The world teaches us that guilt is real and that we are all guilty. Yes, in the past, we all have made mistakes. But is the past here right now? Here, right now, in this moment, are we not perfectly innocent?

To believe that guilt is real, one would have to believe that each moment of your life you are supposed to carry the full burden of your past. You are meant to do the hard work of constantly being ashamed of yourself for what is not here. Ignoring present reality, you are meant to pay a price for memories. For this, you punish yourself and allow yourself to be punished. In truth, your guilt is only a story—a collection of thoughts, no longer true right now, that you choose to make real.

But if you can be still. If for one instant, you can let go of the past. If you look around you, noticing the colors, the textures, the sounds, the silence, and stillness behind it all. Can you clearly recognize that you are not guilty in this moment? That you are perfectly lovable? Right now, you are perfectly innocent and perfectly lovable. This is forgiveness. This is also reality.

In an instant you can heal from guilt. Then, you can love yourself. You can even extend that love at every opportunity. You can allow yourself to feel good. You can smile. You can let that burden of your past drift away. You can fix anything in your situation that needs fixing—not from a position of guilt and shame; rather, from the certainty of your perfect innocence.

If there is ever any insane behavior in the present moment, you can correct it. But to hold guilt over yourself or anyone is to condemn to death by creating an insanity in the mind that overshadows the beauty and perfection of the present moment. You cannot awaken, you cannot heal, you cannot love if you decide that guilt is real. I assure you it is not. You are perfectly innocent.