Forgive Your Enemies and Live Happily

Most of the saints have emphasized the value of forgiveness. If we learn to forgive people we can fill our live with new contentment. But True forgiveness is hard for many people. For most people the ability to forgive exists in direct proportion to the magnitude of the harm. If a stranger bumps into you and causes momentary pain but no lasting damage, you will probably experience a brief flash of anger but you will soon forget all about the incident. If the stranger crossed your path again and asked for your forgiveness, you would not hesitate to grant it. Forgiveness is easy when the injury is slight.

Yes, the situation would be different in a case where somebody has caused you serious long-term harm. If a stranger caused you physical harm deliberately or through wanton carelessness, you might indulge in the wish that a similar accident would befall that person. If the damage meant that you would suffer from pain (through no fault of your own) for the rest of your life, your anger and your wish to see the other person suffer would continually reappear. Each onset of pain would act as a trigger for negative thoughts.

Do you think that the thoughts of revenge and hate harm your enemy? No, your enemy will suffer no harm from your thoughts. The only person they will damage is you. Your thoughts are not like silver bullets that will fly out and strike down the transgressor; they are like a poisonous gas which will linger in your mind and stifle positive feelings. You must take deliberate action to replace the poison of negativity with the pure air of positive thoughts.

Otherwise you will ruin your own life.

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