I Am At The Centre of Forgiveness

by Robert Meagher on 09/03/14

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

Last month I was offered the transcendent experience of complete and total forgiveness. This experience took place during my morning meditation. For those students of A Course in Miracles, I was practicing lesson 342 “I let forgiveness rest upon all things, for thus forgiveness will be given me.” Even though this was my fifth time through the ACIM Workbook for Students and even though there are at least 100 other lessons in ACIM workbook that speak directly to forgiveness, on this morning I was given a glimpse of what it truly meant to forgive and to be forgiven.

For what felt like only a moment in time, only a couple of relaxed breaths, but for what was an eternity, everything was perfect in the world. I was at complete and utter peace with the world; with everyone and everything in it. Everything was perfect, just the way it was. Everything was exactly as it should be.

As this spiritual vision expanded and became clearer, I was brought the truth that I was at the centre of this forgiveness. In fact, there was nothing outside of me that needed to be forgiven, only me. As this rush of forgiveness of myself coursed through my body, I was at complete peace. The truth about me was revealed. I was perfect just the way I was. I was complete and whole just the way I was.

There is a beautiful poem by Leonard Cohen called “Anthem” that speaks of this forgiveness. Cohen reminds us not to dwell on the past, or the future, but to rest in the present. In his poetic grace, Cohen reminds us that in this worldly state, none of us are perfect—we all have our ‘cracks.’ But as Cohen points out so eloquently, these cracks are what allow the light in. And we are also reminded to “forget our perfect offering” precisely because we are already perfect just as we are. Here is that exquisite poem by Leonard Cohen…

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.

Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government—
signs for all to see.

I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring ...

You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

There is nothing you can do that can make yourself anything other than whole, complete and worthy of love. Through the process of forgiveness we are brought this awareness and truth. At the heart of this awareness, as the Buddha says, “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”

Shanti, Namaste, Agapé,