Forgiveness
by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #42, March 9, 2002
While the Sun is in Pisces (February 18th through March 19th), is an opportune time to activate our ability to forgive. Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, and thus our last chance to connect with the Divine, before we literally or figuratively die and are reborn. The consciousness that we have, when we leave our bodies, is the consciousness that we take with us. Thus preparing to die is a very important task. Whatever negative emotions we cling to this lifetime will go with us, and we will have to work them out another lifetime. The arena of Pisces gives us a great opportunity to let go of negative emotions, debilitating attachments, and mental programs that block our connection with Divine consciousness. Pisces energy is the closest we get to a pure, nonverbal experience of infinite oneness. Pisces energy is totally without judgment and attachment. IT simply IS.
The goal of all spiritual paths and practices is to experience and live in infinite consciousness. The question is, how do we do that? I think there are many answers, and if we master even one of them we can merge with the infinite. One of the answers is forgiveness. To truly forgive we have to give up all hope for a better past. It is our anger, resentments, hurt feelings about the past, that keep us attached to the thought that things could have been better. Well, the past is the over. "The moving finger writes and having writ moves on. Neither our piety nor our wit can lure it back to cancel a line or erase a word of it". (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam)
One strategy for moving into a mindset of forgiveness involves releasing ourselves from our victim trips. If we take responsibility for our past, we can become the conscious co-creator of our future. To do so, we have to be willing to look at our past differently. We have to be able to recognize our participation. We have to be willing to give up our addictions to our wounds. We have to be willing to change; and we have to want more out of life. All of the above allow us to see and admit the truth, of how our experiences were designed to teach us certain lessons. When we can access this higher perspective of life lessons, we can move on. Life is not designed to keep us stuck, but we do have to learn from our experiences to attain the freedom, peace, happiness and prosperity that we desire.
Easter and the resurrection are about forgiveness. The message is more than symbolic. It is real. If we can truly forgive, we can attain Christ consciousness. An appropriate way to celebrate Easter (March 31, 2002) is to tune into the energy and use it to lift you to the forgiveness state of consciousness.
The Destiny of Women is the Destiny of the World by Guru Rattana, Ph.D., is a unique and invaluable handbook that can uplift every woman on the planet. Within its 314 information-packed pages it offers each woman a way to elevate her consciousness, to unleash her creativity, to live her dream and to celebrate her womanhood.
It is for EVERY WOMAN who wants to unlock her inner strength, dignity, radiance and grace, and for EVERY MAN who wants to understand and connect with the feminine essence.
The Destiny of Women speaks to the soul. With passion, clarity, caring and wisdom.
Below I offer a poem on forgiveness that I wrote in 1997 for my book The Destiny of Women Is the Destiny of the World (p. 213). By the way, I love this book and believe that if every woman could read it and live in her true essence, the world would vibrate love and peace. I haven't forgotten men!! Men can read it with the meaning "The destiny of the feminine is the destiny of the world". When men tune into and acknowledge their feminine, we will create a peaceful world together.
Forgiveness
My sons and daughters, everyone has their stories to tell.
Everyone has felt used or abused in some way.
Everyone has experienced pain and struggle.
The question now is how do you move out of your fate into your destiny?
No purpose is served by trying to prove
who is right and who is wrong.
There is no resolution in a win-lose verdict.
What you really want know is
how can you achieve inner and outer
peace
power and
freedom.
The answer, my children, is FORGIVENESS.
Forgiveness is often born out of the depths of
hopelessness
despair
sorrow
grief
loss
pain.
When there are no other options available
to escape our anguish
to find peace of mind
to reach resolution
to heal our pain
we discover that the only way to find solace is
to move beyond our accusations and judgments
to transcend our opinions and limited perspectives
to transmute our negative emotions
into higher vibrations
to make a quantum shift
into another dimension of being.
Eventually we reach a point where forgiveness is our only choice.
For there is no resolution without forgiveness.
It is only through forgiveness that the illusions of
fear
pain and
separation
are removed.
Unconditional forgiveness is required to open our hearts.
Only when our hearts are open can we
experience the reality of Universal Love.
The Illusion of Separation and Fear
Why did Jesus say "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."?
In the illusion of separation and fear, we do not know what we do.
Blinded by fear and alone in our minds
we do not perceive
how our anger and rage precipitate wars
we are not aware of
how our negativity creates conflict and oppresses others
we do not perceive
how our judgments poison the consciousness of the planet
we are oblivious of our interconnectedness and
how we affect each other and our environments.
In illusion, we are not conscious of the fact that we create our own chains.
When we are bound by the chains of
fear
anger
greed
remorse
judgment
we are not at choice to experience unconditional love.
The Best Action is Forgiveness
What is our best course of action? The simple answer is —
If we feel a heavy weight impeding our progress — forgive.
If we have reached a stalemate — forgive.
If we do not know what to do — forgive.
If we feel pain in our hearts — forgive.
If we feel conflicted or confused — forgive
If we desire to heal our wounds — forgive.
If we want to move forward — forgive.
If we want resolution — forgive.
If we long to experience love — forgive.
Forgive yourself.
Forgive others.
Forgive your situation.
Forgive the world.
Forgive God.
Forgive yourself for trying to live a lie.
