True Forgiveness

Neville Goddard 04-01-1969

Tonight we will take two aspects of the great mystery: true forgiveness, and the immortal eyes which see into eternity.

“He said to them, ‘When two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.’ Then Peter said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brothers sin against me and I forgive them?’ and the answer came,

‘Seventy times seven.’ “The art of forgiveness must be practiced daily, but first we must learn how to forgive. Repentance and faith are conditions of forgiveness, but true forgiveness is forgetfulness. Christianity and its doctrines make no sense to the worldly-wise, so why are people Christians? The promise that the dead will rise doesn’t make sense to the mortal mind when the body is cremated and burned to ash; yet only by believing the story of redemption, can you truly forgive. You must learn to distinguish between the eternal human who occupies a state, and the state itself. This is the only means to forgiveness.

All scripts are written for actors. In the play, the actor cast in the role of a murderer must play that part, and so it is with this world. God, the author, wrote the script and plays all the parts, while wearing a mask, called “another.” If you will learn to distinguish between states of consciousness and their occupant, you can forgive everyone. How? By identifying the one you would forgive with the ideal he failed to realize. The highest ideal would be to identify him with the divine image itself. As God we said: “Let us make man in our image.” That image is Christ. You are called upon to take a man who is condemned by the world, and see him radiating and reflecting God’s glory. Well, you could fall a little short of that image, but you could take an ideal he has failed to realize. It could be affluence or at least an income equal to his responsibilities, until you are strong enough to go beyond the barrier of observation and see him as the divine image himself.

Matthew makes this statement: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” In the Hebraic world it is said that if two sit together and there is no word of the Torah between them, they are seated in the seat of the scoffers; but “Blessed is the man who sits not in the seat of the scoffer, but rejoices in the law of God day and night, for that man shall prosper in all that he does.” Although the man is known to have a brilliant mind, if he does not discuss the Torah (the law of God and his prophets), he is seated in the seat of the scoffer. And in the 3rd chapter of the Book of Malachi, we read: “When those who love the Lord speak with one another and discuss the word of God, the glory of God is between them.” How many in the world today fill that bill? Who, at a cocktail party ever discuss the word of God? I recall about five years ago I was invited to a dinner party, where everyone was telling jokes. Although I love a joke, I am not a good story teller of that nature; so when it was my time to speak I rose and told them about God’s law. When I seated myself the gentleman giving the party said: “I didn’t realize we had invited a longhair here tonight.” That was his attitude towards the word of God. Well, the gentleman has just departed this little section of time, and has been restored to a young body to continue living in a terrestrial world like this – but without his money in the bank, for that he left behind. He took the knowledge of what he had done and who he is with him, but his earthly things he left behind.