The following discussion focuses on self-forgiveness as one of the acts of life that fills experience with purpose. It brings love to a place where it wasn't before and transforms the spot by bringing a different fulfillment.

When we do self-forgiveness, the channel that opens up is inside. We initiate a channel from the basic self through the high-self. Through that channel, we stand in the light and reconcile our belief with the truth of self. In essence, we align with the Holy Spirit and declare to the basic self that the limiting belief or separation is discontinued and replaced with essence of virtue it was blocking. For example, you may forgive yourself for believing you are unlovable. By so doing, you tell the basic self to align with your innate loving as an internal and transcendental source.

The sense that the energy is outside comes from the awareness that the source of transformation is outside the system of the belief, which is the self-concept, or status-quo. The transformative energy is embedded in our depth. In quantum fashion, when we forgive ourselves the inner and outer source act as one. The self-forgiveness tells the basic self to change and invites the high-self to transform the limitation. This action communicates a change in our relationship to the unconditional love that is God. This changes the way we are nested in the personal and universal field. The self-forgiveness changes how our consciousness is nested in the One. So the transformational energy is outside and inside of us. A simple movement of the heart, like kindness, has a similar effect. It is a technique. It is also a remembrance of self. We re-place our selves into the givingness of self that preceded the taking from self.

This section is extracted from Robert D. Waterman's book
Self-forgiveness, an Act of Life (1976).

Though the temptation is there to think of self-forgiveness as a technique, it does not function so in practical application. The concept will be developed by elaborating on fifteen qualities of self-forgiveness.

1. The deepest tendency within humankind is toward balance and growth. All urges, needs, desires, and accomplishments somehow stem from our own archetype seeking to fulfill itself.

2. Whether the individual works with or against those deepest tendencies is a matter of choice. Humankind rules his life by choice and in experience man dramatizes who he is. Regardless of age he will meet situations and subdue or be subdued by them according to the meaning structure through which he perceives the events. He may alter what was already known in order to adapt, or move blindly in the face of his own darkness. The choice is an expression of love and will.

3. Situations in themselves are not imbalancing; our response, the meaning we impute, the choice we make, can imbalance. Any experience represents an opportunity for growth and any situation we encounter has the potential to integrate or dissociate our ability to live from our inner vitality.

4. Though we may not be able to change past situations, we can change the meaning we carry within us regarding those events. Although an experience is in the past, we can relive the experience in the present and change the meaning we made out of the experience. Recall, in itself, is not enough. The interrupting experience must be transformed. We can change our mind and as we do, the pain evoked reactivates the inducing mental-emotional judgment, releasing both as the pattern becomes conscious. As these patterns are systematically released, the natural flow of life-force through the body is reestablished, as well as mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

5. Choice always involves three components: thought, emotion, and action : symbol, energy, and direction : love, will, and consequence. We cannot avoid choice. Abdication of choice is a choice. As we cannot avoid choice, we cannot avoid responsibility. The understanding of the self is acquired through experience. The process of acquiring is perfect in the beginning and always will be. The step called mistake is in a sequence which is a perfect process of experimental discovery. If we attach our identity to the mistake, we are in effect a mistake. After a while our identification as mistake rather than a maker-of-mistakes leads us to the philosophical conclusion that we have no power to alter that conclusion. Our ability to create is blurred by identifying with the mistake. We lose the ability to recycle our mistakes through the "purifying fires" of the Higher Mind. To fear to act because we may be wrong is the greatest wrong because we abdicate our "dominion" and our "inward kingdom" which results in our outward domain falling to external forces and controls. We narrow our conscious awareness to a small realm of threatening shadows.

6. Cause and effect have in each life a historical pattern of connectedness and are woven and re-woven through individual understanding of its symbol, energy and direction.

7. The reference, or locus, for the natural tendency within humankind for balance and growth is within. It is hard to imagine the potential for creative human influence when individuals recognize the degree of inner authority that can be exercised. The locus of intellect and love within us is far deeper than we perform -- it is at the depth that we are a Being that is one with the Father-Mother principle, and yet still deeper, the unmanifested Source. In this Higher Self reference we so loved the possibility of ourselves that we created a begotten personality as an instrument of growth and change so that we might understand our eternality, and thus live consciously in our eternal perception as co-creators with the Divine.

