Understanding Forgiveness

Understanding Forgiveness

If I don’t understand myself,

I can’t understand you.

If I can’t understand you,

I don’t understand myself.

If I can’t see in myself the

thing about you that bothers me,

I’m not really seeing the

thing in you that bothers me.

I am seeing only what I wish to see!

Only when I see in myself the thing

that bothers me about you,

can I say that I understand you.

When I truly understand you,

I understand myself.

When I truly understand myself,

I understand all that you are.

If I truly understand all that you are,

I forgive that about

you which bothers me.

If I only understand the illusion of me,

I cannot forgive you.

If I don’t really understand you,

I cannot forgive the reality of me.

If I cannot forgive myself,

I cannot forgive you.

I must forgive us both simultaneously,

or I have forgiven neither.

If I do not see myself in you,

understand and forgive us both,

I have relinquished peace of mind

to your control.

When you control my peace of mind,

I live in fear of you abusing it,

in anger when you do,

in frustration at my impotence.

My happiness is dependant

upon all that you say or do.

If my happiness is dependent

upon all that you say or do,

You are not less than I, as I had wished,

Nor are you even my equal.

You are my master!

If I truly understand and forgive,

I no longer see only what I wish to see.

With wisdom’s eye, I see reality.

I have conquered ego.

When I have conquered ego,

I have seen us as equals.

Each of us with both good and bad,

both of us striving to be happy.

Only then is my peace of mind

out of your control,

My happiness no longer dependent upon you.

You are anyone..

You are everyone!

M.V. Kercher