What is forgiveness and how does it relate to our desire to see justice in our world?
In this article we’ll consider the question of justice vs. forgiveness from a spiritual perspective and in the context of the ongoing upgrade of human consciousness.
On a personal note regarding this difficult topic, it is not my intention to offer forgiveness as a glib and easy solution to the horrible trauma that many people go through in their lives. Earth is a hard place - certainly not for the faint-hearted, and unfortunately, despite the saying, time is often not enough of a healer. Some spiritual sources even say that Earth is the hardest and most challenging ‘school’ in the entire universe. We only have to look around us to understand how that could be true.
What I am offering is a different perspective on the commonly held ideas of justice, which, if we can let into our philosophy of life at a deep level, will accelerate the most important aspect of our time here on Earth - our spiritual growth in awareness and love.
We’ll discover that we’ll first need to change our personal understanding of the concept of ‘justice’ before we can hold both of the ‘energies’ of justice and forgiveness in our hearts. Doing this will enable us to move to a higher frequency of kindness, compassion, peace and unity - ultimately, a higher expression of love.
Ascension
By many accounts, we are now in the process of what spiritual leaders and teachers are calling ‘the ascension’. This is predicted to be a major shift in consciousness across the planet from a millenia-old state of separation into a significantly more connected, loving and community-based way of life.
“We have been living in the experience of suffering through separation, of being unseen, of going through our feelings by ourselves. We have been separated from what we are, from oneness, and from the capacity to love one another. We are going into unity with each other, with ourselves and into the capacity to love each other. There is no judgement in this new way of living.” - Anne Tucker (channelled message from the Angelic realm).
World Conflict
“But how can this be?” you might ask. “We see so many terrible atrocities, suffering and injustices happening at the moment; how can human consciousness be rising into more unity and love? And how can we find justice for all those who are being oppressed if there is no judgement in this so-called new way of living?”
At the face of it, we human beings do indeed continue to do terrible things to each other. There is so much conflict, war and persecution across the world, which has been the case for millenia. Perhaps the fact that we are now able to view this negativity right in front of us, delivered to our eyes and ears through our media technology, is one reason why the world seems to be in more chaos than it ever has been before.
We may also be witnessing a necessary ‘purge’ of the anger, hatred and ultimately fear that has been part of the human experience for so long. This negativity may need to ‘play itself out’, the festering thorn removed, until people across the world finally agree that enough is enough, and do so in numbers large enough to create a significant sea change in consciousness.
It may also be that we are witnessing a reaction to the Earth increasing her vibration. Those who have enjoyed holding power over others may be sensing that things are changing, so out of fear they are grasping to keep hold of the status quo by whatever means possible.
I suspect that this upgrade in our individual and collective consciousness won’t occur overnight, but will be a gradual process through the coming decades. The result could well be a major change in the political structures, priorities and geographic boundaries of the world driven by greater love, kindness and a desire for connection, peace and ‘unity in diversity’. An essential ingredient that will enable this transformation to take place is forgiveness.
Forgiveness vs. Justice - A Contradiction?
According to an article from the University of California in Berkeley, “Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.”
The Britannica Dictionary defines justice as being “the process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals”.
At face value, these two concepts of forgiveness and justice seem contradictory. Justice usually involves punishing the offender, so that they ‘get what they deserve’. Forgiveness, on the other hand, requires completely releasing the desire to punish.
Retributive Justice
The meaning of justice contains several layers, one of which is a sanitised and more socially acceptable version of vengeance or repayment, often seen in popular terms as ‘righting wrongs’. Many people desire and pursue this retributive type of justice, and some spend many years of their lives petitioning for justice to be served for a perceived wrongdoing that they, or others, have suffered.
The idea that wrongdoers should ‘get their just deserts’ goes back a long way. In the Old Testament, vengeance is linked with justice in Deuteronomy:
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” - New International Version
It is therefore understandable to ask that if humanity is to undergo a shift in consciousness, then surely we’ll need justice to prevail more than ever before, to right the wrongs, and lay the foundations for peace?
And so we come back to the original question: Can we desire justice for the atrocities we experience and witness while still holding forgiveness in our hearts? Are these two energies compatible as we raise our own awareness?
The short answer is no.
We cannot hold the energies of retributive justice and forgiveness in our hearts at the same time. We must choose between the lower vibration of desiring that someone faces punishment for what they have done, and the higher vibration of forgiveness with no strings attached.
At a personal level, holding on to the desire for retributive justice ties a heavy weight onto each of us, hindering us from raising our awareness into these new times. This energy is simply not in alignment with our true divine nature.
However, there is another way to look at justice so we can hold it in the same ‘space’ within us as forgiveness.
