Forgiveness

1999-6-1 09:04:00

Jill,

I'm glad you're giving us another chance. The great thing about this list is that if I am not reaching someone with my teachings I have lots of backup and there are many others who give different perspectives that reach others in a way that I cannot. And you might keep this in mind. Zia's writings touched you and gave you just what you needed. I'm sure the time will come where your words will touch someone else in just the right phrasing they need to hear.

Zia wrote:

"I would ask JJ if there is a principle of forgiveness; it seems paramount to me to have one, although in 'heaven' of course there is no need for forgiveness."

There is indeed a principle of forgiveness, but it has much more to do with a person's relationship with his own soul than good or evil or a decree from God.

When one person does not forgive another person he or she will carry a grievance, a bitter feeling, toward that other person. He needs to do whatever is necessary to diffuse that feeling and replace it with love and acceptance.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is to communicate, with the person who produced the grievance, how you feel. It is amazing how such an honest communication diffuses negativity and brings forgiveness.

On the other hand, if you are concerned that you need forgiveness from someone else then go to him and tell him how you feel. Oftentimes an honest communication will reveal that there is nothing to forgive.

As far as forgiveness from God goes, God has no grievance against you or anyone else, so no forgiveness is necessary there. It is true that we often need to forgive ourselves. Sometimes this step is the most difficult of all.

As far as karma goes this is a law that applies to the principle of justice. Justice is a principle of action and reaction whereas forgiveness always involves feelings. Even if a person is in a state of complete forgiveness, or complete peace of mind, he is still subject to the laws of karma or cause and effect.

For instance if you misstep and fall down some stairs, this is a result of your not playing along wisely with cause and effect created by gravity. No matter how much forgiveness you have been given you still have to watch out for this law because cause and effect and forgiveness have little to do with each other.

In fact, about a month ago as I was getting ready to go upstairs and go to bed. I had all the lights off and got turned around and took a step on the stairs going down instead of the ones going up. I assure you that even though I am a fairly enlightened fellow with a forgiving heart that I found myself fully subject to this law and fell down a flight of stairs. I was lucky. I had sprains and bruises, but nothing was broken. Even now my right arm is returning to normal strength, but for a while I had difficulty in even writing my daily posts to you.

Karma is like this. If we set causes in motion the effects come back to us. If we have sent forth destructive causes in times past, in a way this is like borrowing money from a bank. We have to pay it back and we wish we didn't have to. The key of wisdom here is to not wait until the bank comes after us for payment, but to pay off the debt so interest will not accumulate. With negative karma the best way to do this is through service. The more you serve the more negative karma is paid off. Zia said something that was a help to Jill. This put some money in her account to offset negative karma. If you do something even more dramatic, like enter a burning building and rescue a child, then you make a giant deposit.

Now don't forget that there is also positive karma. Good people, as we have on this list, will have a lot of this in the bank and, if we listen to our souls, we will know the appropriate time to cash in on it. I know a lot of you will just want to reinvest it so the good will continue to multiply and benefit the world.

I'm short on time tonight but will try and get back on topic tomorrow. Hope this helps.