44 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2023
    1. Ideally in the evening, before sleep, do some activity or activities that turn off the mind. You want to relax and stop thinking so much.

      Interestingly enough, forgiveness, or the act of forgiving makes relaxing easy. So, if you have someone, or even yourself, to forgive... Do this right before going to sleep :)

  2. Jul 2023
    1. Miracles transcend the body.

      Let us perform a thought experiment: imagine your reactions if you hear that wildfires have destroyed your house. Compare it to another made up news that now your enemy has burned your house. And let's imagine also how we'd react on hearing that our kids were playing, gone too far and burned our house.

      Most likely if it were our kids our first intent would be to help them first and calm them down, neglecting all that happened to the house. While wildfires could have set us on the victim's mode to start complaining on some gods, the government and generally on bad luck. And if it were our enemy, oh boy, we could have gone to a crusade in courts... to say the last.

      There is a phrase in English, that comes from most unlikely area for spiritual seekers, and it goes: "It's nothing personal, just business". What if we could unplug events from personalities and take events as winds, as an unfoldment of our hidden conciseness in dreams. What if we looked at others as merely actors, who are playing sad or vicious roles not because it's what they really are.

      The focus on a body is judgment's first initial step. Remove the pieces off the board, look past all bodies and ask to realize the truth; for it isn't personal, just karma.

      As the ‪‎ego‬ would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so would the ‪Holy Spirit‬ release your vision and let you see the Great Rays shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to ‪‎God‬. T-15.9.1

      The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of forgiveness, and provide you with a justification for forgetting it. W-64.1.2

      ...forgiveness looks past bodies. This is its holiness; this is how it heals. The world of bodies is the world of sin, for only if there were a body is sin possible ... Only the body makes the world seem real. C-4.5

    2. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another.

      ACIM begins by stating some of it's concepts that are most difficult to grasp and so they will remain unknown to you for quite awhile. Don't push it, don't try to squeeze the meaning from it but allow it to surprise you and to reveal itself for you instead.

      The guiding rope for you to navigate this section is understanding: miracles are not some magic tricks. Behind the word a "miracle" hides mental process of shifting your perception and the tool to make it happen is forgiveness, although the way this book is looking at "for giving" is not what you may think of it right now.

      In swapping "miracles" -- "forgiveness" confusion goes away. An act of genuine forgiveness is meant to be applied to every thing that blows your peace, from major accidents to seeming little things like unwashed dishes or just cold outside.

      When you maintain that there must be an order of difficulty in miracles, all you mean is that there are some things you would withhold from truth. T-17.1.3

      And yet mistakes, regardless of their form, can be corrected. Sin is but error in a special form the ego venerates. It would preserve all errors and make them sins. T-22-3.4

      It is not easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. M-14.3

      The miracle forgives; the ego damns. Neither need be defined except by this. C-2.10

      Forgiveness is the key to happiness. W-121

    3. Principles of Miracles

      Please do not take these notes as my attempt at teaching you the Course, look at it rather as (hopefully!) the Holy Spirit's answers to my own struggles with the book.

      The focus here is on the piece entitled "Principles of Miracles" because I still remember how confusing and overall unreadable it felt, despite the fact that it's the very intro to the Text. I later realized that all these short yet powerful one-liners are reminiscent to the quotes of Jesus compiled together in the Bible under the so called Sermon on the Mount. And so although the Principles are minimal in form, they all reflect the foundations of The Holy Spirit's thinking framework presented in this Course and that allowed historic Jesus to reach Enlightenment and see no threat nor value in this world.

      This is what now I understand, but back in the beginning of my study I just kept asking Holy Spirit to unfold the meaning of these lines because I had been thinking: if I can't understand and put together in my mind the very first few pages of the book, how can I dare to read it on? Hoping that the answers I received could be of help to more than only me, these notes are offered.

      If you are interested in hearing more about my personal experiences with this, please consider visiting this channel on youtube.


      The goal of any journey has to be determined right at the beginning or else you wander idly as a leaf in winds. Consider carefully now: why did you take this book? You've read a lot of other books, you have been listening to many gurus, you even might belong to a religion of some sort, and yet you're here and reading this. Inquire: why?

