1. No gift of Heaven has been more misunderstood than has forgiveness. It has, in fact, becomes a scourge; a curse where it was meant to bless, a cruel mockery of grace, a parody upon the holy peace of God. Yet those who have not yet chosen to begin the steps of prayer cannot but use it that way. So just as prayer is misused at the lower rungs of the ladder (for asking for what you do not want for yourself or your brothers, instead of offering and sharing the love that you already have), forgiveness is misused by those who are steeped in the world’s idea of it, those not well-versed in the true meaning of forgiveness. In the early stages of forgiveness it is used as a weapon for destruction, not as a tool for healing. Read on for clearer understanding. 

Forgiveness’ kindness is obscure at first, because salvation is not understood, nor truly sought for. What was meant to heal (forgiveness) is used to hurt because forgiveness is not yet wanted. GUILT becomes salvation, and the proposed remedy (which is the layman’s understanding of forgiveness), appears to be a terrible alternative to life. Forgiveness implemented where fault still lies, where forgiveness is not deserved, is not perceived as kindness but as folly (and that interpretation of forgiveness is folly, because it is wrong.)

2. “Forgiveness-to-destroy” will therefore suit the purpose of the world far better than its true objective “forgiveness-for-salvation” and the honest means by which this true objective is reached. Forgiveness-to-destroy will overlook no sin, no crime, no guilt that it can seek and find and “love.” Error is dear to its heart, and mistakes loom large and grow and swell within its sight. It carefully picks out all evil things, and overlooks the loving as a plague; a hateful thing of danger and of death. Forgiveness-to-destroy is death, and this it sees in all it looks upon and hates. God’s mercy (using forgiveness-to-destroy) has become a twisted knife that would destroy the holy Son He loves. (One example of this is looking at "what is the WORST that could happen?")

3. Would you forgive yourself for using forgiveness as a weapon of destruction? Forgiveness-for-salvation would have no part in such a plan of death. Then learn that God has given you the means by which you can return to Him in peace. It is this: Do not see error. Do not make error real. Select the loving; forgive sin by choosing God's Will (the BEST that could happen); choose the face of Christ (defined in Terms). How otherwise can prayer return to God? God loves His Son. Can you remember Him and hate what He created? You will hate his Father if you hate the Son He loves. For as you see the Son, your brother, you also see yourself, and the way you see yourself is the way you see God. You, your brothers, God – all are the same, all one. As you see one, so you see them all. So do not seek and find guilt – anywhere. For it will be your downfall. See only the face of Christ and therein you will be lifted.

4. As prayer is always for yourself, so is forgiveness always given you. It is impossible to forgive another, for it is only a reflection of your sins that you see projected onto him. You have decided you want to see them there and not in you. That is why forgiveness of another is an illusion. You are only forgiving – in essence – what you have projected onto him. Yet forgiving your brother is the only happy dream in all the world; the only one that does not lead to death. Because only in someone else can you forgive yourself, for you have called him guilty of your sins, and now in him you must find your innocence. Who but the sinful need to be forgiven? And do not ever think you can see sin in anyone except yourself. Remember that there is no one outside of you. You are IT!

In essence then, all guilt/sins are illusory as God did not create sin or guilt. When the presence of sin/guilt is felt, it is too horrible to contain, so it is projected onto a brother. There it can be seen with the Holy Spirit for what it really is, because it is not too close to view it adequately as it would be if it were “in you.” Your brother acts as your mirror to help you see what you have projected. Now that you can see it more clearly, you can forgive it. As you do so, you and your brother experience the release from both the containment and the projection of the sin/guilt, and all is forgiven, all is innocent. You will notice that as you forgive your brother, you will find that you will also forgive yourself simultaneously for the same thing, perhaps not consciously realizing that it is you that you are forgiving all along. And what are you forgiving anyway? False perception; false judgment. Because none of it was real from the start. Not created by God? NOT REAL!

It is a circular route to reach the truth, but you and your brothers experience fear when going straight to the truth. If it were not so, you would have awakened to truth long ago. As your forgiveness progresses, the truth draws nearer and fear of the truth diminishes accordingly. And then, one day, voilà, you are home.

5. It always seems to be another who is evil, and in his sin you are the injured one. This is the great deception of the world, and you are the great deceiver of yourself. How could freedom be possible if everyone but you is evil? You would be slave to everyone, for what they do entails your fate, your feelings, your despair or hope, your misery or joy. You would have no freedom unless they give it to you. And being evil, they can only give of what they are: more evil. You cannot see your brother’s sins and not your own. But you can free him and yourself as well.

6. Forgiveness, truly given, is the way in which your only hope of freedom lies. Others will make mistakes, to be sure, and so will you, as long as this illusion of a world appears to be your home. Yet God Himself has given all His Sons a remedy for all illusions that they think they see. Christ’s vision does not use your eyes, but you can look through Christ's vision and learn to see like Him.

Mistakes are tiny shadows, quickly gone, that for an instant only seem to hide the face of Christ, which still remains unchanged behind them all. You can mull over mistakes, prolong or enhance them in your mind, or focus on them to the exclusion of all else – but that will only be a waste of time for you and for your brothers. Why waste time on the unreal, the ephemeral, the shadows instead of the light? Christ's constancy remains in tranquil silence and in perfect peace. He does not know of shadows. His are the eyes that look past error to the Christ in you. Will you use His eyes and do the same? Peace and joy will be the inevitable result.

7. Ask, then, for Christ's help, and ask Him how to learn forgiveness as His vision lets it be. You are in need of what He gives, and your salvation rests on learning this of Him. Prayer cannot be released to Heaven while forgiveness-to-destroy remains with you. God’s mercy would remove this withering and poisoned thinking from your holy mind. Christ has forgiven you, and in His vision the world becomes as holy as Himself. Who sees no evil in the world sees like Christ. For what He has forgiven has not sinned, and guilt can be no more. Salvation’s plan is made complete, and sanity has come.

8. Forgiveness is the call to sanity, for who but the insane would look on sin when he could see the face of Christ instead? It would be like choosing to look on garbage and smell its non-so-pleasant odor rather than to look upon flowers and smell its sweet nectar. This is the choice you can make: to see the face of Christ. This is the simplest choice, and yet the only one that you can make, because sin is not there to see!

God calls on you to save His Son, your brother, from death by offering Christ’s Love to him. With God calling on you to love His Son, how can you not? This is your need, and God holds out this gift to you. As He would give, so must you give as well. And thus is prayer restored to formlessness, beyond all limits into timelessness, with nothing of the past to hold it back from reuniting with the ceaseless song that all creation sings unto its God.

9. But to achieve this end you first must learn -- before you reach where learning cannot go. The key is forgiveness. But who can use a key when he has lost the door for which the key was made, and where alone it fits? Therefore we make distinctions, so that prayer can be released from darkness into light. Forgiveness’ role must be reversed, and cleansed from evil usages and hateful goals. Forgiveness-to-destroy must be unveiled in all its treachery.  Cast aside your ego's desire to project your perceived guilt upon your brother, and then let it  go forever and forever. There can be no trace of guilt (reflected or otherwise) remaining, if the plan that God established for returning to Him be achieved at last and learning to be complete.

10. This is the world of opposites. And you must choose between them every instant while this world retains reality for you. Yet you must learn alternatives for choice, or you will not be able to attain your freedom. Let it then be clear to you exactly what forgiveness means to you (it is a means to rise above the unreality of sin and witness the truth of love); and learn what it should be to set you free (your happy function). The level of your prayer depends on this, for here it waits its freedom to ascend above the world of chaos into peace. Forgive! Amen