One of the biggest obstacles to our
inner freedom is our unwillingness to forgive. One of
the most important means of inner freedom and inner joy
and inner peace is forgiving others and forgiving oneself
and forgiving God Himself in certain cases. What we normally
are bothered about is getting forgiveness from others
rather than forgiving others, though Jesus in his prayer
has put a condition for receiving forgiveness to forgive
others. We may not pay much attention to this forgiving
others. We may do it in a superficial way.
When we look into our own self what
happens to us when others hurt us and if we do not forgive,
we see that one hurt creates certain amount of ill feelings
- anger, sadness etc. Then what happens to us if we don't
forgive? These feelings start multiplying or growing,
just because, we remember them. Often we are not free
to forget, though we try consciously to forget .
A word said years ago, we still remember,
a nasty remark about us we will remember for years and
years, a betrayal, anything which in any way is unpleasant
to us we remember easily. And we are surprised that good
things what others do to us we forget very easily. But
what bad ways others do to us we do not forget and we
constantly remember if the hurts are deeper. Memory without
freedom multiplies negative feelings. The moment I remember
a person who spoilt my name, naturally I will become very
very sad, angry again. And in my daily life usually I
cannot go thinking on these things so I distract myself
either in a very worldly way or in a very spiritual way.
We can always spiritualise things, but spiritualising
in our way may not remove our negative feelings. We have
to be in touch with our feelings. What happens to us when
we remember what others have done against us? Don't we
feel bad in one way or other? We always have to remember
that feelings created by others - not the superficial
ones but the deeper ones, always grow within us if we
do not stop or wipe them out from their roots. In this
context we must remember the scripture telling us "Do
not let the sun go down on your anger", a very very
deep teaching for us. We need to pay attention to such
important teaching. Jesus from the cross said to his father
"Father, forgive them because they know not what
they are doing". Is it only because he was interested
in giving forgiveness others, who unjustly crucified Him?
Or wasn't it also for Him to die in "Freedom"
that He forgave people? Why did He insist very much on
forgiving? Certainly it is from His own experience. If
He had not forgiven, today we would not have looked upon
Him as a man who is liberated. Unwillingness to forgive
is the sign of slavery. Unwillingness to forgive is to
sell ourselves to others who have done wrongs to us. There
is a natural feeling of taking revenge in everyone of
us. Even the animals take revenge. But we are forbidden
to take revenge directly by our religion. This is a new
teaching of Jesus, very very contrary to the teaching
of the old testament, "Tooth for tooth, nail for
nail". Just because of a teaching negative feelings
don't disappear. Feelings will be there. This is what
we have to become more and more aware that we are continuously
allowing ourselves to be slaves of people who did harm
to us in the past especially, also in the present. Why
does the scripture tell us "Do not allow the sun
go down on your anger, that is don't prolong your slavery
to the next day. Be a wise person, be a liberated person.
If you don't become aware of our own self interest we
will not easily forgive, because of that itch - to take
revenge, we always postpone, contemplating "I must
hit back".
I must hit back, then only I'll be happy
or satisfied. We come across so many people telling, "I
will never never forget." "I will never never
forgive this one, till the end of my life even if I do
not have the chance of getting salvation." If person
is saying this, that shows, the level of his feelings.
There are hurts which are superficial which could be healed
within a short time.
There are some chronic wounds caused
by others that may not heal at all. It is for us to become
aware of the type of wounds that we have within. Very
many of us consider ourselves free because we go for confession
and also make general confessions. In way the sacrament
is a means of making us free but it often happens to us
that this same sacrament may become an obstacle for us
to look into our own feelings. We feel that what is important
is to make an act of contrition, to tell the priest our
sins and get the absolution. But we do not bother to look
into the depth of our own inner self. We do not care to
be in touch with our inner freedom, we do not bother to
be in touch with our negative feelings. But we have experienced
this and have seen that how often people are doing the
same. As soon as we get up from the confessional we avoid
a person against whom we have had ill feelings or negative
feelings of whatever type, just because we have made a
wonderful confession. We don't feel comfortable to kneel
close to that person! Does it make us feel free to go
and talk to that person or even if we don't talk to that
person to look at that person without any disturbance
within? Very often we look at the other side to avoid
the very sight of that person who has hurt us. That is
the reason we have to look into. Am I free in my feeling
level? Ah - This is very, very important. Am I free in
my feeling level? If I am not free, then my forgiving
is not complete. If my forgiving is complete then my negative
feeling also will not be there.
