Forgiveness in everyday life

I sometimes suspect the reason I was put here on earth is to learn and embody the essence of forgiveness.

It is indeed tempting to succumb to anger and wish malice on those who offend us; however, in the end of the day, I would still be fuming mad while the culprit has gone about his usual way unperturbed. I say unperturbed because if he were not, he would never even think of committing such things. My only choice in this matter is to simply forgive that person.

To succeed, I would have to remind myself that I do not want to fill my consciousness with negative thoughts about him and his action. Also, I have to say to myself silently, “Whatever he has done, that’s his problem.”

I learned about this practice when I came across a book by Emmet Fox in which he argued that if you saw a little child unable to reach a high shelf, you wouldn’t condemn him for it, because you know that in due time he would gain the height. 

So it is with spiritual infants — we have to give them time to grow. And for not condemning but instead understanding them, we help them in the process. And by helping them, we free ourselves.

To quote Emmet Fox:

"Setting others free means setting yourself free, because resentment is really a form of attachment. It is a Cosmic Truth that it takes two to make a prisoner; the prisoner and the jailer. When you hold resentment against anyone, you are bound to that person by a cosmic link, a real, though mental chain. You are tied by a cosmic tie to the thing that you hate. You must cut all ties, by a clear and spiritual act of forgiveness. You must loose him and let him go. By forgiveness you set yourself free; you save your soul. And because the law of love works alike for one and all, you help to save his soul, too, making it just so much easier for him to become what he ought to be.”

Perhaps, in one way or another, this is what “letting go and letting God" is all about. Only problem is, although we may have already forgiven the person who had offended us, certainly, angry thoughts would come back to nag at us. In this case, what I would do is say the following silently to myself:

The good in me salutes the good in you. The good in me understands the good in you. Therefore, I forgive you. I bless you. I free you. I understand you and you understand me. I release you to your highest good.

Another that helps is silently saying to myself as I think of the offending party, “Go to God. Go To God.”  I would keep repeating this like a mantra until I have cleansed myself of negative thoughts about that person and what he had done.

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