No Sin is Harder to Forgive than Another - Grasshopper

Is it possible that The Grasshopper has ruffled some feathers with this pronouncement? I immediately had objections to this gift from G-force, so I just sat with it for a moment. Then the truth behind the words became clear.

It is not really possible for humans to forgive. Forgiveness belongs to the realm of Divinity and only the Divine can bestow forgiveness.

Part of being human is to possess an intellect. An intellect can never understandthe concept of infinity (rhymes with Divinity). It's beyond our capacity.  Something so complicated is said so simply in the Buddhist teaching of Indra's Net.

In the heaven of the great god Indra
is said to be a vast and shimmering net,
finer than a spider's web,
stretching to the outermost reaches of space.
Strung at each intersection of its diaphanous threads
is a reflecting pearl.
In the glistening surface of each pearl
are reflected all the other pearls,
even those in the furthest corners of the heavens.
In each reflection,
Again are reflected all the infinitely many other pearls,
So that by this process,
Reflections of reflections continue without end.

Indra's Pearls by David Mumford

We as humans can only contemplate finite, selective forgiveness. That means, to our intellect, that some transgressions are unforgivable. I'm sure you have a list, as did I.

Then it became clear that I don't do the forgiving. The forgiving happens through me. I am a vehicle of infinite forgiveness but it is not my gift to bestow. You can go to the largest cathedral in the world and not find grace for sale. It's always a gift from the Divine.

Forgiveness will never come from your ego or intellect. It's not their gift to give. That's why forgiveness is such a difficult thing for human beings. We are attempting to wrap our intellect around infinity and this practice puts us into a dizzying, never ending trance - just like contemplating Indra's Net. 

Pretend your intellect has a 1 gallon capacity. And now you ingest a half a cup of the powerful poison known as hatred. That's enough to keep your mind poisoned for a lifetime. You don't have the ability to dilute it.

Also imagine for a moment that Divinity is a vast, infinite ocean. That same half a cup of poison deposited there is diluted, neutralized and then transmuted into divine forgiveness because infinity has the necessary capacity to handle all sins.

It's a matter of real estate. We just don' have the square footage to forgive.

So, does this give us a passport to go on grudging and hating?

If you stay in the land of the ego, that's all you will be capable of. The sword of resentment and animosity cuts in both directions. You are not immune to the fallout of your loathsome thoughts.  Buddha said it in these words:

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

If you open yourself up to the possibility of making some room for forgiveness, it will gush in as a current of clemency.

How do you make room? Colin Tipping addresses the topic in his ground breaking book Radical Forgiveness. He suggests that a willingness to forgive is the first step to open the door to Divine Forgiveness. Just this little crack in the stone wall of your mind is enough of a catalyst to begin the process.

Eckhart Tolle's masterpiece, The Power of Now also offers a pathway to forgiveness as does the Ho'oponopono work of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len.

I hope this note has stirred your curiosity about letting forgiveness into your life. It's capable of transmuting all trespasses. Forgiveness carries within it the peace that passes all understanding.

All the best,
John