Please take time this morning to read, “What is Forgiveness,” to contemplate Lesson 227, and to spend time in meditation. If you have 30-minutes for meditation and would like a gentle audio to guide you, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth:
This is my holy instant of release.
Our primary practices, awareness-watching-awareness and forgiveness are both ways of removing attention from thought. Removing attention from thought is our holy instant of release. But, why is our primary practice for release removing attention from thought?
First the “What is Forgiveness?” section of ACIM explains, “Forgiveness recognizes what you thought… has not occurred.” Second, our release comes from what ACIM calls perfect communication or what we call awareness-watching-awareness. When we become still and turn within through awareness watching awareness, we bring ourselves into perfect communication with our beingness, which shares its essence with God and our brothers. Thus by removing our believing attention from our thoughts and turning to awareness watching awareness, we transcend private thoughts in favor of perfect communion with everything.
“This is the recognition that all minds are in communication. It therefore seeks to change nothing, but merely to accept everything [forgiveness].” But our “private thoughts break perfect communication.” We justify and defend “private thoughts” and yet “wonder why it is that [we] are not in full communication with those around [us], and with God [truth] who surrounds all of [us] together. It is impossible to recognize perfect communication while breaking communication holds value to you. Ask yourselves honestly, ‘Would I want to have perfect communication, and am I wholly willing to let everything that interferes with it go forever?’”
The willingness to practice forgiveness and awareness-watching-awareness represents the single will that governs all thoughts. As ACIM Chapter 16 advises, “In your practice, then, try only to be vigilant against deception, and seek not to protect the thoughts you would keep unto yourself. Let the Holy Spirit’s [or Inner Wisdom’s] purity shine them away, and bring all your awareness to the readiness for purity…Thus [will you be made] ready to acknowledge that you are host to God [truth], and hostage to no-one and nothing.”
We protect our thoughts by indulging them. We want to ensure that we are vigilant in applying the practices of both forgiveness and awareness-watching-awareness. When you find yourself upset, ask yourself whether you are justifying or defending your thoughts or whether you are engaging in forgiveness through self-inquiry, rest-accept-and-trust, and right reasoning. It is only by practicing forgiveness that we make ourselves ready for perfect communication or clarity when we practice awareness-watching-awareness.
