LOOKING ON A FORGIVEN WORLD

When you can see the world without judgement; you will be able to see paradise.

To accomplish this, you must forgive yourself. You must recognize your innocence and that of your neighbor. No amount of guilt is good. It was fashionable during the eighties for some people, even psychologist, to postulate that a little bit of guilt was a good thing. That is nonsense; it is like saying a little neuro-toxin won't hurt you.

It is human to regret hurting somebody. It is an error needing correction. A person needs to recognize their error and decide not to make the same mistake; thus forgive themselves. Because you are human, you may have to do this again and again. Guilt is the feeling that you are a lesser person because of your mistake; a flawed human being. Feeling guilty always perpetuates the behavior you are feeling bad about. It never, never prevents it. To truly forgive yourself or others you must be whole yourself and not be diminished by guilt.

You can't forgive yourself if you insist on hanging on to your judgements of others. It takes practice to see others as innocent. It seems a jerk is a jerk deserving of your condemnation. Here is where compassion will aid you. When you see a person behaving in a negative manner, remember that they are the one in pain, whether they know it or not. See them with compassion and understand their behavior as a call for love. With practice you can learn to see through their craziness {ego} to the beautiful spirit they are. This won't happen overnight. Don't expect too much of yourself. At first just remind yourself,  when you see somebody being a jerk, that they are in some kind of pain. Eventually you will see their innocence.

A good exercise when you find your self judging yourself is to say, "I have forgiven myself and I look upon a forgiven world".

At this point we have no idea how powerful our perception is. We cannot really see the truth that is outside ourselves as long as we look through a filter of judgement. Every judgement you make affects what you see. We remain prisoners of our judgements until we can give them up.

That is why in the conclusion of my letter yesterday I used the present tense, I wrote "............dream of the glorious world" You don't need to think of this beautiful world in the future. It is here now, we just need to open our eyes.

Love and Peace,  Gregg