Suppose none of the things mentioned in the letter had been true of the teacher. The latter would have realized that her class material had upset the prejudices, superstitions, or narrow sectarian beliefs of the writer of the note, and that a psychologically ill person was simply pouring forth her resentment because a psychological boil had been hurt.
To understand this fact is to be compassionate. The next logical step would be to pray for the other person's peace, harmony and understanding. You cannot be hurt when you know that you are master of your thoughts, reactions and emotions. Emotions follow thoughts, and you have the power to reject all thoughts which may disturb or upset you.
Left At The Altar
Some years ago I visited a church to perform a marriage ceremony. The young man did not appear and at the end of two hours, the bride-to-be shed a few tears and then said to me, “I prayed for divine guidance. This might be the answer for He never faileth.”
That was her reaction – faith in God and all things good. She had no bitterness in her heart because as she said. “It must not have been right action because my prayer was for right action for both of us.” Someone else having a similar experience would have gone into a tantrum, have had an emotional fit, required sedation, and perhaps needed hospitalization. Tune in with the Infinite Intelligence within your subconscious depths, trusting the answer in the same way that you trusted your mother when she held you in her arms. This is how you can acquire poise and mental and emotional health.
It Is Wrong To Marry, Sex Is Evil & I Am Evil
Some time ago I talked to a young lady aged twenty-two. She was taught that it was a sin to dance, to play cards, to swim and to go out with men. She was threatened by her mother who told her she would burn eternally in hell fire if she disobeyed her will and her religious teachings. This girl wore a black dress and black stockings. She wore no rouge, lipstick or any form of make up because her mother said that these things were sinful. Her mother told her that all men were evil, and that sex was of the devil and simply diabolic debauchery.
This girl had to learn how to forgive herself as she was full of guilt. To forgive means to give for. She had to give up all these false beliefs for the truths of life and new estimate of herself. When she went out with young men in the office where she worked, she had a deep sense of guilt and thought that God would punish her. Several eligible young men proposed to her, but she said to me, “It is wrong to marry. Sex is evil and I am evil.” This was her conscience of early conditioning speaking.
She came to me once weekly for about ten weeks and I taught her the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind set forth in this book. This young girl gradually came to see that she had been completely brainwashed, mesmerized and conditioned by an ignorant, superstitious, bigoted and frustrated mother. She broke away completely from her family and started to live a wonderful life.
At my suggestion she dressed up and had her hair attended to. She took lessons in dancing from a man, and she also took driving lessons. She learned to swim, play cards and had a number of dates. She began to love life. She prayed for a divine companion by claiming that Infinite Spirit would attract to her a man who harmonized with her thoroughly. Eventually this came to pass. As he left my office one evening, there was a man waiting to see me and I casually introduced them. They are now married and harmonize with each other perfectly.
Forgiveness Is Necessary For Healing
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any. Mark 11:25.
Forgiveness of others is essential to mental peace and radiant health. You must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you if you want perfect health and happiness. Forgive yourself by getting your thoughts in harmony with divine law and order. You cannot really forgive yourself completely until you have forgiven others first. To refuse to forgive yourself is nothing more or less than spiritual pride or ignorance.
In the psychosomatic field of medicine today, it is being constantly stressed that resentment, condemnation of others, remorse and hostility are behind a host of maladies ranging from arthritis to cardiac disease. They point out that these sick people, who were hurt, mistreated, deceived or injured, were full of resentment and hatred for those who hurt them. This caused inflamed and festering wounds in their subconscious minds. There is only one remedy. They have to cut out and discard their hurts, and the one and only sure way is by forgiveness.
Forgiveness Is Love In Action
The essential ingredient in the art of forgiveness is the willingness to forgive. If you sincerely desire to forgive the other, you are fifty-one percent over the hurdle. I feel sure you know that to forgive the other does not necessarily mean that you like him or want to associate with him. You cannot be compelled to like someone, neither can a government legislate good will, love, peace or tolerance. It is quite impossible to like people because someone in Washington issues an edict to that effect. We can, however, love people without liking them.
The Bible says, Love ye one another. This, anyone can do who really wants to do it. Love means that you wish for the other health, happiness, peace, joy and all the blessings of life. There is only one prerequisite and that is sincerity. You are not being magnanimous when you forgive, you are really being self, because what you wish for the other, you are actually wishing for yourself. The reason is that you are thinking it and you are feeling it. As you think and feel, so are you. Could anything be simpler than that?
Technique Of Forgiveness
The following is a simple method which works wonders in your life as you practice it. Quiet your mind, relax and let go. Think of God and His love for you, and then affirm, “I fully and freely forgive (mention the name of the offender); I release him mentally and spiritually. I completely forgive everything connected with the matter in question. I am free, and he/she is free. It is a marvelous feeling. It is my day of general amnesty. I release anybody and everybody who has ever hurt me, and I wish for each and everyone health, happiness, peace and all the blessings of life. I do this freely, joyously and lovingly and whenever I think of the person or persons who hurt me, I say, 'I have released you, and all the blessings of life are yours.' I am free and you are free. It is wonderful!”
The great secret of true forgiveness is that once you have forgiven the person, it is unnecessary to repeat the prayer. Whenever the person comes to your mind, or the particular hurt happens to enter your mind, wish the delinquent well, and say, “Peace be to you.” Do this as often as the thought enters your mind. You will find that after a few days the thought of the person or experience will return less and less often, until it fades into nothingness.
The Acid Test For Forgiveness
There is an acid test for gold. There is also an acid test for forgiveness. If I should tell you something wonderful about someone who has wronged you, cheated you, or defrauded you, and you sizzled at hearing the good news about this person, the roots of hatred would still be in your subconscious mind, playing havoc with you.
Let us suppose you had a painful abscess on your jaw a year ago, and you told me about it, I would casually ask you if you had any pain now. You would automatically say, “Of course not, I have memory of it but no pain.” That is the whole story. You may have a memory of the incident but no sting or hurt anymore. This is the acid test, and you must meet it psychologically and spiritually, otherwise, you are simply deceiving yourself and not practicing the true art of forgiveness.
To Understand All Is To Forgive All
When man understands the creative law of his own mind, he ceases to blame other people and conditions for making or marring his life. He knows that his own thoughts and feelings create his destiny. Furthermore, he is aware that externals are not the causes and conditioners of his life and his experiences. To think that others can mar your happiness, that you are the football of a cruel fate, that you must oppose and fight others for a living, all these and others like them,