To Be Able to Forgive-Daily Meditation- 8.29.23
Today’s quotation:
To be able to forgive, we must come down from the citadel of pride, from the stronghold of hate and anger, from the high place where all emotions that issue from one’s sense of being wronged shout only for vengeance and retaliation.-John Hess
Today’s Meditation:
Forgiveness is often difficult, not because of outside influences, but because of what’s happening in our minds. Any difficulties in forgiving someone else for something that they’ve done are internal, not external. If I’ve been wronged, I can think of many reasons not to forgive the wrongdoer, and pretty much all of them have to do with my self-righteousness instead of any logical, reasonable reasons. I can use logic to rationalize my self-righteousness, but that doesn’t change what it is.
It’s difficult to conceive of a lack of forgiveness being our problem, for someone else has hurt us after all. But that hurt and forgiveness are entirely different things, connected only by happenstance. If we refuse to forgive, that means that in our hearts, we want the other person to suffer as we feel we have suffered, and a lack of forgiveness is often the only weapon we really have to inflict a hurtful wound on someone else.
When we allow pain to continue, though, and we even try to add to the pain with our refusal to forgive, we’re not exactly contributing to the positive energy of this world. Instead, we’re leaving wounds unhealed and perpetuating the pain and anguish that we could easily erase from existence if we could only forgive. I really don’t want to be responsible for any more negativity than absolutely necessary–heaven knows I’ve made my share of contributions to the negative side of this world, and I hope that I can contribute much less as time goes on. I grow (hopefully) a bit wiser.
We want to do good in this world, but holding a grudge isn’t doing good. Harboring resentment isn’t doing good. Remaining angry isn’t doing good. Forgiving is doing good. Is it possible that it’s really that simple?
Questions to consider:
What kinds of thoughts and feelings can keep you from forgiving?
Do most people hurt others on purpose? If they didn’t purposely harm you, then what good will refusing to forgive them do?
How is forgiving someone doing good for the world?
For further thought:
Learning to forgive is much more helpful than merely picking up a stone and throwing it at the object of one’s anger, especially when the provocation is extreme. For it is under the most tremendous adversity that there exists the most significant potential for doing good, both for yourself and others- Dalai Lama
If you missed our last Daily Meditation, it is here.
