Why is forgiveness so difficult?
In a recent conversation on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast, the long-time meditation teacher and author Jack Kornfield discussed the topic of forgiveness. Here’s a short video and meditation from Kornfield on the 12 Principles of Forgiveness:
How do you define forgiveness?
Do you find the practice of forgiveness challenging? Why or why not?
A few months ago, I came across this quote from Ram Dass,
“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree, and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.
The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
How do Ram Dass’s words sit with you?
Does it feel like wisdom for daily life?
Stoicism and Forgiveness
In a previous article on Stoicism as a path to forgiveness, I discussed the importance of understanding the nature of virtue and vice. The Stoics followed Socrates (“No one knowingly does evil”) in the idea that virtue was knowledge and vice was ignorance. When people do right, it stems from virtue, and when they go wrong, it comes from ignorance and false beliefs.
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