      There is a splinter in your mind that fuels your strangeness, it does not allow you to just settle down and "live a normal life". But what's the goal of this desire? What is it that this splinter wants? The only reason that could motivate you to pick up this giant brick of paper and at least imagine taking in its yearly course is very simple: you are deeply disappointed and unsatisfied. All of those books and gurus didn't work for you, as well as many other things that you have tried in "normal life", but something deep in you continues striving forward refusing to give up, it looks for something so majestic that nothing is compared to that. Before you say this strive is meaningless and never could be reached, let me invite a simple question: what if the splinter's goal is happiness? Is this too much to ask?

      This course is a unique and self-sustained instruction for guiding you to happiness and it requires not from you to have a background in any other system of a thought. In fact, you'll do yourself a major favor if you would drop all that you've grasped before - those books and gurus failed you, hold on to it no more. Don't try to fit this course in well known patterns, accept the fact you need a teacher and open up your mind abroad. There is no stamp and sign on paper, no court supported guarantee this course is genuine, but if you follow it you'll get experience and only this can ever make you sure.

      If happiness is your desire but you do not abide in joy, then it is logical to figure: you must be doing something wrong. Depression, fear, anxiety are rather more familiar to you and so it follows that your habits and your entire thinking framework is dedicated heavily to those. There is a saying that to get a thing you never had, you gotta do what never tried. Another quote asserts: in goodness you are asked to bite the poison and after that the honey flows, while ignorance is giving you the honey barrel, but when you bite it - poison flows. To sum it up, you must be ready for a challenge, because ACIM is going to disturb, you will resist against what it is asking you and yet what if behind of your resistance is the key that's gonna make at last all of the difference in the world?

      Your past learning must have taught you the wrong things, simply because it has not made you happy. On this basis alone its value should be questioned. T-8.1.4

      You who are steadfastly devoted to misery must first recognize that you are miserable and not happy. The Holy Spirit cannot teach without this contrast, for you believe that misery is happiness. T-14.2.1

      Resign now as your own teacher. T-12.5.8

      Remember nothing that you taught yourself, for you were badly taught. T-28.1.7

      you are studying a unified thought system in which nothing is lacking that is needed, and nothing is included that is contradictory or irrelevant. W-42.7

      To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.T-24-in.2

      If you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you back to God. T-4.1.4

      God's Will for you is perfect happiness ... You are indeed essential to God's plan. Without your joy, His joy is incomplete. Without your smile, the world cannot be saved. W-100.2,3

  3. May 2023
    1. Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement.

      How much humility would take for you to order all your guillotines to stop? So many efforts you have put to set this bloody operation going that now it's hard to even think of turning it on hold. Yes, results are outstanding, you've taken care of everything indeed, you even have been kinda generous towards the sentenced for among all the types of executions you chose the most humane. The job gets done in seconds and with those "bastards" no more spoiling the party, the world you hope becomes a better place. In sounds of clanging blades you stand and look around The Justice Square... Behold what you have made.

      Of course, the longest line is made of politicians, the traffic drivers are standing right behind and you could see bad parents, cheaters, terrorists, door dealers, lawyers and many others when you stand up on your toes. And yet at least for once you must had thinking: how many guillotines you'll need? It cannot be they haven't heard about your dreadful fame already but why oh why the line of guilties never ends?

      If you would find yourself in a completely darkened room, trying to locate a switch, and let's imagine also that you would be allergic to some color, blue. What would have happened when you find the switch and turn it on, the room gets lightened but the bulb... is painted blue. Every single thing the room contains and all of them at once instantly would make you sick and hateful - the walls, the chairs, the table - slowly blending into a giant blueish nightmare forcing you to fall down on all fours. But if we would replace the bulb and light the room again, would you be not surprised to see that literally nothing in the room was blue?

