Lesson 297: “What is the Real World?”  “Forgiveness is the only gift I give.”

Rise above claiming the victim role. 

We all at times feel like a victim but the Course gives us guidance about how to let go of this old habit.  We learn that all people are equally sinless.

No one deserves to be in the position as the attacker toward us. 

When people make poor judgements or when they do something unconscious and this behavior then results in our feeling badly, then sometimes we get stuck identifying as the victim. 

Other people are sinless in the Course’s teaching- that means- however grave an error someone might make in choosing their behavior, they may just be in error.

We want to remember that they are doing their best even if we don’t understand why they do what they do.  

This is one valid reason we don’t want to hold grievances about what they have done.  When we are angry at them for being unkind or seemingly unloving, we need to hold the Course’s teaching close to our hearts.

God is always part of the situation and God’s plan is always in action no matter how it looks. 

This is why we have the potential and are learning to forgive the situation as we perceive it. We just have to trust all will be well in the end if we just hold our faith close to our hearts.

We must accept the situation as one we yet do not understand what God has in store for the broader plan for our lives or for the sake of humanity at large. 

This is one reason we can let this go and forgive the person whom we think has affected us negatively.  Therefore, we don’t need to be a victim.

Furthermore, we don’t want to accept the victim role for our own sakes specifically. 

When we feel like the victim, it feels terrible.  This is all the reason we need to simply learn more about why we do this.

We can take this information and use it and adopt an attitude that is not the victim because this is simply what makes us happy. 

Feeling like a victim zaps our energy and this belief about ourselves we internalize.  Then, we create in our projections scenarios where we make ourselves the victim outwardly.

We absolutely will not be happy with additional situations where we feel victimized to add to our list.

This is why we must take this awareness seriously and as a result, be willing to make this different.

One thing that helps tremendously when we don’t know how to shake the victim identity no matter how we try is that we realize that God can teach us and help us in letting this go.  The Course teaches us to forgive this belief that we are wounded in a way that we need to profess we are a victim.

We must forgive the situation and forgive ourselves for not having an easy exit from our victimhood. 

Forgiveness works when we just stay at it until it works. 

When we just sit with the grievance and allow God to hold our hands and show us how to surrender this perception of ourselves, it works.  Just keep remembering, our victimhood is a chance to learn deeper forgiveness.