You who were created by Love like Itself can hold no grievances and know your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. It is the decision to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death.
Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to your awareness. It seems to split you off from your Source, and make you unlike Him. It makes you believe that he is like what you think you have become, for no-one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself.
Shut off from your Self, Who remains aware of His likeness to His Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake. Can all this arise from holding grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds grievances denies he was created by Love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dreams of hate. Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?
It is as sure that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their own image as it is certain that God created them like Himself and defined them as part of Him. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt as it is certain that those who forgive will find peace. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are as it is certain that those who forgive will remember. Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed all this were so?
Perhaps you do not think you can let all your grievances go. That, however, is simply a question of motivation. Today we will try to find out how you would feel without them. If you succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in motivation ever again.
Begin today's extended practice period by searching your mind for those against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances. Some of these will be quite easy to find. Then think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like, and even think you love. It will quickly become apparent that there is no-one against whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort. This has left you alone in all the universe in your perception of yourself.
Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all collectively, thinking of each one in turn as you do so:
I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me, and come to know myself.
Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world which protects you and loves you, and which you love in return. Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you, and holding you up. Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way. At the end of the practice period tell yourself:
Love holds no grievances.
When I let all my grievances go I will know I am perfectly safe.
The short practice periods should include a quick application of today's idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone, physically present or not:
Love holds no grievances.
Let me not betray my Self.
In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:
Love holds no grievances. I would wake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside and wakening in Him.
“Love holds no grievances.” This sentence is a test of reality. If you hold a grievance against someone, you cannot know your Self, because your Self was created by Love like Itself. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. It is to see yourself as a body, to let the ego govern your mind, and to condemn the body to death. Every grievance cuts you off from your Source and makes you believe God is different from you, and therefore frightening.
Do you really want to keep your grievances, knowing what they do? They make you forget who you are, fill you with guilt, and make you fear God. Those who forgive, on the other hand, find peace and remember their identity. The lesson does not ask you to release your grievances by sheer willpower, it simply asks you to discover how you would feel without them. If you succeed even a little, you will never again have a problem with motivation.
This lesson is the logical extension of Lesson 67. If Love created you like Itself, and Love holds no grievances, then you cannot hold grievances and remain yourself. Lessons 69 and 70 will deepen this: grievances hide the light within you (69), and your salvation can only come from you (70). Lessons 71 and 72 will show how grievances are an attack on God’s plan itself.
Today, choose a grievance you carry, even a small one. Close your eyes and imagine your life without this grievance. How would you feel? Lighter? Freer? More at peace? Stay with that feeling for a few minutes. Then silently say to the person involved: “I forgive you and I free myself.” Even if you don’t yet feel it, the intention is enough to begin the process.
Freedom waits on the other side of every grievance you release.
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