      Any pattern situation, when you face the same emotions despite the fact that scenery is not the same, is a potential siren call which when combined inevitably lead you to an extraordinary question: what if the source of all you see is placed in nowhere but within? What if you're occupying not the viewer's chair in movie theater but in the projecting room instead? What if your eyes are not receivers but transmitters of the signal? Would this explain the cause of all psychosomatic symptoms in your body that you feel when looking at their "sins"? What is the point beheading further when you are ready to recall: the only damaged neck has always been but yours.

      This ... course ... is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. C-in.1

      Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one. C-4.3

      Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation, holding all its parts in meaningful relations, the course it runs directed, and its outcome sure. W-169.12

      Forgiveness is the only function here, and serves to bring the joy this world denies T-26.7.8

      Be merciful today. The Son of God deserves your mercy. W-192.9

      No one who learns to forgive can fail to remember God. Forgiveness, then, is all that need be taught, because it is all that need be learned. All blocks to the remembrance of God are forms of unforgiveness, and nothing else. P-2.2.3

      The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way. W-256.1

  4. Feb 2023
  5. Jan 2023
    1. you  see a lot of third world debts that uh if the   third world better countries have to pay uh their  foreign debts under as the world economy slows   down they're going to be subject to austerity to  the world banks and the imf's austerity programs   00:35:01 and they're going to be kept in poverty uh is it  really right that they should be kept in poverty   just to enrich the bondholders of the one percent  the one percent will say yes that's why we're   the one percent so that we can impoverish  other people that's our liberty our liberty   is the right to impoverish other people and reduce  them to dependency uh that will happen if you do   not write down the debts uh it's already happening  in the united states to the student debt uh crisis   00:35:30 where students uh have to pay so much money uh as  they fall behind on their student debts that they   can't afford to take out mortgages to buy homes  uh and you're having the home ownership rates   plunge in the united states that's the result of  leaving the debts in place uh the mortgage steps   uh uh are causing shrinkage so there is no way  to get out of this economic polarization without   00:35:54 a debt write down and that's something that  is too radical and uh uh when we talked about   when i was referring to what china's doing i'm  referring to what it's doing today and tomorrow   about uh the uh real estate company evergreen  uh uh china has a choice is it going to leave   evergreen's real estate debts in place and every  grand uh as a real estate company is two to three   00:36:21 percent of the entire chinese economy if it  pays the foreign creditors and the domestic   one percent of china it's going to impoverish the  uh the employees of evergrand it's going to make   housing prices more and more expensive in china  china has had a debt finance housing boom uh   if you leave the debts in place then uh you're  you're going to impoverish china and obviously   00:36:47 china is going to say i'm we're not going to put  the creditors first we're not going to do what   the west does and say the sanctity of debt service  debts are uh that you owe or sacred uh it's worth   sacrificing the economy it's worth plunging the  economy into poverty just to preserve the wealth   of the one percent i think china's uh is going to  make the opposite decision and say we're not going   00:37:12 to commit political suicide we're going to operate  for it's a socialist economy and when it comes to   debt and credit thank god we have our banking in  the public domain and since the public domain the   people's bank of china is the creditor they can  afford to write down the debt without having any   political backlash because it's cancelling that  so do itself uh which is a great advantage uh and   00:37:38 it's also uh as for the private bond holders uh  it's going to say well sorry bondholders you made   loans to a company that was way over leveraged  uh already uh the american bond rating companies   have reduced their bond rating to chunk so you  knew what you were buying if you continued to hold   bonds that uh fitch and other bond raiders moody's  all say or junk and you lose your money well   00:38:03 you took the risk you got a high rate of  interest now you're you're paying the price   that's how markets work uh and uh that really  uh is the argument and i think uh you have to   uh obviously what i'm suggesting is a radical  step just as you're suggesting of taxing wealth   would require the radical step of closing down  offshore banking centers of simply negating uh if   00:38:28 banks would simply erase all of the deposits  they have from the offshore banking centers from   the cayman islands from from panama from uh from  liberia to all the places that began by to be set   up by the mining companies the oil companies  and then were set up beginning in the 1960s   essentially by the cia to finance  the vietnam war by making america   like england the home for criminal capital  for flight capital all this uh all this flight   00:38:57 capital and the kleptocracy that you mentioned  in russia all this really should be wiped out   and if you leave this capital if you leave this  one percent in place the economy is going to be   sacrificed and shrinking is it worth shrinking  the economy just to leave the one percent in place   and if you challenge them that's pretty radical  that's really what i think marx would say today

