The Release:
...Continued from Introduction to It's OK to Believe |
The Release – A Practice of Forgiveness |
What Is The Release?
It begins "It's OK to..."The release is a practice of forgiveness. This simple and powerful forgiveness exercise can be applied in all situations for peace of mind, self love, self acceptance, and love and acceptance of others.
I developed this practice back in 1993. I started doing forgiveness exercises in any situation in which I noticed I was judging myself or another. We can learn how to release judgement.
Is The Release A Moral Judgement?
Whilst it sounds like a moral judgement, "It's OK to..." is not intended as such.
Instead it asks us to consider that no behaviour can separate us from God's love. It encourages us to follow God's example by allowing God’s love to flow through us, both to ourselves and to the other.
On reading or saying the release, we relax in a place of self acceptance; we relax in the practice of accepting another.
What Does Forgiveness Mean As Taught In A Course In Miracles?
The practice of the release is compatible with lessons in forgiveness as taught in A Course In Miracles(ACIM). Actually, the whole of ACIM is a lesson in forgiveness!
The use of the release is also very much compatible with forgiveness as taught in
the Bible
and learned by Christians.
A Course In Miracles teaches that this world is a dream. Since God is all powerful, we do not have the power to create our own separate kingdom of sorrow, pain and separation. This world seems real to us, but
reality remains perfect as God created it.
Forgiveness exercises put us in touch with Reality: our Innocence and the Innocence of the other.
(Please note this is not about seeing a behaviour as innocent. It is about holding to the belief that we are more than our behaviour. We exist as a reality beyond the body and beyond our behaviour.)
What Benefits Does Forgiveness Bring?
When we practise forgiveness, we first experience peace in the midst of a difficulty.
As we continue, the seeming evidence for 'our sins' or 'their sins' eventually dissolves, and our world shifts a little more in the direction of heaven.
The practice of forgiveness is our purpose in being here.
We can look on each of our challenges and irritations as assignments. We stand in the darkness and yet we choose to believe in and call on the Light. When we give God access to transform our minds, we are giving God access to transform the world.
But I Can't Just Let Them Get Away With It!
The release may seem counter-intuitive. We may feel a resistance to it, as if we are condoning a hurtful behaviour and thus weakening our ability to prevent such behaviour in ourselves or another.
However, the opposite is true. Once we release judgement we are no longer blinded by our emotions and our pain. We gain an ability to accept, see and therefore judge the behaviour more clearly.
Are You Saying I Shouldn't Judge?
I wish to be clear that I am not suggesting we try to go through life without making judgements, as can sometimes seem to be advocated by Christianity and Holistic Spirituality.
As we merge back into God we will, and do, release judgements. In the meantime, we need to work to some extent at the level of our current belief in the world by making judgements about the best approach for ourselves and our world.
As we practise the release, more and more we are able to make our judgements from a place of Love.
A Book Containing A Release With Each Inspiration
In the book It's OK To Believe, I release judgement on both my beliefs and my doubts about God. I move gently towards feeling comfortable with my belief in God and comfortable in allowing others to believe what they believe. I sink deeper into the spiritual experience that lies beyond beliefs and unites us all. Spiritual poetry, releases and spiritual quotes take the reader along with me on the journey to move from head to heart.
Click here to View or buy It's OK To Believe. There is more information about the book on the next page. See link below.
Self Esteem
- Article about honouring your whole self
And now for your turn...
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What Other Visitors Have Said About
The Release And Forgiveness
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Love Your Enemies - a personal story of forgiveness In 1 month I am going halfway round the world - for one purpose...to wash the feet of my greatest enemy, in gratitude for leading me deeply into the heart ...
Forgiving Past Mistakes -
The Greatest Lesson?
LESSONS OF LIFE
The years go by,
like an accelerating train
Faster and faster,
Pausing only at whistle stops.
Summer is shorter
Winter seems ...
A Poem about FORGIVENESS
The free ebook on forgiveness is wonderfully helpful. Here is my related poem which I wrote last year.
FORGIVENESS
Sometimes ghosts from the ...
Simple and beautiful
These forgiveness exercises were very simple and helpful.
Thank you for sharing
and bless you
Leelah
Note from webmaster, Katherine T Owen
Dear ...
Click here for the next page - The Use Of Spiritual Quotes In My Work
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Forgiveness E-Book
Includes:
Forgiveness definition
Forgiveness poems
It's OK To Believe
A book of inspirational spiritual poems by the author of this site. The book includes many spiritual quotes.
”A veritable mine of timeless wisdom and inspiration. Katherine T Owen has been a student of A Course in Miracles for more than 16 years and the alchemical effect of this on her thinking leaps out from every page of this book.”
Ian Patrick, Founder of the Miracle Network in the UK, Editor of Miracle Worker magazine
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