Episode 202 - Forgiveness or Fury: Finding a Way Forward

Published: Feb. 17, 2022, 5 a.m.

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Forgiveness has long been the province of morality, virtue, and religious values. Psychologically, forgiveness requires the capacity to hold both the magnitude of the injury and the humanity of the injurer. There are doable steps toward this goal, beginning with acknowledging and mourning the wrong yet forgoing retaliation. Righteousness and anger provide only illusory power and can be chronic and corrosive.

Blame can thwart our ability to understand unconscious personal dynamics and prevent acceptance of universal human flaws and vulnerability. We can accept apology and remorse\\u2014especially if it has been accompanied by introspection and greater self-understanding. Forgiveness is less about the other than it is about liberation from victimization. Even when we can\\u2019t solve a problem with another, we can increase our inner resources and enlarge our hearts.\\xa0

Here\\u2019s the dream we analyze:

\\u201cI was a shepherd carrying a sheep that had been born, but it was obvious it was not going to live. I was taking it to a pond to drown it, to put it out of its misery\\u2014but I knew this was actually an act of love. The pond was in a Botticelli \\u2018Elysian field\\u2019-like environment, and most of the water of the pond was frozen over\\u2014so much, so a horse was slipping around on the surface. There were other birds and animals all around me, like a Botticelli painting.\\u201d\\xa0

REFERENCES:

Robert Karen. The Forgiving Self: The Road from Resentment to Connection. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385488742/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_51MKHP5J0RNCC401GZDN

Edward Tick: Warrior\\u2019s Return: Restoring the Soul After War. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1622032004/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_CXPVMY2VVQBS66JD3T52\\xa0

Hannah Arendt. The Human Condition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/022658660X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JNEGRBZWC01ND6MCKY5X

The Forgiveness Project. https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/

Robert Enright. The International Forgiveness Institute. https://internationalforgiveness.com/

Desmond Tutu. Truth and Reconciliation Commission. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission-South-Africa

RESOURCES: Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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