Friday, 31 July 2015

Forgiving Is Healing

"That person is very disappointing. I took good care of him since he was a small child. He does not only forget my kindness, he is also very arrogant to me", that's the complain of an old mother few days before she got stroke.

This is a typical story of many parents who are lack of knowledge and wisdom. Do not talk about the mistakes that they have been committed in the past, even kind deeds that they have ever done chase them like enemies who bring dangerous guns.

When the body is no longer strong enough to carry such heavy burden like disappointments, anger, hatred, revenge, by then the body begins to collapse in the forms of dangerous diseases like stroke, heart attack, cancer.

And before this sad life actually happens, it is worth to contemplate the importance of loosening the grip of mind. As has been shared by a British lady who spent dozen years meditating alone in the slope of Himalaya, one of the important fruit of meditation, the grip of  mind is loosening from time to time.


Before being touched by meditation, the grip of mind is very strong. Similar to the above complaining mother, when the mind strongly grip people, they keep seeing dangerous mistakes in others, at the same time there's a strong conviction that they are always right. As a result, the body carry a very heavy psychological burden.

What is suggested by meditation is really simple. Initially the mind is  like heavy rain. Everything is kicked by anger, revenge, hatred. Having witnessed the flowing emotions and thoughts with equanimity, the heavy rain begin to join the flowing river. Peace, calmness, balance begin to come at this stage. At the peak of meditation, someone come out of from the flowing river of thoughts and emotions, then just standing at the bank of river as a compassionate witness.

The transformation from heavy rain fall into the flowing river  is hard. Mainly because the mind is strongly gripped by duality such as sad-glad, false-true, wrong-right. This is the source of painful judgments. And the judgment harm the one who judge worse than those who are judged.

At this critical point, spiritual seekers need the power of forgiving. Not only to forgive those who keep disappointing, but also to forgive all mistakes that have been committed in the past. Beautiful souls who are successful to forgive, they know that forgiving is holy water which is sprinkled to the inner soul.

When someone forgive, it does not mean that they are wrong and those enemies are true. Once again it is not. When someone forgive, actually they bring their soul come out from the burning house of anger and revenge.

Consequently, they are not only recover from soul wound, they also contribute in healing the world. And it is not coincidence that one of the bright light that has appeared in our century is Nelson Mandela. And behind the bright light of Nelson Mandela is the power of forgiving.

Author: Gede Prama
Photo Courtesy: Twitter @GassanShofi
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