We.ve got to learn to forgive and one way is by seeing ourselves in our persecutor(s). Being Jewish, I've had a particularly difficult time having compassion for the Nazi's but just as the poet sees himself as also the pirate rapist of a 12 year old girl whose heart has not yet learned to love , so too can I see myself as both the persecuted one and the Nazi who "knows not what he does". Forgiveness and compassion are necessary not just for those we forgive but maybe even more so for ourselves for we cannot spiritually unfold with bitterness and hatred in our hearts.
On Jul 14, 2015 Sidney DeKoven wrote :
We.ve got to learn to forgive and one way is by seeing ourselves in our persecutor(s). Being Jewish, I've had a particularly difficult time having compassion for the Nazi's but just as the poet sees himself as also the pirate rapist of a 12 year old girl whose heart has not yet learned to love , so too can I see myself as both the persecuted one and the Nazi who "knows not what he does". Forgiveness and compassion are necessary not just for those we forgive but maybe even more so for ourselves for we cannot spiritually unfold with bitterness and hatred in our hearts.