When we have good feelings towards one
we feel good to be with that person, if we have negative
feelings against that person we feel to avoid that person
and we do not enjoy that person's company at all. Forgiving
is not only a mental activity but it involves a person's
body and mind and spirit. But we have made it purely a
mental activity. We are avoiding to involve the body and
that's why even after many confessions we are not in a
position to be really in good terms with others. We keep
away from others. We feel good in being away from others
because of certain negative feelings. So the need of awareness
in order to be able to find out our own negative feelings,
whether we have forgiven perfectly, fully, in order to
enjoy our freedom.
We come across people who are not happy
or cannot be happy with parents even, if it is very very
late in their life, whether it is sixty or seventy or
eighty or above. There are no warm feelings, whether it
is with their sister, friend or any other family members.
If a person who hurts us, who in no way emotionally belongs
to us, we don't feel very much. But when a very close
friend betrays us, our pain is much more. Our hurts are
greater or lesser according to our relationship with others
who hurt us. That's why we feel it is very difficult to
forgive our parents, if they have hurt us. It is very
difficult to forgive our intimate friends if they have
hurt us very deeply. It is very difficult to forgive God
if He has "hurt" us. That means, our feeling
level is deeper than what we imagine. Sometimes we imagine,
forgiving is very easy, because we have been trained either
in childhood or in religious life, before going to bed
to do that good act of forgiving and go to sleep. If what
we may is true, why do we find lots of revenges in the
families, among friends among religious people, priests
and bishops? If forgiveness is a sign of freedom, if forgiveness
is the foundation of not taking revenge, why are we seeing
in our religious life that people are going on taking
revenge in one way or another, in a very crude way, or
in very subtle way? There is no other explanation that
people are not free, that they have not forgiven. Otherwise
they will not take revenge. When a father or mother not
showing any concern or love towards a particular son or
daughter, there will be definitely unforgiven hurt feelings.
We do unwelcoming things to others only when our inside
is not o.k. Why do we go on finding faults with others,
cook up stories which are not there at all in order to
spoil others name? Because we have hurt feelings within.
Whether it is jealousy or hurt feeling, even jealousy
comes to hurt feeling. So we must be humble enough to
accept that confessions alone do not take us into liberation
fully. It is in way an obstacle to us in order not to
look into us in the feeling level which is the most real
and honest level. We glorify ourselves by saying to ourselves
and to others I have made a good confession, I am receiving
communion. But if we are humble enough we are able to
accept to ourselves if not to others that confession and
communion do not guarantee the good feelings within. They
are supposed to, but that may not be our experience. Just
because we have received communion doesn't mean we can
go and relate to a person who has deeply hurt us, it is
not easy. What we normally do is continuously avoid such
people. So deeper the wounds, deeper the struggle to forgive.
The deeper the wounds the harder the struggle and painful
the agony, and if anyone says I can forgive easily, one
does not know what one says or it may be just superficial
hurts. If the wounds are terrible, forgiving is a real
agony, a real death to one's own self, one has to kill
oneself in order to forgive.
When one hears about forgiving others,
deep within us we feel why we should forgive? Why should
I do this, I have not done the wrong, but the other person
has done the wrong. Why should I let that person go and
enjoy life? The hardest teaching of Jesus is to let my
enemy go and enjoy life when he or she has crippled me
for life. Jesus tells me let him go, give him a blessings
even pray for him. How will I be able to do this? Will
it be easy for me unless I become ready to kill myself?
Here Jesus' saying comes true, "the greatest sign
of love is to die for the other". He used friend
but he made it very very clear to us, loving a friend
not all that great, anybody does, even a sinner does,
but you my disciple have to do greater things and I demand
the hardest from you, to love your enemy. So forgiving
others is a self killing, means a very painful process.
Very often we think that forgiving is just an act of the
will, just once is enough that is only, because we are
not in touch with our feelings. If we are in touch with
our feelings we realize that forgiving is a long process
- if the hurts are deep. Superficial hurts we can get
rid off by forgiving first time. But there are hurts which
take years to get out. We have to go on and on and on
- perfecting our forgiving others till we attain our inner
freedom. We see, that through negative feelings we are
either trying ourselves to others or they are tied to
us and they go on hurting us. Actual hurting process is
done by us. A person must have hurt me years ago, but
my memory or through my memory I keep on the process of
hurting
me non-stop and the only way stop this
process of hurting me is to forgive. As long as feelings
are not taken care of, my process of liberating may not
be complete because, feelings make me remember things
and because of my previous feelings unknowingly I get
more hurt and actuallyI am doing the foolish thing, the
most stupid thing, I am the stupid evil doer to my own
self. Very often people talk about devils, but the real
devil in me may be I myself. I just don't want to get
out of my hurts and thus spoil my life and
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spoil others'
life too. But Jesus comes and gives us a beautiful means
to be free to enjoy our life. In all its happiness and
freedom. But just because it is put in a command we feel
why should we obey, and why should we take the trouble
now? We will wait, let us see later. But we are damaging
ourselves. We have to become aware that it is for our
own good that we have to forgive. I have to become self
interested to know the worth of forgiving and most of
he time I am against myself because I am not willing to
forgive. Though in one way it looks selfishness, it is
really self destruction by not forgiving. Jesus in His
prayer shows us a means using the Old Testament image
when a debtor takes a loan he signed a receipt as a proof.