8. Each choice, large or small, has an effect (a consequence) of either moving a personality closer to his or her deeper being or further away.

9. Self-forgiveness is a choice with an outcome of greater cooperation with the inherent, internal tendency toward balance and growth. When in response to circumstances we create self-pity, injury, fear, grudges, etc, we deny to ourselves the use of a great resource, presence intellect and power from within us. Divine love is unconditional and ever forgiving and is available to us directly through the Higher Consciousness. When we attach ourselves to an external reference through judgment, we block the consciousness of redeeming love and super-conscious wisdom from our use. When we relive the energy and symbol that blocked us and forgive ourselves, the Divine Balance is allowed to enter our personality and establish the same condition in our personality world that exists in our higher consciousness world.

10. The activation of self-forgiveness is enhanced or impeded by group-process.

11. Self-forgiveness is as effective as it is sincere; yet, is activated according to the individual ability level. Sincerity is a skill. You may be at a level of sincerity and tell me that you will do this or that, yet in ten minutes you may have grown in sincerity and discover that in reference to now you lied, yet it seemed true then. If you take on guilt or try to justify the discrepancy you will lose the gain you made. However, if you confront your lie and take action to fully utilize the gain, the lie becomes a positive action and moves into a corrective law. We may re-experience a distorted moment and forgive ourselves and release much.

12. Self-forgiveness is a conscious choice, a subconscious realization and a higher -consciousness acceptance (It is not a belief). Self-forgiveness is not a belief -- it is a knowing and as such our choice and statement places it as an active element within us. When we re-experience the past and choose consciously to change, corollary patterns occur subconsciously and super-consciously. There is a realization of the impact of the conscious choice: the experience of release and change of meaning is recorded in place of the old interpretation. Super-consciously new vistas present themselves to the conscious mind. Reprogramming can change patterns in the subconscious mind through repetitious affirmation -- but self-forgiveness changes the patters in the subconscious mind through direct intervention of the Higher Self.

13. Self-forgiveness is spontaneous in people who have gained the ability to relate to the unity of life with the entirety of their being. Even though we may be self-realized beings and all our conscious levels are highly synthesized, we are still here, still growing, and still confronted with choices and mistaken choices. The difference is that when our growth is more progressive than evolutionary, realization of the mistakenly applied energy is sufficient to release it. Release and understanding, both act and consequence, become spontaneous.

14. Self-forgiveness carries the implication that all events are purposeful and ultimately worthwhile. If self-forgiveness allows us to claim an understanding that we did not possess before, then the purpose of difficulty is to solve that difficulty, to understand, to extend and expand the ability level of our Soul -- it seems that all souls are equal in their perfection but not in their ability level. In this context, we conceive that we have never done anything that was not worthwhile. We were always worthy in in ourselves; it was the belief in attachment to error that created a sensation of unworthiness. When the sense of inherent worthiness returns, growth accelerates and balance is enhanced. Our quest is to learn to use our inherent worth to master life.

15. Self-forgiveness is economical - the best use of human energy that can be made out of any event, for experience is only wasteful when it is not used for growth, for greater understanding; we are wasteful to the degree we are ego-attached to our mistakes. There is a moral imperative in the understanding of energy and its exchange and perhaps the only moral imperative: "Unto thyself be true"; THYSELF -- not the belief patterns of the mind that masquerade as self. The personality is a garment, a vehicle by which our Being might enter the real of Earth to gain the wisdom thereof. It is to the Being that we are true. There is no dogma to re-alignment of the personality -- mind, emotion, and body -- with the Soul and Spirit, only self-forgiveness. We hold within us a vision of what we could be and an image of what we are -- how we handle this discrepancy is crucial.

"As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much. There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force, which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together.

We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter"

 Do dolphins look for God? If they have never been separated from God,
why would they look? Maybe they swim in God as they swim the ocean.

The True Hero

What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway.

My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!!!!!!!!'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!!!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!