      !- Micheal Hudson : debt writedown - At a certain point, Governments of 3rd world countries who are so debt trapped may simply decide to write down the debts and start over - They may reach a point where instead of servicing the debt of the 1%, they decide its not worth it and save their own economies, freeing themselves from World Bank and IMF debt conditions - It's just as radical a move as your suggestion to stop tax evasion by closing down all offshore banks

  6. Jan 2022
    1. Miracles represent freedom from fear. "Atoning" means "undoing." The undoing of fear is an essential part of the atonement value of miracles.

      This is a very crucial topic. Fear stands among the leaders of bad decisions' motivators so when you'll grasp the depth of meaning for this subject your life will never be the same.

      Let us consider briefly what reasons make you scared. First and foremost you must be thinking that this event or person is absolutely real. The follow up is the idea: this situation threatens you somehow. And final step to get you frightened is to assure you that you have no control.

      The combo of these reasons leads you to conclusion you might become a victim so you need react preventively right now. This is a very nasty hook which you can dodge by realizing: all of those statements are equally untrue.

      Take time to learn what's in the quotes related, without this solid foundation forgiveness can't be understood.

      The correction of fear is your responsibility. When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not. You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about. T-2.6.4

      God did not create a meaningless world. W-14

      I am not the victim of the world I see. W-31

      I have invented the world I see. W-32

      The world you see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it, for what He creates must be eternal as Himself. Yet there is nothing in the world you see that will endure forever. C-4.1

      Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you. W-99.7

      What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood YOU made it up? T-20.8.7

      The end of dreaming is the end of fear T-28.3.4

      If I defend myself I am attacked. W-135

      How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look anything like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me? W-60.3

      I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. It is not real. And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. The key is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams. W-342.1

  7. Nov 2021
  8. Apr 2021
    1. Miracles are expressions of love, but they may not always have observable effects.

      Ignorance of the love's presence does not exempt you from being loved.

      The steps you take in this direction produce consequences you cannot comprehend. Amazing things will happen when you are willing to be guided, and ask the Gentle Titan instead of following YOUR plan.

      Some of your greatest advances you have judged as failures, and some of your deepest retreats you have evaluated as success. T-18.5.1

      I do not perceive my own best interests. W-24

      You know not what you do, but He Who knows is with you. His gentleness is yours, and all the love you share with God He holds in trust for you. He would teach you nothing except how to be happy. T-14.5.2

  9. Feb 2021
  10. Jan 2021
    1. Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong.

      This brings the light to yet another facet of the diamond which genuine forgiveness is: you practice not in it alone. Your willingness and your allowance are the key to let Divinity step in.

      The seekers scroll through stacks of books and pick the things they liked from each to cook their own salvation's recipe. But if it's you who is in charge of your atonement, then why you're not enlightened still?

      You cannot be your guide to miracles, for it is you who made them necessary. T-14.11.7

      You have not made truth, but truth can still set you free. Look as the Holy Spirit looks, and understand as He understands. His understanding looks back to God in remembrance of me. T-5.3.11

      Follow the Holy Spirit's teaching in forgiveness, then, because forgiveness is His function and He knows how to fulfill it perfectly. That is what I meant when I said that miracles are natural, and when they do not occur something has gone wrong. T-9.4.6

      Think not that you can find salvation in your own way ... Give over every plan that you have made for your salvation in exchange for God's. T-15.4.2

      Only God's plan for salvation will work. W-71

      You child of God, the gifts of God are yours, not by your plans but by His holy Will. His Voice will teach you what forgiveness is, and how to give it as He wills it be. Do not, then, seek to understand what is beyond you yet, but let it be a way to draw you up to where the eyes of Christ become the sight you choose. S-2.3.2

