Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

To forgive and to show those around you that you are able to let go of a grudge or a hardship committed against you...shows humbleness and much strength. Strength of will and of the mind.

I strive as a learner of the Light, to put that which hurts me behind. At the same time I love those, even those who have wronged me in anyway. Haven't you noticed that once you forgive, there is a weight that has been taken off of your chest. Holding a grudge causes hate..Hate leads down a dark path which I do not believe is right. To hate a fellow man or woman, it will ultimately lead to nothing. It creates a hole with which nothing can fill. But to forgive creates warmth and happiness.

Take this for example. Once there was a boy whose name was Anonymous. He and I were very much best friends. Then all of the sudden, through a misunderstanding, the two were thrown into a bitter fight. The fight lasted a few weeks then ended when one of them moved away. Although I was on the end that was accused unjustly, I did not act out of anger. I forgave him and wished him well in life. There have been times where he has tried to contact me to down talk me, and I listen. I listen out of respect for both myself and for my old friend. To hate this person or to not forgive him would be wrong. Both wrong for myself and for him.

Although he was indeed wrong, I would be just as wrong as to not forgive him. Forgiveness is powerful and once you give yourself to the Light, suffering fades away and is instead filled with peace.

May The Force be with you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness I know that there are many here who do not like or even look down on Wikipedia. And everybody is entitled to their own opinion; I like it. Often I can go there and look something up then be pointed down different avenues of interest. I would not suggest it be the end all of knowledge; but, I do think that it has its place as reference material.

This time, I was lead to look up forgiveness and found the literature at Wikipedia to very informative; and, from (or to include) many different religious view points on the subject. So, I thought I’d share.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness

I personally don't really experience strong emotion at all when I remember things

Thus I never feel the need to forgive, because they never have any hold on me

I am very good at just distancing myself from past emotional attachment

Perhaps I just have yet to have an experience bad enough to provoke a response...

But I have to agree that if someone wrongs me then my trust is broken in them for a very long time

This isn't because I'm angry at them, but just because from past experience I know that they have made mistakes so who says they won't do the same again?

I find forgiveness has to be a practice instead of a thought. For me that means, I need to recognize two things:
the person who hurt me is human with all the things that come with that. They make mistakes, they have moments of weakness, they fail. Given that, I have to try and see the Force in them and ask myself....how have I wanted to be forgiven when I make mistakes?
Second, I need a practice to help me forgive. When I uncover a resentment, I ask the Force to bring that person everything that I want in life: friends and family that love me, success, a big happy life. When I can honestly say that I mean it, I feel like I have forgiven them. This process sometimes takes me a long time of practicing it every day.

Forgiveness, in my book, is something we give ourselves. It sets us free to continue loving others and letting the Force flow through.

I believe forgiveness is not the issue here. There are always going robbery things that cannot and should not be forgiven, but they do not need to be forgiven to break their hold upon you. It is about acceptance. There will be things that you cannot forgive...that you cannot change. It is important to accept that and allow the action to play its course. Let those who cannot be forgiven go and associate with those who do not hurt you...that is the key to happiness, because unfortunately that is life.

I actually see forgiveness As a type of acceptance, myself, and I believe because of this, it is essential to one's social intelligence.

I was always told forgiveness isn't ours to give. Especially if you are Christian. Forgiveness is only through Christ. If a person wrongs you, Christ has already paid for that and it automatically becomes between the "sinner" and Christ. Forgiveness isn't what we have a difficult time with, it's letting go.

That's the Christian point of view. However, if you aren't Christian, it's a bit more complicated. I suppose you could think of it as a relationship between the wrong-doer and Karma, if you will. Everything we do - good or bad - will return to us, somehow. I guess we should feel pity for those that do us wrong, in that case.

Those are obviously taken from books and things I've learned. I, myself, am still working on it. I do know that when I cannot forgive, or
move on, it's constantly in my mind and causes a few problems for me, personally. I know I'm holding myself back by not doing so. If only it was as easy as it sounds..

Akkarin wrote: I personally don't really experience strong emotion at all when I remember things

Thus I never feel the need to forgive, because they never have any hold on me

I am very good at just distancing myself from past emotional attachment

Perhaps I just have yet to have an experience bad enough to provoke a response...

I find it hard to believe that this is possible without either dedicated self-training or a strange emotionless upbringing. Could it be that you are repressing the emotions rather than not encountering them at all? To associate memories with emotions is a natural thing.

Zev Bastra wrote: I believe forgiveness is not the issue here. There are always going robbery things that cannot and should not be forgiven, but they do not need to be forgiven to break their hold upon you. It is about acceptance. There will be things that you cannot forgive...that you cannot change. It is important to accept that and allow the action to play its course. Let those who cannot be forgiven go and associate with those who do not hurt you...that is the key to happiness, because unfortunately that is life.

Proteus wrote: I actually see forgiveness As a type of acceptance, myself, and I believe because of this, it is essential to one's social intelligence.

I agree with Proteus, and although I see where you're coming from Zev, I think that we should always strive to forgive, whilst acknowledging that it is not always easy. To me, deciding that I cannot forgive people and cutting myself off from them will only make me regretful and sad about not having them in my life any more (unless it's someone who has a permanently and persistently negative effect on me). The only way that I can see to keep such people in my life without negative feelings is to forgive them, as acceptance without forgiveness can still lead to a resentment-tinged feeling of 'I accept that this person is not trustworthy, but it's still annoying'. Accepting that past things cannot change is a totally different thing, I feel, and far from this meaning that forgiveness is impossible, I believe that it is one of the keys to forgiveness. A person cannot change who they were in the past but by forgiving them you are giving them a chance to be a different person in the future.

Mikhal wrote: I find forgiveness has to be a practice instead of a thought. For me that means, I need to recognize two things: the person who hurt me is human with all the things that come with that. They make mistakes, they have moments of weakness, they fail. Given that, I have to try and see the Force in them and ask myself....how have I wanted to be forgiven when I make mistakes?

Reliah wrote: I suppose you could think of it as a relationship between the wrong-doer and Karma, if you will. Everything we do - good or bad - will return to us, somehow. I guess we should feel pity for those that do us wrong, in that case.

I find that these two ideas particularly resonate for me. Thank you.