Geoff Thompson We are powerful: our money and our arms and our guards and our borders and our very high walls and our razor-topped fences and our laws our judiciary they procure and they protect entitlement, they bankroll and bloat and glut our pride they boast every power. We have control over the world, we are masters of the earth and the air and the land and the seas - we hold dominion over all manner of creeping things: we eat all manner of creeping things. And yet… In this world of pseudo power of wealth of control, an infinitesimal enemy is bringing us to our knees. Fear wipes out human artifice like a wild fire, it threatens the only thing that is of any real value, the one thing we will all mourn after its passing: our ability to breathe. It is no bad thing for a crisis to show us truth. A crisis is not a crisis unless it comes with truth. This might seem like a bad time for the world body, but it is a good time for the human soul. This is a very good time to lighten its load and forgive. We have already been forced to abandon of all our other idols, why not take advantage of the changing times and evict the squatting demon of vengeance. It belittles us our intolerance, it emasculates the living spirit, and it leaves the door wide open for beast and foul. I am not talking about ‘letting people off.’ That is not what forgiveness is. Be in no doubt, reciprocity the great karma settles its own accounts. It does not need our help, this Force, it does not need our witness in order to work Its power. Forgive. Give it over. Place it down Only a fool, would cleave to the instrument of his own torture and call it power If you need more convincing, perhaps I could urge you to be God-like in your grace: Similis erit deo: forgive because to forgive is divine. I could sell you the merits of Maimonides and his Attributes of Mercy: compassion before offence has been taken, pardon, in the aftermath of abuse – we all need mercy. And we can only be forgiven, to the degree that we forgive others. But these aphorisms and spiritual truths, these seeds of wisdom, they fall on hard ground, I understand that. I nursed and fed my own revenge story for thirty years. Three long decades before I realised that holding on, painful, painful holding on, invited continuation of the abuse even in the absence of my abuser. I understand that, as true as they might be, these are mere abstractions in the absence of faith. Their ways are mysterious, sometimes delayed, often referred, so you might not be immediately convinced of the pragmatic merits of exercising forgiveness, you might deny forgiveness as metaphysical power. Perhaps then, I can persuade you with an exoteric truth: grudge, violence, anger, confusion, fear, they weaken immune function, they suppress your natural defences, they close them down. If the arousal is very strong they kill the immune system dead. If you are not convinced of the hidden benefits of forgiveness be entirely persuaded of its revealed power: forgiveness recharges and re-boots and re-energises immune function – it is a physiological precedent. In these uncertain times, when the roaming lion of pestilence is looking for bodies to invade and souls to snatch, you need all the protection you can get. Forgiveness is something you do for yourself, for your own health, for your own wellbeing. It is not out of kindness for the recipient of your pardon that you release the burden of your pain. The kindness is for you, it is for you. The kindness is entirely for you. Geoff Thompson can be found on Instagram Geoff_Thompson_official ©Geoff Thompson ******* Link to his short film: https://vimeo.com/398057696 www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/geoff-thompson/ |
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