T. 24. III. 1 – 4. Jesus: “Forgiveness is the end of specialness. Only illusions can be forgiven, and then they disappear. True forgiveness is release from all illusion, and that is why it is impossible but partly to forgive.
No one who clings to even one illusion can recognize himself as sinless, for he holds one error to himself as worthy still. And so he makes it unforgivable and turns it into ‘sin!’ How can he then receive forgiveness for himself when he would not give his forgiveness wholly? For it is sure he would receive it wholly the very instant that he gave it so. And thus his secret guilt would disappear, forgiven by himself!
Whatever form of specialness you cherish, you have also made a ‘sin!’ Inviolate in your mind it stands, strongly defended with all your puny might ‘against’ the Will of God. And thus it stands against yourself; your enemy, not God’s! So does it seem to split you off from God, and as its defender, make you separate from Him.
Thus would you protect what God created not, an illusion. And yet, this idol, specialness, that you thought would give you power, has actually blocked your access to real power. For you have given up the wholeness that is your brother’s birthright for you to have specialness, leaving him alone and unforgiven and yourself in sin beside him, both in misery, bowing to the idol of specialness that can save you not!
It is not really you, yourself, who are so vulnerable and open to attack that just a word, a little whisper that you do not like, a circumstance that suits you not, or an event that you did not anticipate upsets your world, and hurls it into chaos. Truth is not so frail!
Illusions leave truth perfectly unmoved and undisturbed. But that specialness you cling to is not the truth in you! It can be thrown off balance by anything. What rests on nothing never can be stable. However large and overblown it seems to be, it still must rock and turn and whirl about with every little breeze.
Without a firm foundation, nothing is secure. Would God have left His Son in such a state, where safety has no meaning? No, indeed; His Son is safe, resting safely on Him.”