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Forgiveness is the greatest healer of all.
-Gerald Jampolsky & Diane V. Cirincione
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From "Loving Each Other" by Leo Buscalglia:
Of course, forgiving is not an easy process. Our rational mind is not sufficient to instantaneously break through the intricate web of feelings which overcome us when we are wronged. It seems more simple to look for ways to escape our pain. Rather than deal with it, we blame, we accuse, we condemn, we exclude, we damn. Forgiveness can never be realized in an atmosphere of accusation, condemnation, anger and fault finding.
We will only begin to forgive when we can look upon the wrongdoers as ourselves, neither better nor worse. We need to remember that we coexist as mortals in the world, together, the wronged and the wrongdoer, and that, in our common humanity, the situation could readily be reversed...
Emotional and psychological pain are at least as debilitating as physical pain.
Few of us will escape these pains in our lifetime. It cannot be avoided. It can only be dealt with. Forgiveness is often the major, if only, out. As David Augberger puts it, "Forgiveness is letting what was, be gone; what will be, come; what is now, be." It is a freeing of self from the past and facing the future wiser, with renewed hope and faith. Forgiveness is often called an unconditional gift of love. This implies not that, "I will forgive you if or when," but, "I will forgive you because I must, if I ever hope to continue to live fully."
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