| p>I have always wondered why Gandhi never | | | | Jesus in his humanity is a reminder of us of the love |
| advocated a violent act against the English, or why | | | | of God. Perhaps we could turn it around and say |
| the Dalai Lama is doing the same, and why Jesus | | | | Jesus as the son of God could have chosen to |
| asked His Father for forgiveness for all those that | | | | punish. |
| persecuted Him. | | | | All of us have suffered some pain in one way or |
| Real or perceived, there are injustices in the world. | | | | another. All of us at some point has condemned |
| We are not able to fathom the depth and | | | | another and wished we could take revenge. That is in |
| interconnectedness of events so we feel justified in | | | | the past. Imagine how the world will be when there is |
| feeling hurt and angry. We ask ourselves, why did | | | | no anger anymore. We can choose to relieve the |
| my husband/wife/lover leave me? Why did my | | | | past right now. Every moment that we spend in |
| parents abuse me verbally/beat me physically/not | | | | reminiscing the hurt of the past is taking away from |
| love me enough? Why did my superior reprimand me | | | | the enjoyment of the present. Why choose to |
| in front of my other co-workers/give my promotion | | | | suffer? |
| to someone else/fire me and on and on. Why did my | | | | Jesus never condemned and therefore has no need |
| parent/child/cousin/friend have to die just because a | | | | to forgive. In His humanity Jesus wept when Lazarus |
| drunken driver lost control of his/her car? | | | | died, not because his friend died but because of the |
| Why did I lose my parent/child/friend in the war | | | | imperfection of the faith of the people who saw Him |
| which I do not believe in in the first place? We cling | | | | part the sea, heal the afflicted and even raise the |
| to the memory of the past hurt because we feel | | | | dead. To forgive, we must first condemn, but how |
| justified in our anger, and we carry this anger and | | | | can we condemn when we do not know completely? |
| hurt to our next relationship. Sometimes we refuse | | | | We see only a fraction of reality through the lenses |
| to enter a new relationship because of all of these. | | | | that we put on. |
| We make it our shield from further pain. Sometimes | | | | Jesus has no karma, and in my mind, Gandhi and the |
| pain becomes our armor. Inside it we create the | | | | Dalai Lama fully know the meaning of what the |
| illusion of being invulnerable. Other times we make it | | | | scriptures from a thousand years say "To take |
| our prison when we can choose to walk out. We | | | | offense is the same as to offend" for with every act |
| don't walk out because we hang on to our sense of | | | | or event or person that we condemn, we enter the |
| justice, our sense of being justified in our feelings. | | | | cycle of rebirth, once more. No one is immune to this. |
| Somehow it is more comfortable to be there, | | | | If we feel the pain, if we acknowledge it and then |
| imprisoned by our thoughts, imprisoned by the past. | | | | we let it go then perhaps there is a chance for us to |
| Sometimes we want to exact revenge, in any way | | | | see through the illusion. Perhaps then we would |
| or manner that we think will hurt the other person | | | | realize what Jesus meant when he said "The kingdom |
| who we think hurt us. We can use the rationalization | | | | of heaven is within." |
| that we are only humans and we are not gods, but | | | | © 2007 by Melinda M. |