Forgive yourself for looking to others to save you.
Forgive yourself for searching outside yourself for answers.
Forgive yourself with burdening others with your insecurities.
Forgiveness stops us from adding fuel to the fire of illusion.
Forgiveness connects us to the truth —
we all want to love and be loved
we do not know how to get love
we are enmeshed in strategies that are counter-productive
we are all searching for a way out.
Waking Ourselves Up to Love
The Catch 22 of the illusion created by fear and separation is we don't know how to get out of it because we do not know we are in it.
That is why quantum shifts in awareness,
through tragedies and miracles,
are often the only things that wake us up.
We choose our life situations to get our attention, to wake ourselves up.
We symbolically nail ourselves to the cross so that we might
see the truth of our situation
wake-up to the reality of Love
forgive and release our chains.
so that we might truly live.
2000 years ago Jesus opened his heart to Christ consciousness by forgiving his enemies.
The question at each moment is
"Can we forgive and open our hearts to the experience of Universal Love."
Will we get the message today or
will we need one more wake-up call?
Will we rivet our attention on who is wrong and who is right
and shed a million more tears?
Or will we chose to reverse the downward spiral and
begin to spiral upward to the dimension of Spirit?
When will we honor our own path and open our hearts so that Divine Love can flood through our beings?
The Law of Cause and Effect
When we live beyond illusion
we are aware of what we are doing
we realize that whatever we create
we have to work it out until we reach resolution
we have to live with the consequences of our actions
until we reach forgiveness.
When we are aware of the reality of cause and effect
we wisely sort things out within ourselves instead of
involving others
creating a mess
having to fix it later
we avoid creating more pain and conflict
in ourselves and with others
we sincerely try to interact with a loving heart.
The laws of karma and forgiveness teach us that all
fights
disputes
arguments
negativity
must be worked out until they are brought back
to the light
to peace
to love.
These are the laws. The choice that is ours is —
How long do we want to take?
How much time to do want to spend
picking up the pieces of our actions?
What do we want to do with our energy and our life?
Revisiting Sacrifice
When we are having a hard time forgiving, it is useful to revisit the concept of sacrifice.
Many of us were programmed to believe that
we have to make sacrifices.
We have interpreted this to mean that
we have to do what others want us to do, at our own expense
we have to do things that are contrary to our wishes
we get points if we give more than we receive.
The conventional definition of sacrifice makes us feel we have an obligation to save others and the world.
Actually we do not get any points for
trying to rescue others
care-taking others
being a martyr.
Our real obligation is to liberate ourselves.
This often involves serving others.
However, true service is a joy, not a burden.
True service is rewarding because it is part of our destiny path.
We may feel like we are "sacrificing," but we are getting something out of the situation or we wouldn't be doing it.
The secret is to identify how we are benefiting.
If we are not getting what we really want
the adult thing to do is to make another choice.
Often what we think is sacrifice is codependence in disguise.
Co-dependence makes us believe
that we are giving more than we are getting
that we are being wronged, taken advantage of or abused.
We remove ourselves from codependent relationships
by owning our responsibility in the situation
taking steps to extricate ourselves
learning our lessons
living our own lives.
Actually, no one really sacrifices for another.
We each do what we need to do
to learn our lessons
to work out our karma
to keep our soul commitments.
Our real relationship is
between ourselves and our Soul
between ourselves and God.
These inner relationships are not about sacrifice.
They are about human growth and soul evolution.
They are about releasing darkness and moving toward the light.
You Don't Have to Like It
We often have a hard time forgiving because we think that we have
to like
to condone
to sanction
something that caused us pain.
The reality is that if we liked the situation, we would not have to forgive it.
We are being challenged to change
because we do not like something.
We are being challenged to change something within in ourselves
because trying to change things outside ourselves
has not yielded the results we want
because our inner reality creates our outer reality.
The idea is not to suppress our feelings and go into denial about unpleasant circumstances.
The idea is to free ourselves from the situation.
To release our attachments, so we can move on.
The test is about moving beyond shame and blame into unconditional love and acceptance.
What we accept are our lessons and our roles in
creating our own pain.
It is easier to forgive when we realize that
others "volunteer" to play confrontive roles so that we can identify the games we are indulging in
others reflect parts of ourselves.
How to Win the Game of Life
My daughters and sons, is time to ask yourselves
What do I want in my heart and my mind?
How do I want to live my life?
What do I want to give to the Planet?
How do I want to be remembered?
How do I want to leave my legacy?
To live in the consciousness of love you must reprogram your inner computer —
change your defensive programming
identify every belief, thought and behavior that
clouds your vision
distorts your perceptions
obscures the reality of love
chose to stop perpetuating the illusion with negativity
reverse the direction and begin to spiral upward
by honoring yourself and letting go.
To live in the consciousness of love you must forgive yourself —
forgive yourself for living in illusion
forgive yourself for creating a painful past
forgive yourself for listening to others and not to yourself.
The only way to pass GO is through the gate of love and forgiveness.
The Universe is set up so that we can win, if we play by its rules.
The action that we must take is forgiveness.
The feeling that we must embody is love.
The person we must embrace is ourselves.
poem 488 Copyright by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. September 28, 1997
For news of all the latest astrological events, check out Guru Rattana Blog