What is Forgiveness but a Willingness That Truth be True? — A Course in Miracles
The ho’oponopono prayer has been surfacing for me in a lot of places and I had the gift of deep diving into a forgiveness meditation with a women’s group recently that sparked my curiosity around what it means to forgive.
In this meditation, there were the usual suspects, those that were a part of the deepest wounds that set us up for what our purpose is here on this glorious planet. Those people that I’ve forgiven time and time again and who still remain present in my life when certain things arise and old wounds are triggered. Or in meditations around forgiveness.
There were also a few new ones that I didn’t think had that much of an impact on my life but were obviously showing up to show me something. Upon reflecting with a friend following the meditation, I recognized that what they’re showing me, these recent offenders, were the patterns of projection that I can fall into if I’m not paying close attention.
What I refer to around this pattern of projection is the way that I see others. My idea of what someone else’s intention is develops based on actions that I witness and how I feel around them. It does not take into account any of the rest of the variables of their lives, leaving me completely inept to make decisions around anyone's intent at all.
When we say the ho’oponopono prayer, we’re able to get in touch with the parts of ourselves that create these projections in order to bring forgiveness to what we’ve created.
We’re all so easily victimized when our story is the only one we hear over and over. This is what makes meditation so critical to self-awareness. In the practice of forgiveness, we often go to others that have offended us. It’s a beautiful and rare thing, at least for me, to move beyond that idea and toward the part of myself that needs it. The part of myself that misses the Christ essence of every human being I encounter.
I mean, that’s kind of a big ask. To see everyone walking around shining like the sun as our hometown hero Thomas Merton once said is something that my non-monk lifestyle knows but doesn’t practice as well as I’d like.
Yet I know it is true. I know we all have this essence available to us that is perfection. We were born this way, we carry it within us at all times. And we have free will. We have the ability to choose whether or not we access it, or whether we keep creating chaos through judgments and projections.
My oldest can’t stand it when I start the ho’oponopono prayer I’ve said it to him so many times. We really do learn a lot with our first children, don’t we? I’ve even tried getting him to consume a tincture created specifically for this prayer as he needs it as much as I do. We all do.
My work is to continue to bring forgiveness and curiosity to where I unfairly think I know what is really going on and setting clear boundaries around the spaces that I am responsible for.
