IT'S GOOD IF WE CAN FORGIVE, BUT NOT FORGET

  


  

“If it’s out of your hands,

it deserves freedom from your mind, too.”

Ivan Nuru

 

Of the many Good-morning messages I received last morning, two related to ‘Letting Go’.

One is mentioned above. Let me present it, once again:

 

“If it’s out of your hands,

it deserves freedom from your mind, too.”

Ivan Nuru

 

It’s, often, said, that we can easily forgive; but, we cannot easily forget. To forgive or not to forgive is the job of our hearts; while, to forget or not to forget is a job of our minds. Forgiveness comes from a choice which springs up in our awareness… In fact, when we ‘see’, without any prejudice, what holding on to our pain, hurts, sorrows does to us, that very ‘seeing’ – that awareness - can liberate us from the bondage of holding on.

Thus, as Jiddu Krishnamuti says, it is our ‘choice-less awareness’… That’s how it is… The reality… the truth!

So, in that sense, forgiveness is not an ‘act’… It is a state of ‘be’!

But, the Mind doesn’t work that way… Memories simply don’t fade away… The more we try to shoo them away, the more they refuse to go… Therefore, it’s said, that we can easily forgive, but not forget…

In this backdrop, yesterday, when I paused to meditate on the above lines, I wondered if the author of those words wanted to convey the same truth…

Everything in life, which we dearly love, has to be set free… As the saying goes : “If it comes back, it’s ours… If it doesn’t, it never was!”




The other message was Biblical:

“Get rid of all the bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

Reflecting on these words from the Holy Book, I become even more convinced, that our hearts are capable of forgiving… It means, that we needn’t hold on to the bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander and, that we are capable of dropping every form of malice. Yes, we are capable of being compassionate to one another…

The heart is capable… Forgiveness is possible… Letting go is easy, Sir…

But, as it is said, it is not easy to ‘forget’… The images keep flashing before our inner screens… They come on their own… We have no control over them…

Trying to stop them is like trying to chase away our shadows… The shadows go, only when the light comes…

The shadow is harmless…

Remembrance is harmless… In fact, it’s good, enriching…





Everything that we own, today, deserves freedom… In that freedom lies our own…

“If it comes back, it’s ours… If it doesn’t, it never was!”

Letting Go is not an ‘act’… It’s a state of 'be'. Grace!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s.: pixabay

Video: Einzelganger 

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