      I merely follow, for I would not lead. W-324

  11. Dec 2020
  12. Mar 2020
    1. The remedy which the tradition of Western thought has proposed for the unpredictability and irreversibility of action has consisted in abstaining from action altogether, in the withdrawal from the sphere of interaction with others, in the hope that one’s freedom and integrity could thereby be preserved. Platonism, Stoicism and Christianity elevated the sphere of contemplation above the sphere of action, precisely because in the former one could be free from the entanglements and frustrations of action. Arendt’s proposal, by contrast, is not to turn one’s back on the realm of human affairs, but to rely on two faculties inherent in action itself, the faculty of forgiving and the faculty of promising. These two faculties are closely connected, the former mitigating the irreversibility of action by absolving the actor from the unintended consequences of his or her deeds, the latter moderating the uncertainty of its outcome by binding actors to certain courses of action and thereby setting some limit to the unpredictability of the future. Both faculties are, in this respect, connected to temporality: from the standpoint of the present forgiving looks backward to what has happened and absolves the actor from what was unintentionally done, while promising looks forward as it seeks to establish islands of security in an otherwise uncertain and unpredictable future.
  13. Oct 2015
    1. My colleagues and I have developed a nine-step method for forgiving almost any conceivable hurt. We have tested this method through a series of studies with people who had been lied to, cheated, abandoned, beaten, abused, or had their children murdered. They ranged from neglected spouses to the parents of terrorist victims in Northern Ireland.

      Frederic Luskin and the Stanford Forgiveness Projects

    2. To become a forgiving person, we have to practice forgiving smaller grievances. Then, when a bigger insult comes, we are ready, willing, and able to deal with it. Alternatively, like Delores, once we learn to forgive a major grievance, we can understand the value of limiting the power that pain and anger hold over us the next time we are hurt.

      The first statement may be a specialization of Barbara Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory.

    3. Delores practiced and saw the value of the old adage that a life well lived is the best revenge.
    4. As the forgiveness training progressed, Delores began to look at her suffering and ask herself what “unenforceable rule” she was trying to enforce. I reminded her that she would not be so upset unless she was trying to change something that was impossible for her to change.

      From Epictetus.

    5. give the next moment a chance. That’s the acceptance, “I’m willing to give the nextmoment achance. I don‘t have to punish you because of what somebody else did.” And it all is,anotherway of putting this, is can I use resilience enough to be able to handle “no” whenit comes byway?
    6. the simple definition that I work with now is that forgiveness is the ability to makepeacewith the word “no.”
    7. Are some offenses so heinous that they ought never to be forgiven? Are there times when justice should trump forgiveness? Justice and forgiveness do clash at times. I do not advocate forgiving under all circumstances (unless a person’s religion dictates it). But I know that a sincere apology, restitution, or a punishment imposed by the proper authorities can often make it easier for victims to grant forgiveness. The big transgressions are not necessarily “unforgivable” because they are big. Instead, big transgressions are often the ones that, if they are ever to be surmounted, must be forgiven.
    8. It’s important to stress again that forgiveness usually takes time. In fact, in a meta-analysis of all research that measured the impact of forgiveness interventions, Nathaniel Wade and I found that a factor as simple as the amount of time someone spent trying to forgive was highly related to the actual degree of forgiveness experienced.
    9. British researchers Peter Woodruff and Tom Farrow are doing some of this important work. Their research suggests that the areas in the brain associated with forgiveness are often deep in the emotional centers, in the region known as the limbic system, rather than in the areas of the cortex usually associated with reasoned judgments. In one study, they asked people to judge the fairness of a transgression and then consider whether to forgive it or empathize with the transgressor. Ten individuals evaluated several social scenarios while the researchers recorded images of their brain activity. Whether people empathized or forgave, similar areas in the emotion centers of the brain lit up. When those same people thought about the fairness of the same transgression, though, the emotion centers stopped being as active. This could be a clue for interventionists. To help people forgive, help them steer clear of dwelling on how fair a transgression was or how just a solution might be. Instead, get people to see things from the other person’s perspective.
    10. the studies suggest that when partners hurt each other, there is often a shift in their goals for their relationship. They might have previously professed undying love and worked hard to cooperate with their partner, but if this partner betrays them, suddenly they become more competitive. They focus on getting even and keeping score instead of enjoying each other. They concentrate on not losing arguments rather than on compromise. They use past transgressions to remind the partner of his or her failings. Forgiveness, assert Fincham and his colleagues, can help restore more benevolent and cooperative goals to relationships.
    11. People are usually more willing to forgive if they sense trust and a willingness to sacrifice from their partner. The authors predicted that forgiving would be associated with greater well-being, especially in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. They figured that people in highly committed relationships have more to lose if the relationship fails and so would be willing to make certain sacrifices.
    12. Hostility also has been found to be the part of type A behavior that seems to have the most pernicious health effects, such as a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease. Forsaking a grudge may also free a person from hostility and all its unhealthy consequences. It probably isn’t just hostility and stress that link unforgiveness and poor health. According to a review of the literature on forgiveness and health that my colleague Michael Scherer and I published, unforgiveness might compromise the immune system at many levels. For instance, our review suggests that unforgiveness might throw off the production of important hormones and even disrupt the way our cells fight off infections, bacteria, and other physical insults, such as mild periodontal disease.

