Short Lessons on Agapé : The Higher Dimensions to Forgiveness

Agapé is not against itself.

If you are in a state of extreme feelings over great wrongs, read this first: How To Forgive a Murderer.

Source of Forgiveness

Sometimes it feels like forgiveness first originates from within ourselves, but we do not create ourselves (are only part of a chain), maintain the universe that sustains us, or prevent our bodily death. Name — Life or God depending on our beliefs — alone can forgive us for doing wrong against anyone including ourselves. It is built into our conscience (suneidesis).¹ Forgiving ourselves, if we follow that practice, and each other is a necessary afterglow.

The key to forgiveness begins with knowing the one standard of what Name considers wrongdoing, sin for believers. There is only one issue: not loving all others unconditionally, agapé. For as knowledge of Word states — Christ or Truth depending on our beliefs — agapé can do no harm. From an unkind thought to the murder of millions, they are all expressions of the lack of agapé. Once we realize how often we fail, willingly or not, we know how very much we need forgiveness, and yet, knowing exactly how the standard works actually lifts the heaviness of it completely.

Once we are willing to at least work with the standard for a time, we will see that the more we seek forgiveness based on the standard, humble ourselves according to its perspective, the better our understanding of unconditional love is and the more of it we receive from Name.

Next, we begin to understand that only with such agapé ourselves can we be forgiven for wrongdoing we are addicted to and wish to stop but cannot. We cannot because we have not yet learned the truth that increases our agapé and sets us free — the knowledge of such forgiveness and this agapé. Without this knowledge, we never have a clear distinction of why we can resist wrongdoing at times but not at other times.

The truth is: great agapé in ourselves gets us forgiveness from Name on both sides of the distinction as long as we are learning the knowledge. We learn how to endure the desire to do wrong by recognizing that it works socially, identifying it as social addiction and not our own. Great agapé in ourselves empowers us to be tempted without being addicted. With the power from receiving such forgiveness, agapé then increases to even greater levels in us through knowledge and all perception. Agapé, forgiveness and knowledge, they work in a circle.

Agapé, Forgiveness and Knowledge

Word said — her wrongdoings were many, but she was forgiven BECAUSE she loved much. Now we know how we can have great agapé and commit much wrongdoing at the same time. We cannot think we love much when we choose not to love others unconditionally or choose not to learn when it is possible to learn. It is only when we choose agapé but are unable to express it — due to addiction and lack of knowledge — that our agapé can still be great.

Such knowledge, together with much forgiveness through great agapé, frees us from addiction and empowers us to know, while being freed, that this kind of agapé is still in us throughout the process. With self-awareness that such agapé is still in us, we see the clear distinction between successful and unsuccessful resistance. We understand why we hold on to social addictions as our own — strengthened by our blindly resisting involuntary reactions.

Working with the standard up to this point, we see how to uphold our end of the relationship with Name, working through the unconditional love and forgiveness in the knowledge of Word. It no longer works from judgment of ourselves and others, but from justification and forgiveness breaking addiction and making agapé abound more and more between us through Word in Name.

Addiction in relationships, therefore, is only a temporary condition when we choose to learn the knowledge of forgiveness and agapé. As Word said to one, go and do wrong no more, indicating that, not only can we break addiction with such knowledge, but we can avoid the wrong of not loving our enemies unconditionally. Under the principle working in democracy, according to knowledge of Word, it is loving the enemies of our national suneidesis.

As long as we choose to love them, we are justified if we cannot by learning how to make our agapé grow until we can. This part of the knowledge though requires understanding that we are never against ourselves, never putting ourselves in unnecessary danger. Agapé is not against itself, resisting wrongdoing peacefully.

Having come this far with the one standard, we know that having unconditional love certainly does not mean we do not make mistakes. We no longer associate having such agapé with being perfect. There will always be things we do that we wish we had not, things we simply fail to see coming or have sufficient time to avoid.

However, seeking forgiveness for these things also, according to the one standard, strengthens our desire to do no harm as our unconditional love guides us, making fewer mistakes. Staying humble makes it all light and easy. Asking Name for such forgiveness is not a ritual of words, but, depending on our growth, may be as subtle as a gentle thought, while taking whatever form necessary when asking anyone else for it.

Remember though, while we may already have similar knowledge about forgiveness, what has been discussed brings another dimension, the new wineskins ready for the new wine. Faith or trust in the goodness of Name is still necessary but on a higher level, needed all the more in the midst of the world’s shameful actions. See Spiritual Faith and Prayer.

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Doing Wrong No More

Now if we are not willing to at least work with Name’s standard for a time, we will continue to think that our wrongdoings are not many, or if we do, not know what to do about it, except perhaps seek continuous forgiveness for what we do not understand, with no hope of ever going and doing wrong no more.

We will continue to follow one or more of the different standards in human nature without ever knowing how to partake of our spiritual nature in Name. Thus, Word says — he who is forgiven little, loves little — due to the many addictions of the heart and refusal to love unconditionally. It is not because we have little to be forgiven of, but because we have chosen the wrong standard.

But if we are willing to learn, gratitude follows when we understand the one standard and see through the half-truths about forgiveness that society uses to maintain social addictions. Name reveals unconditional love for us when we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness according to the one standard. Likewise, we learn how to forgive all others unconditionally whether they ask for it or not — without being against ourselves, peaceful as much as possible, but always acting from unconditional love.

They either know not what they do, following the wrong standard of forgiveness, know what they do but have not been freed from addiction, or simply made a mistake. We do not need to know which condition fits to forgive each other unconditionally.

For Americans, may the key to forgiveness guide us to unconditionally forgive the perpetrators of 9/11, while always seeking righteous judgment.

Suggested Reading:

The Eyes of Democracy (Introduction and Index of Articles)

1. Suneidesis, pronounced soon-eye-day-sis, is a Greek word that joins our natural awareness with our sense of conscience. Click on the link for a detailed explanation. It is central to this teaching. Using this foreign word regularly in discussions helps us get accustomed to experiencing something new and positive working in our awareness itself. When the word conscience is used, it will refer to the aspect of suneidesis that involves right and wrong, but this aspect cannot be separated from our co-conscientious awareness of all things.

If I understand that my awareness of something as simple as a cup includes co-conscientiousness, I do not allow myself to get blinded by the cup alone but know it as part of all creation at the hands of the Creator or the universe, depending on one’s beliefs. Spiritual maturity does this naturally.