The Importance of Forgiveness
In order to heal our bodies, we must first understand what is unconsciously motivating us and what message our body is trying to send us. An exploration of our subconscious responses often leads back to one or more past-lives that originated the symptoms we are experiencing. Discovering what happened to our bodies in another time, such as dying in battle from a gunshot wound in the stomach, being tortured for our beliefs, dying from black lung disease after working in a coal mine, or being executed for having killed someone, is the first step in the healing process. Knowledge is potent but not always sufficient to change the imprint that sends energy to our automatic reactions. It is not beneficial to throw up our hands and move on, suffer in silence, forget a wrongdoing, or even entertain the thought that it was our spiritual lesson and therefore somehow okay. We must address the spiritual and mental reasons why this happened and make corrections. It is essential that we learn the lesson this history represents and use it for our own soul growth. Unless we do this, the imprint persists, and the body will continue to send us messages of pain and illness.
Forgiveness plays a key role in this reshaping of our thoughts and in transforming the energy stored in our physical and subtle bodies. Its power is unlimited. When we forgive, we clear the imprint of that negative influence and come once more into alignment with our divine nature. Forgiving a person does not mean excusing, rationalizing, justifying, or condoning his or her hurtful, inappropriate, or unconscionable actions. It does, on the other hand, mean releasing grudges, eliminating negativity, and trying to achieve a positive outcome, even if the other party is no longer alive or this happened thousands of years ago. The willful intention to forgive is what is needed to reap the full rewards for us and to dissolve the destructive energetic tie between us and another person. Without forgiveness we remain stuck in the mold of our negative reactions, responding automatically and unconsciously to what is happening in our lives. We become a prisoner to these patterns.
Our own names should be on that list of those in need of forgiveness. We are often much more critical of ourselves than we are of others who make similar mistakes. It is almost as if our parents (or others who judged us harshly) have taken up residence inside our heads and are always on call to tell us how unworthy or incompetent we are. The Cayce readings tell us that the spiritual error we often make is being harsh with ourselves, not loving ourselves.
Although we may struggle to forgive ourselves and others, we must honor the necessity of forgiving as part of the process of healing. Even when we have done our work, others may not be ready or able to change. Allow them to be who they are. They have chosen this path. Through forgiveness you have freed yourself from the negative bond between you and the other person, and your body will respond.
Over time A.R.E. members have achieved extraordinary results from using the 40-Day Forgiveness Prayer created by J. Everett Irion who served as the treasurer of the A.R.E. for many years. In addition to his administrative role, he wrote several books and gave lectures that were based on information in the readings of Edgar Cayce. The September/ October 1985 Venture Inward magazine, published by the A.R.E. for its members, included an article on the 40-Day Prayer written by Irion. Here is an excerpt from that article to provide you with the information you need to put this transformative tool to work for you.
A man in his mid-50s who came to see me during a conference on dream studies told me his doctors had given him only six months to live, and that he knew he was going to hell and there was nothing that could be done about it. He had been having a repetitive dream. This was it:
I am standing alone looking at an empty house. I walk around the house and look in the windows. I back away, wondering why I am here. Hearing a noise behind me, I turn and find a black lamb. It says to me, “You didn’t eat the bread.” End of dream.
The man interpreted his dream, saying, “I know the white lamb represents Christ and the black lamb has to be Satan, and since I did not eat the bread I am going to die and go to hell.”
I asked him what had happened in that house. He replied, “It is the house my wife and I lived in before I divorced her.”
He seemed to want to make amends, so I asked if he would consider going to his wife and saying simply, “Thank you.” He looked at me in sorrow, slowly shook his head and said, “I can’t do that, she is dead.”
Did he believe in reincarnation? I asked. He said he did. So I asked if he believed his wife still lived and that only her body had died. Again, he said, “Yes, I do.”
So I suggested that he try saying a little prayer to his ex-wife, and then a similar prayer to himself, leaving God out of the prayer because their problem had been at a personal level between them and needed to be handled on that same level—they were jointly responsible for the intimate problems that had divided them. Without knowing what was in the prayer, he agreed. Let’s say her name was Mary and his was John. I asked him to say—and to mean—this simple prayer to his former wife.
“Mary, I am praying to you. Thank you, Mary, for doing to me all that you have done. Forgive me, Mary, for doing all that I have done to you.”
This idea of thanking her for everything came out of the simple concept that we should be thankful for everything that happens to us. Years ago I had read in The A.R.E. Journal an article by a man in the diplomatic service who had adopted the practice of saying, “Thank You, Father,” for everything that happened to him, whether it was painful or pleasurable. I have often done this in the belief that whatever happens to us is for the good.
Next, I told the man who wanted to make amends, to say the prayer to himself—to his inner self, his unconscious as follows:
“John, I am praying to you. Thank you, John, for doing to me all that you have done. Forgive me, John, for doing all that I have done to you.”
I asked the man to use this two-pronged prayer once a day for a week. As we talked further, he told me that there were other people he had had problems with. He wondered whether he could use this prayer to reconcile those relationships. I said he could use it for anyone he had problems with. He left shortly thereafter, seemingly in much better spirits.
I heard nothing from him until I received a letter a year later. “I want to thank you for healing me,” he wrote, “From the moment I left your office I have had no more pain. The doctors tell me I am completely healed. I have felt better this past year than ever before—it has been the best year of my life.”
I had nothing to do with this man being healed, but I’m sure his prayers did. So I thought others might benefit from using that simple prayer. My decision to offer it to them grew out of the problems that people brought to me. As people responded, I somehow connected the prayer to the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness, the forty years Moses took to reach the Promised Land, and another forty years wandering around, and finally, to the forty days and nights of the flood. I suggested that the prayer be used for forty days in succession.
During the years since, as many have used this prayer, I’ve learned some do’s and don’ts for the results to be helpful. They are:
• After doing the prayer each day, put it out of mind so that the prayer can do its work undisturbed by our wishes and expectations. The best thing is not to expect any results, as the prayer will do its work only if undisturbed by the person doing the praying. Don’t tell the person to whom you are praying. Talking about it disturbs the operation of the unconscious at a very deep level.
• Keep track of the forty days on a calendar. If you forget and miss a day, start at the beginning of the forty-day cycle again. Remember Moses made a mistake getting to the Promised Land and had to start all over again.
• In a crisis, the prayer can be used over a shorter