So Jesus uses this image saying you destroy that receipt,
that proof against your enemy completely, so that you
can't catch him again. You let him go free, completely
free. It needs high spiritual power to let people go free
if they have done great damages to us in one way or other.If
we are looking for any undoubtful spiritual experience
of which we can be very very sure, it is, this that one
of forgiving others. If our forgiving is genuine, we can
say to ourselves, definitely I have a very rich God experience
- I don't have to wait for some imaginary or supernatural
God-experience can be something very very concrete than
what we foolishly imagine.
Often we have said, "I can forgive
but I cannot forget" and again we are told if you
have forgiven, you should forget. Forgetting is not an
essential thing for complete forgiving. Let us keep this
in mind. We can go on remembering a person's hurt just
because we remember it does not mean that we have not
forgiven. The sign of forgiving is this to be kept in
mind- "when I remember am I disturbed"? Even
in the slightest way? If I am disturbed in the slightest
way then my forgiving is not complete. My feelings are
troubling me. But if I remember nothing happens to me,
I am completely free, I can remember all the details,
nothing disturbs me nor makes me feel taking revenge,
absolutely cool and calm, my heart is full of compassion
for that person who hurt me deeply - that is the sign
I have forgiven, not necessarily forgetting. That is a
very very wrong idea that if I have forgiven completely
I must forget, not necessarily. Some of us have very beautiful,
very powerful memory and when we see those persons we
remember but if we do not create even unconsciously some
ill feeling within us that is a sign, that we are free
persons. Let us keep this in mind.
Now a days we hear a lot about inner
healing. There are inner healing services and many think
because they have gone through such services they are
healed. Very many of us are not healed just because we
have participated in some inner healing services. We hear
the phrase "healing of memory" connected with
inner healing and many are troubled because memory doesn't
go away. Can't forget. So we may have to use a better
phrase "healing of feelings" and not healing
of memory. Healing of feelings that is more realistic
expression and one has to be in touch with one's feelings,
as I said, some of us have to try again and again and
again to complete the work of forgiving. When we forgive
others we get healed. When we remove the feelings we get
healed and forgiving is one of the greatest means of inner
freedom, inner peace. How often we have destroyed our
peace for years and years just because we did not forgive
others. Now a days we are told that anger is one of the
greatest factors that creates lots of inner disorders
both for mind and body. There are many sicknesses just
because of anger. Anger means lack of forgiveness. Let
us not misunderstand this. Spontaneous anger is not something
wrong that is natural, even Jesus got angry, but keeping
that anger which is generated, without allowing that anger
to go out of us, that suppressed feeling, collected feeling
in the mind and body gives us trouble. The more we are
unwilling to forgive, we are allowing anger to be multiplied
within us and that gives us trouble. That's why we hear
now a days a lot of talk about psychosomatic sicknesses.
Symptoms are all normal realistic ones
such as pain, temperature, uneasiness, low mood, everything
as if they are really sick, but medicines don't help them.
Some sicknesses like Typhoid, T.B., Cholera etc. they
are caused by real germs. We cannot say they are psychosomatic
but there are some psychological factors by which a person
loses the inner resistance, the body resistance, by which
the germs become powerful. That also can be a factor for
sickness. Any sickness is not psychosomatic, but many
of our sicknesses may be affected by our mind or some
of our sicknesses are created by our mind by punishing
ourselves through guilt feelings. There are some persons
who are constantly sick in order to get attention. Otherwise
they are ignored by others. So when we come to our own
self knowledge we may have to accept these factors that
are very unpleasant for us to accept that we have been
so foolish. But when are looking for freedom, when we
are in search of freedom, we are ready to do anything,
we are ready to take any trouble in order to be free as
the children of God - in order to enjoy our life, our
living. Sometimes years and years of spiritual life does
not make us happy. That's why we see sometimes old people
so morose, so cranky, we are looking for persons in the
old ones to see what is the effect of all the years of
prayer. What we see is just the opposite, we are ashamed,
we are shocked. We are even scandalized to find no freedom
in such people, all because the inside is not free.
