How can I see the divinity in other people?
We had a message several years ago about seeing the divinity in others. Some people have said that this is quite a challenge for them. They see someone acting in a certain way which makes it difficult for them to perceive that person as divine. It is such a challenge for them to practice forgiveness, they say. They understand the value of all of this but find it so hard to put into practice. What can make it easier, they wonder? I will do my best to support you here, but I agree with you. This is not an easy process. True forgiveness and unconditional love are not simple states to attain. If they were, you would have realized your ascension long ago. This is where the pedal meets the metal. This is where the tires meet the road. This is the real work of ascension. It is easy to be in theory about what truth is, but it is the practice that makes reality real. Every day you create for yourself situations to do this work. What a blessing that is. There is never a rest. Every day. You can hide from the world, but your mind will still flash these “old stories” in front of you, and in addition, perhaps, project futures ones with endings not to your liking. The challenges that are before you can be called “seeing the divinity in another” or “practicing forgiveness”, which are actually “seeing the divinity in you” and “practicing forgiving yourself”. In a given moment the outer or the inner focus might prove easier to move through.
Think of those areas that are the most difficult for you to accept. You all have your own hot spots, but I will dangle a few in front of you. Some are general while others feel more personal. The general might include someone using their power in a way that seems to hurt many people. So you blame and are angry at politicians, businessmen, or criminals. On a personal level it may be an individual who seems to have insulted you, who doesn’t return your love as you wish them to, or who judges you – which makes it hard to see them as divine. We want to remind you that all of this is you. Nothing else you perceive to be out there is separate from you. It is all your creation. When someone is acting in a way that you don’t approve of, that is you acting. It is you that you don’t approve of. If you pretend that isn’t the case and you assume that there really are others capable of hurting you without your permission, then you are truly stuck in an endless cycle of pain, negative emotion, and helplessness. This will continue lifetime after lifetime until you agree to take responsibility. You are the creator of your earthly experience. You are manufacturing these events in an attempt to externalize all the judgments you hold about yourself. You do this in a futile attempt to hide your failings from God. You hope that God will punish them instead of you. All of this is, as we have told you, a misunderstanding. God does not and could not judge you. You are innocent and have nothing to be judged for or to hide. However, as long as you perceive another person’s actions as real and believe that there are victims, you aren’t able to let go and forgive.
The first thing that we would suggest to you is to remember that the forgiveness you are asked to perform is always a forgiveness of self. Seeing the divinity in another is always seeing your own divinity. You cannot see the divinity in another if you are not seeing it in you. On the other hand, if you judge another and cannot see them as divine, then you cannot hold yourself as divine. It doesn’t matter where you start, whether you focus on the forgiveness and divinity of yourself or the other person. It is all one. It is all your creation. So, now use your creation. You may have chosen another to be the scapegoat, but instead you can see them as your mirror. The reflection they provide can allow you to see the self-judgment you have been avoiding. Now that you can see clearly, you can forgive yourself and replace the judgment with love. You can feel gratitude for what your mirror has shown you. You can thank them (silently) and feel love for them for providing such service. The easiest way to forgive another and to see the divinity in them is to love them. As you observe them or think of them, send them love. Keep sending them love. If your ego mind wants to throw anything else in there that is less than divine, you let that go and return to love. Love them not because they have earned it; love cannot be earned through actions. There is no logic in this love. If your mind demands a reason, the reason is that they are divine. Wherever there is divinity there is only love.
Much of this process is private. If the other individual is at a physical distance, your process has to be private. However, if the other person is right in front of you the situation is much different. Does this mean that you smile and lovingly accept whatever the other is doing? Not necessarily. A Course in Miracles speaks of something called “level confusion”. This recognizes that while you are in a body you are always acting in part from the ego. The choices you are making to forgive, to see divinity, and to act from love – to choose Spirit over ego – can only be made from the ego mind. If you fully accepted your divinity, there would be no choice to be made. This choosing of Spirit, of love, has to be made over and over. When you are confronted with a challenging situation with another, it can only be because you projected your “old story” upon them. This is difficult to deal with in that moment. It will be hard to speak to them without projecting. Deep inside you may believe that you deserve to be punished. I am not suggesting that you stand there and receive your punishment. That is not the teaching. Listen to Spirit as best as you can and do what comes to you to do in that moment. It might be to say no to whatever is coming at you. Later, when you work with the residual energy of what happened, is the time to see how everything was your creation. You do this not by blaming yourself instead of the other, but in acknowledgment that it could be no other way, that everything happens to help you see your divinity – as well as the other person’s divinity. No matter what happened or how you or they reacted, as you look back on the situation focus on loving them and yourself. When we talk of this loving, we mean without qualification. The love is never earned; it is an automatic deserved response to everyone in every situation. Nothing can disqualify them or you from this love. If something seems to be unlovable, that is your own self-judgment – take responsibility and replace it with love. In the end, forgiveness is the realization that there is nothing to forgive.
There is a stereotype of a parent who loves their child so much that, even as an adult, nothing their child could do could cause that parent to drop their loving defense. No matter what the world’s judgments may be, they stand fully behind their child. The child may lie, steal, murder, or rape, but the parent says, “Oh if you knew the heart of my child, you would love and forgive them, too.” This is what you are aiming for. Those of you who have children likely make exceptions for them you wouldn’t make for others. Make everyone your child. See them all as innocent babies. That is what you are surrounded by – millions of innocent babies. That’s all that you are – an innocent baby.
If you want to see others as divine, the first thing is to do everything you can to think of them with love. Let go of any judgments you notice yourself holding, and see them lovingly. If you are in their presence, act however you act. Away from the moment, let go of all of that. Hold that person and yourself to the highest love you can find. This is what opens the divinity in them to you. Now, full forgiveness becomes possible, knowing that in truth there is nothing to forgive, there is only divinity – knowing that none of this has anything to do with them, that it is all about you. The answer to today’s question is unconditional love, feeling it for others and for yourself. Your ego mind always tells you that you should have handled things differently. Of course, you are in a body. You act from the ego. But, that is not the truth of you. You are divine. What would it be like to feel God’s unconditional love all of the time? Feel that now. Give that to yourself. Give that to everyone else. That’s all we of you now. It is a very simple thing, just open up to that love. It is the only reality. God loves you.
God Blesses You
Sanhia