Thursday 16 July 2009

Running on Empty Part 2


Forgiveness


Forgiveness is a powerful gift, many of us find it hard to truly forgive and let go of past hurts. Yet at a deep level, being able to forgive sets us free. Anger or bitterness feeds more anger and bitterness: it becomes a repeating negating and destructive cycle. But to rise above this, to forgive, to truly forgive allows healing at a very deep and core level. It not only heals ourselves, but each other, and the Earth.

There are many events in history, which shock us even now – massacres, tortures, destruction and war (not forgetting the Crusades). Some of those events are now so far back in history we struggle to connect to the emotion of them. It is easy to connect to more recent horrors as the memory of those events is still carried in the eyes of survivors and family members.

Watching eight young servicemen being carried along in their coffins yesterday provoked a great deal of emotion for me. On one level, the war in Afghanistan is so far away and out of sight; that it almost seems like someone else’s war. Yet these young men died for their country, and whatever I may feel about the concept of war, it is hard not to feel the pain of their families, to connect to the compassion of their tragedies.

It is hard to understand the forces they are fighting, the threats that they face. Yet with all wars, at some level both ‘sides’ must believe that what they are doing is right. How can we forgive someone who takes away all those young lives? Yet without forgiveness, how can the situation ever truly end?

The idea of forgiveness is a powerful and somewhat provocative one. Yet, Chiron – the wounded healer, Jupiter – the philosopher, Neptune – the dreamer, Pluto – the transformer and Uranus – the truth seeker, have invoked a feeling deep within that in order to truly find peace within ourselves, we need to find it in one another as well.

Food for thought:

In the beginning: 'to err is human; to persist is of the Devil'." Seneca, Roman Philosopher

Then came: ‘to err is human, to forgive Divine’ Alexander Pope

And then: ‘to err is human, but it feels divine.’ Mae West

Continues Tomorrow...