What is forgiveness? Why is it important?
Merriam-Webster defines it as a cessation of “resentment against an offender,” and to “give up claim to requital” or retaliation. Note that the word has nothing to do with the offender, but purely with us. Forgiveness means to release discordant, inharmonious, or inappropriate energy patterns we have created between ourselves and others. While forgiveness removes the pain, the memory remains; however, we can recall the event dispassionately.
We desire to live a happy and fulfilling life. If we hold on to anything negative from the past, we carry the offender’s actions into the present, reliving them every time we remember and are unwilling to forgive. This means we are giving the offender free access to inflict pain on us repeatedly. No matter how difficult the experience may have been, we must ask: “Why are we holding on?” When we touch something that gives us pain, like a hot pan, we immediately let it go to stop the agony. But strangely, we do not consider our memory of an offender’s hurt a harm that needs to be released.
Letting go of a memory and forgiving does not mean we condone the deed. On the contrary, we just want to free ourselves from negative emotions that disturb or hurt us.
All of our thoughts and energies are always present. When we repeatedly think of something, it becomes a thought form. These thought forms begin to take on a life of their own. For example, the devil is only a thought form, but extremely powerful. We hear people stating that, “the devil made me do it.” That means the thought form created in their own mind became so commanding, so controlling, that they felt compelled to commit a crime. Hence, they blame the devil.
When we hold resentment or anger toward a situation or person, it becomes a thought form; it becomes real. It resides within us and affects our whole life and health. We become imprisoned by thoughts of our mistakes or by the wrongs done to us by others. We create a negative, harmful energy cord between us and another, a tie that binds and constricts us. Centered in our solar plexus, these cords cause unease, a warning “gut feeling” that we are not on a healthy path. We allow memory and feelings to put bars around our consciousness and reshape our lives.
These thought forms remain present. None gets lost, they can only be transmuted, transformed, or changed in their nature.
Everything in our lives, from the chair we sit on to our thoughts, is a vibrational pattern of energy. Every vibration has the desire to return to the light or Source. The vibrations that we hold within us that are not of light frequencies or the frequency of love—discordant energies—are imprisoned within us until we release them. When, with loving intention, we forgive others, all the damaging energy that we had created around that circumstance is transmuted. We liberate it, returning negative vibrational patterns to neutral, to the Source.
As we act and consciously practice forgiveness, our discordant energies and interactions with others begin to release. The unloving energy connections or ties we have created, and the cords in our solar plexus attached to us from collective consciousness, begin to dissolve. The universal law of forgiveness sets us free. Through it, we come into balance and harmony.
Our judgment is what prevents us from forgiving. We or they “should have known better,” or they are “evil.” When we analyze anyone’s actions, including our own, we begin to realize that every action is a response to one’s inner being.
In every stage of life, we try to do the best we can with the resources that we have. Sometimes one’s inner being is full of anger, pain, neediness, or resentment, which in turn develop into unruly or malicious behavior. When we forgive an offender, we acknowledge that their actions are due to their inner demons.
We also need to forgive ourselves and look at our actions that were not of love and light. Have we attached power cords to others that need to be released? We all are trying to do our best with the tools that we have at that moment. Sometimes these tools are not working for us, or they change, and we do something unruly. We can always look back and say that “I could have” or “I should have.” But what tools or resources did we have in our inner being that prompted the actions we are judging now? We cannot forgive unless we let go of judgment. Nor can we correct anything when we have judgment.
When we forgive with loving energy, without resentment, we are also opening a channel for pranic energy to flow. Pranic energy is the Divine life force that comes through the heart center in the form of the powerful tools of prayer and healing thoughts. This energy travels wherever we send love and light. Through forgiveness, we release that energy toward the offender. If, and only if they are ready, they will perceive this energy to assist them in their healing process.
To forgive is a very difficult process. We need Grace to do it. Without Divine intervention, we cannot liberate the ego to receive Grace. We also need to ask our higher self or soul self for assistance, so we may release the fetters of attachment through forgiveness without judgment. Let us pray for Divine guidance that enables us to live a life of joy and fulfillment as the Lord has designed.
The prayer below, given to us by Archangel Michael, will assist the process. Let us transmute discordant energies within us. We pray:
“I forgive you for any past, present, or future energies, thoughts, and deeds, in this or any other reality, that you have projected to me which have not resonated with the vibrations of sacred Love. I ask your forgiveness for any past, present, or future energies, thoughts, and deeds, in this or any other reality, that I have projected to you which have not resonated with sacred Love.”“I hereby break any agreements, past, present or future, in this or any other reality, that do not serve my greatest good.”
