Whyte on Forgiveness
A teaser to David Whyte’s book Consolations, currently siting on my shelf, begging for my attention. Quote from Brain Pickings here.
Stranger still, it is that wounded, branded, un-forgetting part of us that eventually makes forgiveness an act of compassion rather than one of simple forgetting. To forgive is to assume a larger identity than the person who was first hurt, to mature and bring to fruition an identity that can put its arm, not only around the afflicted one within but also around the memories seared within us by the original blow and through a kind of psychological virtuosity,extend our understanding to one who first delivered it.
Forgiveness is a skill, a way of preserving clarity, sanity and generosity in an individual life, a beautiful way of shaping the mind to a future we want for ourselves; an admittance that if forgiveness comes through understanding, and if understanding is just a matter of time and application then we might as well begin forgiving right at the beginning of any drama rather than put ourselves through the full cycle of festering, incapacitation, reluctant healing and eventual blessing.
Breathtaking.
A line to echo: To forgive is to assume a larger identity than the person who was first hurt.
I have a large research project on Globalism coming up over the Christmas and inter-term break that will eat my time. Once I finish that, this book is coming next.
The Inside Outpost 