We are living in times of change, you and I know this. But tell me, are you reacting to the planetary change that is all around you, simply trying to keep up with the pace of change, or are you the creative nucleus of change in your own life, in harmony with planetary change? In other words, do you follow change, or are you aligned with its creation? Jesus is always identified with religion. Very few people refer to Jesus the man, with no religious connotations. Jesus is associated with Christianity, and all that Christianity implies. The 'knowing' of Jesus the man, was far beyond his teachings. In any true teacher it always is. As I have said many times, 'Truth is not a person's Truth out of timing." Just as a child has to grow to an age where geometry makes sense, so do adults have to 'inner grow' to the point where Universal Truth makes sense. And so it is with the forgiveness cycle. The Christian religion is very strong on forgiveness because of the teachings of over two thousand years ago. Those teachings were designed to meet humanity where it was at then. Surely in two thousand years we have made more than just technological progress. We humans are a strange amalgam. We live in constant dichotomy to our potential. Just as an example; we have a great knowledge of health available to us all, yet we are a sick and diseased people. Why? Because on a level of consciousness we have not made the required changes. The intellectual knowledge of health is not health. The knowledge has to be fully lived, causing such inner/outer change that it becomes our reality.
If you intellectualize change, you are not part of change. You are an onlooker, an imitator of what seems changed. A chameleon that changes its color from brownish branch to greenish leaf is disguising its reality, not changing its reality. If you are the nucleus of change, you become the energy of branch, the energy of leaf, not a simulation. So it is with Truth. If Truth is no more than words spoken that are intellectually received, then the person who is receiving is simply adapting to the environment of the words in the same way the chameleon adapts to the environment of a tree. A teacher knows and accepts this. So often a person comes up to me during a Re*treat to tell me that they understand what I was talking about. Then, within a few moments conversation, they show me all too clearly that they have merely identified the colors of my words and have done the chameleon trick - and they are totally unaware of this. Neither do I point it out. It all comes back to Truth and timing - and a willingness to go into unknown territory with no disguise, no camouflage . . . vulnerable.
Jesus spoke of forgiveness, and that was the question, so having laid out some of the groundwork, let us now focus on this. If you are going to forgive a person, it is obvious that the preceding energy was blame. If, coming from your Christian upbringing, you decide to forgive Saddam Hussien for his brutal treatment of Iranian dissidents to his rule, first you must have blamed him for the way that he treated them. Always, blame comes before forgiveness. If you did not blame, forgiveness would not be even a concept. Blame is the precipitation of forgiveness. Suppose you lived your life so free of criticism, so free of judgement, that as you viewed world events from the media there was no anger within you, no belief-based criticism, no negative condemnation, simply an openness and receptivity of life, knowing that every human Being creates their own reality; where then the forgiveness? There would be none, nor would it be needed. No blame, nothing to forgive. Impossible, you might say, yet basically, I live in this way. If I know a Truth, it is because I live it. Truth not lived is Truth not yet realised. You can understand Truth intellectually, but this has little to do with 'knowing' Truth. Back to the chameleon - changing color is not changing your reality! Two thousand years ago Jesus knew perfectly well that to ask a person not to blame would be like asking them to fly. So he settled for the next best thing - forgiveness. Unfortunately, two thousand years later, the religion that upholds the words of Jesus - not the reality of Jesus - is still stuck in the same groove. Today, the Christian religion is floundering. This is not because of a lack of interest from the people, it is because instead of precipitating, leading, and guiding change in human consciousness, the Church stumbles along in a reactive mode, moving forward like a reluctant dog on a choke chain. The Church should be playing the role of initiator in human consciousness, enriching humanity with insight and wisdom. We can blame and forgive for as long as we want to play this particular game of illusion, but nothing is happening in consciousness. It has no more, or less value than the chameleon changing its colors as it moves through a tree. But - you might ask - what is the alternative? What can I do that allows me to grow in consciousness, to embrace Truth?
Be aware that when you seek to embrace Truth, your life is about to abruptly change. Truth and illusion do not hold hands. They cannot occupy the same space. Are you sure that you are ready for this? Into your life will come a flow of growth and movement that will create any avenue needed to precipitate your inner-expansion. And some of those avenues are not ones that you will enjoy. Basically, the greater your resistance to the growth you invoke, the more painful the process will be. The more open you are, the more vulnerable, the more non-attached, the easier the unfolding growth of your consciousness will be. I suggest you begin this process by letting go of blame. Surely you have no need to act in the same manner that you did over two thousand years ago. Surely you have grown enough in consciousness that you can now express a greater Truth in your life. Let go of one of the habits of linear time - blame, along with its co-dependent, forgiveness - and begin an entirely new and fully conscious flow of expansion that is in sync with change and expansion. And the name of this new expression is - acceptance.
Okay, so somebody treats you badly, or, your perception is that you have been treated badly. This goes hand- in-hand with low self-esteem! Now, instead of a big blame explosion, then later the forgiveness routine, you are going to look at the situation differently. You see that first, foremost, and always, you create your own reality. So, 'you' have set this situation up. Instead of the old reaction routine, you take a deep breath, and as you breathe out, you relax. You deliberately let your physical muscles relax, then your emotional muscles, then the muscles of your psyche. You – all of you - relaxes. You literally 'let go' of all attachments to the issue.
If you practice this, gradually you will find it impossible to blame, therefore you will not need to forgive. DO this, don't just read it and say, "Oh, that's nice." DO it, live it, make it your reality. Become the growth of change, rather than its battered opposition. By doing this you are already accepting a whole different reality. You will now realise that you brought this person or people into your life at precisely the right moment to hit your 'change and grow' button. Of course, this is what growth is. Before, when you were held in illusion, they would have hit the 'react and blame' button.
Which way will you choose to live? Will it be conditioned habits created through thousands of years - reaction and blame - then the illusionary salve of forgiveness, or will it be change and grow, moving into the newness of the moment as you accept the vast and wondrous out-workings of human consciousness? It's your choice. Even making that choice is a triumph beyond reaction, because reaction is the abdication of choice. Instead of forgiveness, choose acceptance. Accept that the reality you are creating which is your life includes everything. Everything! Either you are creating everything in your life, or you are creating nothing. And the latter is so obviously false you can let it go. You are the creator of your whole life; every incident, every drama, every illness, all the joy, all the love, all the happiness - all your creation. If you can accept this as Truth intellectually, and then take the quantum leap required to actualise it by living it, releasing 'all' blame - and this includes blaming yourself - then, in consciousness, you will transcend the 'blame and forgiveness' cycle, moving into the greater reality of acceptance. Truly, your world, your life, your expression will change. Life will cease to be the old ongoing reaction of blame, eased by forgiveness. Instead you will experience a new and greater expression of self created within the living dynamic of true acceptance.
In Love and Light, Michael
