Forgiving puts you in control. However tough it is, the alternative is far worse. The phrase "Forgive us our sins, though we refuse to forgive those who sin against us" doesn't exist in the Bible. And there's a reason for that.
宽恕不仅在婚姻中需要,在与子女、朋友、同事、邻居,甚至陌生人的相处中也同样需要。事实上,缺少宽恕,人际关系就无法持续。宽恕他人不是可有可无的善举,而是维系良性人际关系、促进身心健康的必要因素。
有些人认为,自己屡屡受创,对伤害自己的人很难宽恕。然而,正是这些受伤至深的人,更急需宽恕。这看起来似乎有些矛盾,但其实很简单,就像癌症能夺去人的生命一样,仇恨也会给人以致命的打击。如果不尽快根除,它就会滋生蔓延,最终使那些执迷于仇恨的人命丧黄泉。
如果满怀仇恨,心中的伤口就会逐渐溃烂,无法愈合。中国有句谚语说得好,“复仇者终会自掘坟墓”。
对于有些人来说,因为不知如何原谅他人,迈出第一步似乎举步维艰。那么,首要的任务是必须承认宽恕之举并非易事。事实上,对于大多数人来说,这是极为艰难的事。
受了伤,还要原谅他人,这似乎很不公平。但这是施以宽恕的关键所在。
人们可能会随口说“我原谅你,就让它过去吧”,但说着容易做起来难。一方面,这显然是不可能的。另一方面,这不是真正意义上的谅解。生活中,久久不能释怀的就是最需谅解的事。人们不应该回避,而要牢记,并有意识地不把错误归咎于当事人,然后继续自己的生活。
因而,宽恕之举最初看似简单,后来却甚为艰难。无论在相见、攀谈,或是回忆中,都需要压抑情绪。真正的宽恕是持续的情绪斗争,而不是一次性的举动。
时间越长,就越难以原谅别人。其实,时间并不能抚平伤痛,只会增加仇恨,使你愤懑满怀。如果伺机报复,就永远无法宽恕他人。
在宽恕他人之前,我们首先要扪心自问:有多少人没有受过伤害呢?
数年前,我和妻子科妮莉亚买了一套价格实惠的家具,扁平型、松木镶面的。起初的几个月里,我们都觉得它美观、实用,又招人喜欢,认为它是最合适的家居用品。但日子久了,边脚地方松木镶面的皮开始脱落,不再美观了,但还能用。事实上,不管我们喜欢与否,那漂亮的镶面下只是刨花板。因此,在对他人做出评判前,首先应在镜子里审视一下自己,发觉自身的缺陷,就能原谅别人的过错,也就能体会施以宽恕所带来的满足感。
选择真理还是快乐?宽恕他人能获得意外惊喜。坚信自己是对的,如此一来,就难有宽恕之心。试着扪心自问吧:选择真理还是快乐?
施以宽恕,第一步恐怕是最难的——特别是许久不再和伤害者讲话。但千万别忘了,他们或许很希望与你交谈,甚至会深受感动,这些或许是他们想做而未做的事。切记:这样做既利己又利人。即使他们没有表现出你预期的反应,也不要过于懊丧。
当然,有些人并没有意识到自己所犯之错,对这些事也没有放在心上。假如告诉他们你宽恕了他,那只会让双方倍感失望。即使不说出原谅之意,也并不意味着不会原谅。其实,这才是宽恕之真正要义:让恼怒不再萦绕心头,让伤害远离自己,以一颗平和的心面对曾经,继续好好生活。
心中淤积的仇恨越多,就越苦恼。除非学会“忘记的艺术”,否则将永远伤痕累累。不仅伤害的人会如此,自己情感上也会有莫大的负重。
宽恕他人让自己更加理性。当然,这个过程是艰难的,但“绝不原谅”所付出的代价却极为巨大。“请宽恕我们吧——我们曾拒绝宽恕那些伤害过我们的人。”这句话虽未被写入圣经,却是很有道理的。
你怕死吗
On the Fear of Death
威廉·哈兹里特 / William Hazlitt
Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when we were not: this gives me no concern—why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? I have no wish to have been alive a hundred years ago, or in the reign of Queen Anne. Why should I regret and lay it so much to heart that I shall not be alive a hundred years hence, in the reign1 of I cannot tell whom?
To die is only to be as we were born; yet no one feels any remorse, or regret, or repugnance2, in contemplating this last idea. It is rather a relief and disburthening of the mind; it seems to have been a holiday time with us then: we were not called to appear upon the stage of life, to wear robes or tatters, to laugh or cry, be hooted or applauded3; we had lain perdu all this while, snug out of harm' s way; and had slept out our thousands of centuries without wanting to be waked up; at peace and free from care, in a long nonage, in a sleep deeper and calmer than that of infancy, wrapped in the softest and finest dust. And the worst that we dread is, after a short fretful, feverish4 being, after vain hopes, and idle fears, to sink to final repose again, and forget the troubled dream of life!
或许,死亡恐惧症的最好疗法是对生命开端与终结的思索。对此,人们曾毫无认知,因而也未予以关注,于是时而受到这样的问题困扰——为何人的生命会到尽头?我并不希望生活在一百年前,或是安妮女王时代;那为何要为不能长命百岁而烦恼呢?
死亡如同出生。没有人会因思索这一永恒的主题而倍感懊恼、悔恨或质疑。反之,这样的思索是一种心灵的慰藉,头脑的放松,仿佛度假一般——不会因生活而烦忧,挣扎于窘境,悲喜交织,也不会被他人贬赞;我们会逃避许久,远离伤害,裹于最轻柔细密的沙尘之中沉睡千百个世纪而不愿醒来,并希望一直处于孩童时期的安逸无忧,睡得更为深沉平静。然而,人们最怕的是,瞬间躁动后的狂热,在无望和无意义的畏惧后又沉浸于长眠状态,而忘记了苦苦追寻的梦想!
直觉的孩子
Listen to Your Inner Voice
佚名 / Anonymous
Very much, ever since you were brought into this world. When you couldn' t open your mouth till the first two years on planet earth, inner voice is the one through which you interpreted and understood things.
Inner voice is the voice mouth of the subconscious mind. The sub-conscious mind is always acting as a secondary reflector of thoughts and ideas in the body. It justifies and rationalizes what is right and what is wrong. When we go against what the inner voice says we get a guilty1 conscious and are bothered by it throughout our lives.