Forgiveness is the Heart of Compassion

Forgiveness is one of those things when given, does more for the giver than the intended receiver. I confess, it is a difficult concept to fully integrate in a sincere way, as it means moving beyond the ego's perceptions of feeling wronged, to a place of deep connection with another human being. Most of us live in the ego's realm of feeling separate from each other therefore, raised to look out for ourselves. We develop an internal alarm that goes off whenever we feel threatened by external forces. Over time, we establish a very keen sensor to others' words and actions for indications of being attacked which in turn, kicks our defense mechanism into action. We then react according to whatever ego patterns have become our conditioned behavior matching the circumstances. Most of the time we are reacting against perceived hurt against our ego-selves. I once read a long time ago, "Spirit is beyond being hurt". I understood what this means on the level of spirit, but such a notion seemed out of touch and illusive in the "real' world of human interactions. It took me a really long time to fully assimilate that our God-self only 'sees' another individual in his Divine state, exactly the way the Creator 'sees' us, its creations - perfect in Her sight. How then can our human intellect go beyond the physical, mental, emotional and psychological abuse caused by others? Herein lays the crux of forgiveness. When we come to a place of deep spiritual insight, we realize that each of us, in varying degrees have accepted erroneous information into our belief system which we live out everyday. At the core, the further away from believing we are loving and lovable beings, the more likely we are to inflict hurt on others and ourselves. When we are able to 'see' the other as a spiritual being living the experiences of learned behavior, it becomes a bit easier to separate ourselves from the perceived hurt because essentially, it is really about the other person's lack of awareness of his true nature. If we actually get this, it creates a huge shift of consciousness in how we interact with each other. This knowledge is also the heart of compassion. If I am able to understand that you are behaving this way because somewhere within you, is the memory of being hurt yourself and are acting from this place of fear and self-recrimination, then who am I to add anger to your already existing pain. rnInstead, with my greater level of understanding, I offer forgiveness and compassion. Acknowledging and sympathizing with this individual's conditioning supersede all notions of my personal ego feeling affronted. Then there are those horrifying life changing events that many would say are unforgivable. I speak of murder, rape and so on. Obviously, I can only speak from my own experiences. Yes, I too have had to dig very deeply into my being to become conscious enough, to live this very principle I speak of. It is not an easy undertaking especially if the experience happened as a young child where the memories and the associated pain are embedded intensely into one's psyche and sense of self however, if we ever want to be free, then it is an inevitable mission - to forgive, the accused. On a more tangible level, remember our every thought and emotion is a wave of energy. "The Human Energy Field, is a complex combination of overlapping energy patterns which define the unique spiritual, mental, emotional and physical makeup of an individual." Holding on to anger, hurt, or other negative emotions associated with these kinds of experiences affect our physiology taking a toll on our bodies and emotional well-being. In addition, the culmination of our energy vibrations transmits to the Universe which in turn, sends back matching vibrations becoming our physical reality. (We attract those things that we are in vibrational resonance with). rnIt becomes imperative to release these toxic emotions within us, as we are continually allowing them to dictate a certain aspect of the experiences coming into our lives. On one level, we are permitting the accused to continue 'hurting' us, over and over again. The comic in me, sees this as some kind of ingenious Cosmic arrangement - none can be free until he first frees his brother, forgiving him ‘seventy times seven’ or as many times as it takes to free our own selves from our ego’s perception of hurt. The nature of forgiveness is an intricate dance of inter-connection between humans where I elevate my own being by first, 'lifting up' he who I perceive has wronged me. Only in God's world does this non-sense make perfect sense.