The Importance of Forgiveness

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In forgivingness, we drop the dualism of offender and forgiver.

For loving-kindness toward others to be real, it can’t be based on whether we see lovability in the other.

When we love someone, an offense is met with dialogue and reconciliation.

Martin Luther King Jr., in Strength to Love, wrote: “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” We can trust that there is a reliable, unconditional heartfulness in us called a “forgiving nature.” The word for that is “forgivingness.” In forgivingness, we drop the dualism of offender and forgiver. We are forgiveness. We relate forgivingly. Pardon cancels consequences; forgiveness clears the accounts. Forgivingness keeps no ledger of wrongs.

Forgiveness is a discrete act. Forgivingness is an ongoing attitude. This same distinction regarding acts or attitudes of forgiveness applies to love. For the virtue of loving-kindness toward others to be real, it can’t be based on whether we see lovability in the other. We love........

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