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When anyone behaves insanely, they are offering you an opportunity to bless them.
--paraphrased, Text, pg 127

“God Bless You!!” we called in unison after one of our co-workers sneezed. How easy it is to extend this sneeze blessing.

A Course in Miracles invites us to take our gift of blessings a step further. In fact, the above passage suggests we bless those very challenges that irritate us the most. Why? Because that which catches our attention, that which we see as calling to be blessed, is also the exact blessing we need for our selves. The Course states, “there is no way to have it, (the blessing) except to give it”. It’s that Universal law of circulation we see and experience repeatedly: to give is to have.

We know it feels right to extend our blessings to those in seeming need. But how good are we at maintaining this attitude when it involves someone who doesn’t share our values?

Let me share an extreme example I heard at a workshop with psychologist David Richo. A few weeks ago the news reported Saddam Hussein’s two sons were found and eliminated in a fierce confrontation. There were mixed reactions to this announcement. Some are not convinced its true, others are relieved the depraved brothers are gone, and still others delight in saying these two men burn in the firey torment they deserve.

Richo suggested we take a moment to picture the ones we see as “wrong-doers”, the two corrupt sons, and see them shoveling coal, surrounded by fire, tortured by a demon standing behind them. With that vision, notice how your body feels. Now, replace that vision. See them sitting peacefully in a quiet garden, wearing Buddhist monk robes, eyes closed in meditation position. Behind them, picture a wise Abbott reviewing each atrocity they have committed, asking each man to humbly ask for forgiveness. With this different vision, notice how your body feels.

When you carry around the thought of anyone being justifiably punished in a hellish manner, we put ourselves in hell by the thought alone. We receive what we give. In contrast, if we can envision the brothers sitting peacefully and asking sincerely for forgiveness, we create a tremendous shift within our self. We become part of a great transformation.

If we can somehow shift our view away from evil, though it is challenging, we actually contribute to the eternal transformation of this planet. The Course says “The ego’s picture is deprived, unloving and vulnerable. You cannot love this. Yet you can escape it by leaving it behind. DO NOT SEE THIS PICTURE IN ANYONE, OR YOU HAVE ACCEPTED IT [FOR YOURSELF]… Teach no one he is what you would not want to be.” (Text pg 127, 8)

Leave behind the old judgmental images and seek instead to find compassion. Certainly we should feel outraged and saddened by cruel acts. But releasing judgment is the beginning of self-compassion. All confusion comes from not extending life, the text continues. Don’t condemn another to hell, but seek the way to extend life to yourself and the world – anywhere we hold our judgments. I have reasoned that we cling to our judgments because we simply can’t make sense of such atrocities. But do we want to continue holding our self and our planet in hell by giving evil such power?

By their acts, they ask for blessing. Every attack is a call for patience, and patience can translate attack into blessing, for those who attack do not know they are blessed. DO NOT SHARE THEIR ILLUSION! This passage, from page 128 in The Course, concludes with one of my favorite quotations: Rest in God’s Love and protect your rest by loving! Here is our opportunity to bless insane behavior. We can release to Spirit that which makes no sense. We can replace our judgments with blessings. We can rest in Divine Love.
Will you choose to answer the Divine Call to bless? The next time you bless a sneeze, let it remind you to bless also the bigger vision.