Forgiveness

[Deepsoul]

Thanks TheGlow Jesus says put your hands into my wounds and you will be healed, I love that passionate crazy cool guy........

Actually I wish I had of handled it better ,so many lessons to learn

[Gemcrusader]

totally agree with Mindpower.

what's the point of forgiving someone if they will keep doing the same negative actions on other people?

Forgiving someone for your sake is as sensible as a believing every word coming out of a politician's mouth.

Are there any statistics to back the fact that forgiving someone for your sake that actually decreases the person being forgiven will hurt less people in the future?

[Tanemon]

Originally Posted by candelight

what's the point of forgiving someone if they will keep doing the same negative actions on other people?

The point of forgiving, in the primary sense of "forgiving" as I use the word, is to allow, or to gradually work toward, a letting go of the pain and resentment I've held in relation to a person's actions (or inactions). It's no guarantee the person in question will alter or improve his/her behavior. And it's not exoneration, as in law (or "crime & punishment").

Originally Posted by candelight

Forgiving someone for your sake is as sensible as a believing every word coming out of a politician's mouth.

I don't trust all the words of politicians, nor do I have to trust someone who has harmed me or betrayed me (or with whom I've been involved in a confusing & painful situation of some sort). Trust is one ingredient of friendship, but whether it will be present with that person again is another matter.

There have been some interesting threads on SF about setting personal boundaries. Practically speaking, I believe setting reasonable boundaries can be an important accompaniment to forgiving.

[TheGlow]

I wonder if maybe there needs to be people who forgive to easy and people who don't.

Those that are firm teach people they did bad, people who forgive give them hope for redemption.

[yeshee camar]

'forgive be letting off / / letting out like say crunchy bread got over toasted - thown all to bin. good fly on cause youre good cousin to yourself.'


- hugly -

Originally Posted by Jom

Let go of anger and feel the freedom of no need to take sides as good or bad, right or wrong, this or that. Unity consciousness frees us from attachment to having to take more, but still give, back, to the beginning... breathe in... oneness.

Thanks Jom!

[Unseeking Seeker]

***

The need to forgive being erasing the negativity within and so to heal ourselves

Implies that we have been injured or have perceived that we have been wronged

Implies that we have not nonjudgingly accepted that each consciousness acts as at its present evolution at the time of the ‘wrongful action’

Another thought ... is the perceived injury felt only in human to human interaction? If it was from an animal or a quirk of chance, would we still be offended? Think on this.

This is not to say that we do not attempt to protect ourselves from unconscious minds. But do we need to exaggerate the pain and make it a suffering?

When we accept, we do not have expectations, we do not feel wronged and the need to forgive does not arise.

***

[Molearner]

Forgiveness is a two way street. We are mainly speaking of the difficulty of forgiving...…...how about the difficulty of being forgiven? How difficult is that? How does that make you feel? Humbled, ashamed? Can we get past that uncomfortable place and instead be able to admire, appreciate, thank the one that forgives us? Do we recognize the courage of the forgiver? Or we would have preferred to have let this go unnoticed and unspoken of.....allowing ourselves to believe this never happened? Do we take it as a lesson to change ourselves?

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by candelight

what's the point of forgiving someone if they will keep doing the same negative actions on other people?

Forgiving someone for your sake is as sensible as a believing every word coming out of a politician's mouth.

Are there any statistics to back the fact that forgiving someone for your sake that actually decreases the person being forgiven will hurt less people in the future?

What the other person does in the future to other people is not our concern. We have no control over that person.

If someone says something or does something which upsets us then we can hold on to a sense of grievance and we can resent that person as we dwell on whatever they said or did. Or we can forgive them and forget about it.

If we hold on to a grievance then the only person who feels bad is ourselves. Why would we choose that?

If we forgive and forget then we are at peace. Why would we not choose that?

Peace.