Copyright 2001, Colin C. Tipping

If you find yourself unable to accept any of these as-
sumptions, simply disregard them. It will make no
difference to the effectiveness of the Radical Forgive-
ness experience.
3: Worlds Apart
W
hat we might learn from Jill’s story is that
things are not always what they seem. What
appears to be cruel and nasty behavior on
somebody’s part might be exactly what we need and
have indeed called forth. Situations that appear to be
the worst that could possibly befall us may hold the key
to our healing something deep within us that keeps us
from being happy and prevents our growth. The people
who seem to us to be the most troublesome and the
least likeable could therefore be our greatest teach-
ers.
If I am right about this, then it follows that whatever ap-
pears to be happening is seldom what is truly occur-
ring. Beneath the apparent circumstances of every situ-
ation exists a wholly different reality — a different world
altogether; a world that we are not privy to except for
the occasional glimpse.
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Jill’s story demonstrates this fact beautifully. On the
surface there was the drama of what was happening
between her, Jeff, and his daughter Lorraine. It was
not pretty. It looked as though Jeff was being cruel and
insensitive. It was easy to identify Jill as a victim in the
situation and Jeff as the villain. Yet there were enough
clues in the situation to lead us to the possibility that
something else of a more loving nature was happening
— and that it was being orchestrated at the spiritual
level.
As the story unfolded, it became obvious that Jill’s soul
was doing a dance with the souls of Jeff and Lorraine
and that the situation being played out was purely for
her healing. Moreover, far from being a villain, Jeff was
actually a hero and, from that spiritual perspective, had
done nothing wrong. He had simply played his part in
the drama, as dictated by his soul, acting in support of
Jill’s healing at the soul level.
When we shift our perspective to this possibility, we
become open to the idea that nothing wrong took place
and that in fact there was nothing to forgive. This is
precisely the notion that defines Radical Forgiveness.
It is also what makes it RADICAL.
If we had asked Jill to apply traditional forgiveness to
this situation, we would not have investigated this 
‘other
world’
possibility. We would have taken the evidence
of our five senses and used our intellect to come to the
conclusion that she had been wronged and badly
treated by Jeff and that if she was to forgive him she
would have to accept what he did and try her best to let
it go, or “let bygones be bygones.”
From this we notice that traditional forgiveness takes it
as a given that something wrong happened. Radical
Forgiveness on the other hand takes the position that
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NOTHING wrong happened and that consequently,
there is nothing to forgive. We can put it like this:
With