust and forgiveness. Trust is earned, but forgiveness is given. If you place trust where it is not earned, you are bound to be disappointed or hurt, which may constitute serious obstacles to your spiritual development. This is why certain important admonitions are given from the Light with regard to trust. ‘Man must not live with another whom he cannot respect.’ ‘In pursuing your personal desires, you must never bring harm to another who reposes trust in you,’ ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself,’ etc.
Trust is a vital, gross material quality that we cannot live without. We must, for instance, trust that the next man will not stab us in the back, that the other driver will obey the rules and respect our rights, that the ones in the same home with us will not poison us, that our parents are actually our parents, etc., etc.
Above all, every creature in Creation, whether they accept the reality or not, trusts in the Providence of the Creator, in the perfect ordinance of the Laws of Creation to exist. We all trust that the air we must breathe is always there, that there is water, light, and all the things we take for granted. Should any of these be threatened, we quickly recognize our limitations and that we are indeed creatures operating under the dictates of a higher Will, irrespective of our apparent lack of belief in God.
It is only in the comfort of the assurance of their regularity that we project our small personal egos and declare self-sufficiency and the assumption that we are in control. All human beings, no matter what they claim, believe in God, and indeed, even demons believe. In declaring otherwise, it is either that we disagree with the concept of an imperfect God projected by many religious organizations, or we are just trying to delude ourselves and others to maintain our positions or interests.
Trust operates within an inherent recognition of the perfection of the Laws of Creation and only breaks down when we disobey or ignore these Laws. When we recognize that we have deviated from the Laws and ask for forgiveness, we must also be prepared to adjust thereafter to the demands of the Laws, i.e., rebuild trust in the ordinances of Creation. When we grant forgiveness, it should be unconditional as the Laws of God demand and expect because this provides the best opportunity for our neighbor who has offended to find his/her place and goal in Creation, and the capacity to thereby regain our trust.
Forgiveness, as already discussed, breaks the binding between the offender and the one offended. To forgive means to dissociate oneself from the perpetrated evil. Every offense against an individual, quite apart from an associated inevitable offense against the adamantine Laws of Creation that may follow the offense, connects or binds the offender to the victim.
Since the adamantine Laws of Creation determine that every offence must return to its origin, in this instance, to the one who had sown the seed, it is essential to forgive if we are not to be part of the loop. The act of forgiveness by the victim severs this connection, freeing him or her completely from the returning effects of the Laws. The offender, however, must necessarily experience the consequences as required by the Laws of Creation. For him or her, this returning effect is also mitigated if he or she was truly repentant and had genuinely asked forgiveness from the victim
Thus, the act of forgiveness is a great help to the perpetrator of the offense if he genuinely solicits it, as well as to the victim who thereby cuts himself loose from the evil returns. If, on the other hand, the victim refuses to forgive, he or she remains connected with both the offense and the offender through this volition and experiences the returning effects with the perpetrator. If, in addition, the victim nourishes hatred against the perpetrator, he or she thereby puts another cog in the wheel, a new evil that not only binds them more intensely but arises as a personal offense against the Law that the erstwhile victim must now expiate.
If we must stand aright in the Loving Will of our Creator, we must learn patient Love, not to be hastily judgmental, and indeed also humility, for do we not have our own weaknesses and burdens?
Tolerance should not be confused with indulgence or permissiveness. Tolerance implies the ability to disregard the faults of others but does not dissociate one from the offense. It is, however, a step towards forgiveness. “Forgiveness towards your fellow man begins and ends with disregarding his faults! Not seeking faults in him! In other words, only attending to yourselves in this respect! First seeking and laying aside your faults before attempting to draw your neighbor’s attention to his.” (from Man, How do You Stand? by Abd-ru-shin)
The ability to disregard the fault of your neighbor is the basis or the necessary foundation for forgiveness. You approach your neighbor in Love without seeking any faults in him, i.e., accepting him or her as they are. Disregarding the fault of your neighbors also means that we recognize that we are part of the problem as we share the same circumstance, i.e., in first seeking the fault in ourselves. This makes it possible to achieve true forgiveness and manifests in not bearing grudges, complaining or gossiping about them, persistently being irritated about them, etc.
In this regard, we have been admonished to seek the fault in ourselves first as a great help because the fault that most irritates us in others is anchored to a greater extent in us. “First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt 7:5 ASV).
“Look closely at yourselves first, only then will you understand your neighbor! And in understanding lies forgiveness.” (From Man, How do You Stand? by Abd-ru-shin)
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