      Type A should take magnesium.

    13. conducted a national survey of nearly 1,500 Americans, asking the degree to which each person practiced and experienced forgiveness (of others, of self, and even if they thought they had experienced forgiveness by God). Participants also reported on their physical and mental health. Toussaint and his colleagues found that older and middle-aged people forgave others more often than did young adults and also felt more forgiven by God. What’s more, they found a significant relationship between forgiving others and positive health among middle-aged and older Americans.

      From an atheist's vantage, a perceived forgiveness by a "god" might represent a breach in social contract. It is a bit like cheating: getting the benefits without giving back anything, at least directly (though I suppose the improved happiness the subject experiences may make others around them happier indirectly).

    14. To ruminate on an old transgression is to practice unforgiveness. Sure enough, in Witvliet’s research, when people recalled a grudge, their physical arousal soared. Their blood pressure and heart rate increased, and they sweated more. Ruminating about their grudges was stressful, and subjects found the rumination unpleasant. It made them feel angry, sad, anxious, and less in control. Witvliet also asked her subjects to try to empathize with their offenders or imagine forgiving them. When they practiced forgiveness, their physical arousal coasted downward. They showed no more of a stress reaction than normal wakefulness produces.
    15. researchers differ about what actually constitutes forgiveness. I’ve come to believe that how we define forgiveness usually depends on context. In cases where we hope to forgive a person with whom we do not want a continuing relationship, we usually define forgiveness as reducing or eliminating resentment and motivations toward revenge. My colleagues Michael McCullough, Kenneth Rachal, and I have defined forgiveness in close relationships to include more than merely getting rid of the negative. The forgiving person becomes less motivated to retaliate against someone who offended him or her and less motivated to remain estranged from that person. Instead, he or she becomes more motivated by feelings of goodwill, despite the offender’s hurtful actions. In a close relationship, we hope, forgiveness will not only move us past negative emotions, but move us toward a net positive feeling. It doesn’t mean forgetting or pardoning an offense.
    16. “It is much more agreeable to offend and later ask forgiveness than to be offended and grant forgiveness,” said the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I think many people today are inclined to agree with him.
    17. we’ll see higher rates of forgiveness under those conditions that made forgiving adaptive in our ancestral environments. This means we’ll see more forgiveness in places where people are highly dependent on complex networks of cooperative relationships, policing is reliable, the system of justice is efficient and trustworthy, and social institutions are up to the task of helping truly contrite offenders make amends with the people they’ve harmed.
    18. Why might evolution have outfitted us with such an ability? Biologists have offered several hypotheses. I’m especially fond of the “valuable relationship” hypothesis, espoused by de Waal and many other primatologists. It goes like this: Animals reconcile because it repairs important relationships that have been damaged by aggression. By forgiving and repairing relationships, our ancestors were in a better position to glean the benefits of cooperation between group members—which, in turn, increased their evolutionary fitness.
    19. Chimpanzees aren’t the slightest bit unique in this respect. Other great apes, such as the bonobo and the mountain gorilla, also reconcile. And it gets more interesting still, for reconciliation isn’t even limited to primates. Goats, sheep, dolphins, and hyenas all tend to reconcile after conflicts (rubbing horns, flippers, and fur are common elements of these species’ conciliatory gestures). Of the half-dozen or so non-primates that have been studied, only domestic cats have failed to demonstrate a conciliatory tendency. (If you own a cat, this probably comes as no surprise).
    20. By making our social environments less abundant in the factors that elicit the desire for revenge, and more abundant in the factors that elicit forgiveness. In other words, to increase forgiveness in the world, it doesn’t make sense to try to change human nature. It makes a lot more sense to try to change the world around you.
    21. The desire for revenge isn’t a disease that afflicts a few unfortunate people; rather it’s a universal trait of human nature, crafted by natural selection, that exists today because it helped our ancestors adapt to their environment. But there’s some good news, too. Evolutionary science leads us squarely to the conclusion that the capacity for forgiveness, like the desire for revenge, is also an intrinsic feature of human nature, crafted by natural selection.
    22. Somebody said that forgiveness means giving up allhope of a better past. It’s done, it’s the way that it was.
    1. Forgiveness is often portrayed as a generous gift bestowed on us by someone we offended or as a gift we unconditionally extend to someone who offended us, regardless of an apology. Yet my own analysis has convinced me that forgiveness and apology are inextricably linked.
  14. Sep 2015
    1. How is it that something that begins with the impetus of love can turn into hatred?

