Forgiveness

Forgiveness looks a certain way when viewed through the prism of some of the Spiritual Workout concepts, not least of which is judgments. That is, in a world where we cease to judge others ever, for anything, then there is nothing to forgive. Unless I'm completely missing something and that is always entirely possible, for I know there are numerous titles in bookstores about forgiveness and I know I haven't read a single one of them. (It just hasn't been one of my myriad issues.)

Often when we are faced with having to forgive someone for having done something, our focus is on all of the hurt and betrayal and injustice, not to mention on rehashing the awful thing that transpired. There's knowing that forgiving is "for me" and that forgiving "does not mean condoning" and all of that but, still, the focus is mostly on something outside of ourselves, except maybe for how horrible we're feeling.

So a willingness to look at the situation from the perspective of how it is we are judging the circumstance can be a real game changer. Judgments sound like "it's not fair" and "she's evil" and "this betrayal is too big." As we, in effect, take back the judgments we have made and are making about the other person and what s/he did, the drama subsides. Big time. Of course, there's also some plain old acceptance thrown in for good measure, a k a being present, not to mention some taking responsibility and the notion that nobody has done anything to us.

These concepts should go a long way toward helping to dial down the struggle to forgive. I'd love to know what you think.