We are unwilling to look within our
own self. We re only thinking that sacraments will take
care of our insides. We are not dealing with our own negative
feelings in order to free us. We are told, if we have
forgiven we should create normal relationship - Suppose
a friend broke away through betrayal and the other one
who is betrayed forgives and normally we think that the
friend has to go and get the friend back as before in
order to know that forgiving is complete and genuine.
It's not necessary that we should go to him. Friendship
is a gift. After someone has betrayed me am I forced to
give that gift to that person even after my forgiving?
It does not mean that I don't trust that person again
- so I have not forgiven? What is the necessary thing
is that when I look at that person when I remember that
person, I should not have any ill feelings within me.
I am free to give my gift again or not. It may happen
that after a betrayal friendship becomes greater than
ever before or it stops there. It is my freedom to relate
again in that level or not, but I do no harm to that person
in any way. I will not wish anything harmful to that person.
I will pray for that person. That I will do, but I am
not going to relate to that person as before. It is my
freedom. I am free to go back to that person or not. So
we have a lot to do in this regard of freeing ourselves
from others and as I said we may have to for give God
even. Some of us may have said in the past or may be saying
in the present, I cannot forgive God because He has allowed
these things to happen to me. Again I have to struggle
with my feelings towards God and get out of it and come
to forgive Him in order to free myself. The same thing
happens to me when I do not forgive myself because I have
done something nasty or missed the opportunity, sins of
omission or commission. We hear that what we have committed,
what we have not done also can become a part of sin. So,
if I do not forgive myself I can negatively become a slave
to myself and I will not be free of that negative factor
which cripples me from enjoying my living. The more I
become free, the more I will be able to enjoy my life,
my living. It does not mean that there will not be troubles
in future. We only have to look in the lives of Jesus,
Mary, Joseph and the other great personalities - Biblical
personalities or other saintly persons in any religion.
We don't see them trouble free. Jesus had to go through
a lot of troubles throughout His life. Mary had to go
through a lot of troubles and pains throughout her life.
But what is the inner freedom they were enjoying that
we will be able to enjoy. The word enjoy doesn't mean
that we will be free from pains and limitations of our
human living. We should not create another myth while
trying to get into freedom. We should not go into another
non-reality which will cripple us again. That's why again
and again we have to be constantly on the watch out whether
our freedom is damaged in any way, by one factor or another.
That is a necessity of inner awareness. If we just go
on reciting prayers one after another, we can go on reading
prayers one after another, we may miss this being with
one's self, all alone in silence. Being in silence and
deep silence to recognise our inner non-freedom factors
and to get rid of them. That is very very essential for
our inner peace and joy. Only when we become aware of
this non-freedom factors we will deal with them in order
to be free. It may take years and years to realise that
I have not forgiven my father or mother. It may take years
and years to realise that deeply, full 100%, my friend
or a companion or someone who wounded me deeply. So it
is prayer, along with awareness which will help us to
realize our unwillingness to forgive. There are certain
wounds which we cannot forgive on our own strength. We
need to rely on God. We need to pray a lot for inner strength
to make us ready to crush ourselves in order to give up
and forgive. We need plenty of prayer for some types of
wounds, for some types of hurts in order that we become
ready to forgive. That is why sometimes it is a tremendously
killing affair, personal killing affair - to forgive deep,
deep wounds caused by others. So, that is why we need
to create this sort of very very deep inner looking, in
order to realize that our forgiving in the past was not
all that perfect and in order to enjoy our freedom in
its full measure as we are meant for. There is a beautiful
reality which is called universal forgiving. We may not
be directly hurt by a group of people or a nation, but
we might share the hurts of others in a very indirect
way which may cause hatred within ourselves. We have to
become more and more aware of this factor, also, whether
we have hatred towards others who may not be directly
connected with us. Our hearts have to be free to forgive
everyone. "Everyone under the Sun", whether
the oppressors were of the past or of the present, or
even of the future. Our hearts have to be generous enough
to forgive all types of people. So that we become more
and more free like God Himself. Each one of us is happy
to call God a forgiving God. Each one of us should be
able to share that God reality of forgiving everyone else.
In this way everyone can be united with God. As Jesus
has given us his own way of being united with him eating
His body and drinking his blood and also by keeping His
word, His commandments. Of course, one of His greatest
commandments is to forgive, and to love one's enemies.
Whether they are direct enemies or indirect ones we have
to forgive everyone in order to be with God, in order
to share His love, to share His power to share His life.
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