      On the surface of a conflict, it is always the other person's fault. But if I can come to a place of peace first and then look at the situation, whatever it is, from there, a deeper truth can be seen.

      But, if I'm not willing - I'll never see it and the other person will remain the bad guy forever.

  15. Mar 2015
    1. Beloved friends, these things are of critical importance. For anyone who enters into a so-called “spiritual path” must eventually face and deal with their deep need for forgiveness, which is an expression of the soul’s deep desire to be forgiven. For there is no one who walks this plane who has not been touched by the poison of judgment.
    2. And so, therefore, in this hour, beloved friends, we would wish to share with you the power of forgiveness — how to cultivate it, how to refine it, how to understand the depths of it that can be revealed to you as you forgive seventy-times-seven times, how to bring up within you that which has not yet been forgiven, but perhaps forgotten. We would speak also, in this hour, of what perception is, and what projection is.
    3. And as I grew in age, I began to discover that the old teachers who spoke of the need to, “Forgive seventy times seven,” knew something quite profound that had even become lost within the tradition, the Jewish and Essene traditions, of my day. For, you see, to forgive means “to choose to release another from the perceptions that you’ve been projecting upon them.” It is, therefore, an act of forgiving one’s self of one’s projections. And as we begin to forgive, even unto seventy times seven times, each time you forgive you take yourself deeper into the purity of your own consciousness. You begin to see how profoundly you have been coloring, and therefore affecting, all of your relationships, through the simple act of not being aware of the power of projection.

      Definition of Forgiveness

    4. Therefore, I learned — and learned well — that forgiveness is an essential key to healing. The opposite of forgiveness is judgment, and judgment always creates separation and guilt. Judgment will evoke a sense of guilt in the one who has been judged, unless, of course, they are perfectly awake. But more than this, each time that you judge anything or anyone, you have literally elicited guilt within yourself, because there is a place within you, yet still, that knows the perfect purity of your brother and sister, and sees quite clearly that all things within the human realm are either the extension of Love, or a cry for help and healing.
    5. Therefore, beloved friend, when you judge, you have moved out of alignment with what is true. You have decreed that the innocent are not innocent. And if you would judge another as being without innocence, you have already declared that this is true about you. Therefore, to practice forgiveness actually cultivates the quality of consciousness in which, finally, you come to forgive yourself. And it is, indeed, the forgiven who remember their God.
  16. Feb 2014
    1. He ordered that the blazing fire be extinguished as quickly as possible, and that Croesus and those with him be taken down, but despite their efforts they could not master the fire.

      1.86 Cyrus redacts his orders to burn Croesus on a pyre. Whether he does this to be in good standing with the gods or through some realization of humanity is up for debate (according to Herodotus).