Another Perspective
Firstly, there’s a difference between desiring justice and holding someone or a group of people accountable for their negative actions.
Releasing the desire for retribution does not mean we cannot ‘call them out’ and show the world what they have done, although, there is a fine line here because it is easy to disguise retributive justice as restorative justice.
However, reconciliation is a much more spiritually helpful approach, for example, as seen in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which chose to pursue forgiveness over prosecution, and reparation over retaliation.
Secondly, the people who choose a negative path in life will indeed be brought to justice within themselves at the end of this or some other lifetime, when they undergo their ‘life review’. This is where they experience first hand the physical, mental and emotional effects they caused others by every one of their actions, thoughts and words during that lifetime. Our guides facilitate this process which is totally non-judgemental and aimed at helping the soul to grow in awareness. However, souls that have not raised their frequency sufficiently to hold the energy of forgiveness will tend to judge themselves and seek ways to attempt to ‘right their wrongs’. And so begins the cycle of karma.
This may involve further incarnations to atone for their actions in a myriad of ways. For example, they might decide to punish themselves by experiencing being the ‘victim’ themselves, or perhaps they decide to take on a more positive role to help others who are suffering in similar circumstances.
‘They will eventually come to understand the love that they are. They will eventually strive in some cases to ‘right the wrongs’ by choosing to experience karma to atone for their past actions and clean up their messes by doing good works… Once they understand the magnitude of the horrific things they have done, they will feel terrible and beat themselves up with guilt and shame… until they say I want to make this better, I want to be a better person.’ - Dr. James Martin Peebles channelled by Summer Bacon.
So justice from a spiritual perspective is about the process of growing in awareness.
Dr. Peebles goes on to say:
‘There are no mistakes, only growth... So the justice that is done is that these people are finally freed from the chains of anger and hatred. Can you find it within your heart to forgive them and pray that they will become free of these terrible feelings?... There is love within the most evil person you can imagine - pray that they will find it.”
Releasing the need to judge others allows us to choose our highest expression of love, become more of our true divine nature, and release ourselves from self-judgement (karma).
The World's Reality
Of course, for many people who have experienced terrible trauma at the hands of another, the Supreme Illusion of our human existence presents a significant challenge to truly forgiving. What can help, however, is the understanding and acceptance that at a deep level we are actually spirit - a part of the divine - simply having a human learning experience on Earth. This understanding helps us to see the bigger picture and then chart a possible path to forgiveness. But for others, for whom their physical experience is all there is in their philosophy of life, forgiveness can seem at best impossible, and at worst an abomination.
Divine Message
The Christmas message is not that Jesus Christ came to Earth to offer us external forgiveness, but to show us that we have the capacity to forgive ourselves through the absolution of others who themselves are wounded and holding darkness in their hearts.
This is the message offered to us by many enlightened beings who have incarnated on Earth; that we are not just our body, but an eternal and divine being. These Earthly journeys we have agreed to experience have been carefully planned to help us re-discover and uncover our divine essence in a step-by-step process, and learning to forgive is an important part of that journey for our personal spiritual evolution.
“Forgiveness is for the forgiver and it doesn’t matter what the forgiven does with it.” - Allison Jean, regarding the murder of her son Botham Jean in 2018.
It’s worth noting that when someone forgives their oppressor, they offer a gift to help their oppressor find their way ‘back home’ to their true divine nature. When the oppressor knows that they have been forgiven, it can be a catalyst for them to decide to change who they are in their current lifetime. This may also help them to reach a higher level of awareness and perhaps even avoid judging themselves altogether when they pass over to spirit and see the bigger picture.
Justice vs. Forgiveness
To sum up, at a personal level it is not in our best interests to hold the low vibration of retributive justice in our hearts because it is just not compatible with the much higher vibration of forgiveness.
Of course, the world’s justice systems will continue to judge and punish according to each country’s laws, and this is necessary at our current level of human awareness in order to protect citizens and maintain order.
However, let’s view justice as the growth in awareness of who we really are that can result from life’s experiences. We have the opportunity here on Earth to let forgiveness grow within us in whatever small or large way that might look like, and for whatever transgressions we experience or witness. Opening our hearts with the energy of forgiveness will enable us, and the world, to grow in light, love and peace. And maybe one day we won’t even need a justice system.
Ultimately, we will come to understand and accept a truth that may seem surprising to us at this point in our evolution; that forgiveness is not necessary, because in the grand scheme of the divine universe there is actually nothing to forgive. We will then realise that there are no mistakes - there is only growth in awareness and infinitely expanding expression of love.
Thank you for reading! I hope you found this article helpful in some way for wherever you are on your journey. Please feel free to share with friends and family, and I look forward to our next meeting.
Olly Wedgwood