Forgive - Release Anger
The Oxford American Dictionary Definition of Forgive is:
"To Cease to FEEL Angry or Bitter towards a Person about an Offense."
Mercy - "To Not Inflict Pain or Punishment on an Offender."
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Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D., Author of "Love, Medicine & Miracles":
"It's Easier to Hate, but Healthier to Love"
Forgive/Release Destructive Anger from Your Body for the Sake of Your Health
Imagine that Your Body is a Bottle. When You "Feel" Anger, Hatred, Bitterness, those Emotions are in Your Body.
How Can You "Release" those Emotions?
Think - How Would You "Want" to Be Treated if You Made a Horrible Mistake that Hurt Someone?
How Would You "Feel" if that Person, or their Family, was Merciful and Kind to You?
The *Healthy Emotions* for Every Body to "Feel" are: Mercy, Compassion, Loving Kindness.
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"Forgiveness for Your Health" - The Amy Biehl Story
by Gregg Easterbrook http://www.beliefnet.com/story/102/story_10281_1.html
"The story is so haunting it's almost hard to believe. Amy Biehl, an idealistic California college student, wins a Fulbright Scholarship to travel to South Africa to assist the anti-apartheid movement; she goes there, and is murdered by a black mob during a riot. (August 25, 1993) After years of grief, her parents Linda and Peter quit their trendy upper-middle-class California jobs and move to South Africa to try to complete the work their daughter started.
Eventually Amy's parents meet two of their daughter's killers, who are now full of remorse. The two young men, who have been pardoned, try to atone for their crime by doing public service for a foundation the Biehls established in Amy's name. (The Amy Biehl Foundation http://www.amybiehl.org/ )
Amy's parents forgive the two killers and they become friends, so much so that the young men address Amy's mother as "mom."
Hard to fathom? Few among us could be so forgiving, despite what religions teach. Amy Biehl must have been an exceptional person to inspire her parents to transform their lives in her memory. Her parents must be exceptional as well, to be capable of such acts.
But exceptional though they are, their experience is an unusually dramatic example of a rule that applies to everyone: that Forgiveness is Good not just for the person who is forgiven, but also For the Person who Forgives.
Traditionally, we think of forgiveness as a blessing extended to the transgressor, easing his or her conscience; the person who does the forgiving is seen as engaged in a gallant self-sacrifice. In this traditional view, the forgiven person benefits while the forgiver gains nothing. But what if forgiveness is just as important for the person who forgives as for the person forgiven?
What if it's in Your Self-Interest to Forgive (Release Anger) because You will be Better Off?
Consider that once the murder happened, Amy Biehl was gone: nothing could bring her back. Her parents might have allowed their lives to be burned up in hatred for the people who committed the crime and for the place where it happened. Instead, they forgave. The sorrow of their loss will never go away. But otherwise, forgiving Amy's killers left the Biehls better off.
Today, rather than having their lives consumed in bitterness, Amy's parents are leading important, constructive lives as part of the great South African reconciliation effort. They keep Amy's spirit Alive as a *Living Memory*, and they Feel HOPE rather than Anger.
Strictly from the standpoint of their own Self-Interest, the Biehls are Better Off than if they had refused to forgive."
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"It is Healthier to Love"
Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D., the Cancer Specialist and Author of, "Love, Medicine & Miracles", the Stories of People who Recovered from Cancer, wrote in Observation of their Recovery:
"It's Easier to Hate, but Healthier to Love".
"Love Your Enemies" - Jesus, the Healer
Jesus said: "Do You Want to be Sound in Health?" The Bible, John 5:6. Jesus was the Greatest "Healer" in Documented Human History. In his Presence the Body of the Sick and Disabled was Instantly *Restored* to Health. He said the Power for Body Restoration came from The Creator of the Human Body he called "Our Father" who Wants People to Live Together in Peace and Health.
Jesus said: "Love Your Enemies...and You will be Children of Your Father in the heavens, because He is KIND to the Unthankful and Wicked...Continue becoming Merciful, just as Your Father is Merciful...Stop Condemning...Keep on Releasing (Forgiving)." Luke 6:35-37
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Comment on "Love Your Enemies"
In Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D.'s book, "Love, Medicine & Miracles" is the Quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Jesus' Recommendation to "Love Your Enemies":
"Forgiveness does Not mean Ignoring what has been Done or putting a False Label on an Evil Act. It means, rather, that the Evil Act no longer remains as a BARRIER to the Relationship...We much Recognize that the Evil Deed of the Enemy Neighbor, the thing that Hurts, never quite Expresses ALL that he is. An Element of Goodness may be found even in our Worst Enemy.
The meaning of Love is Not to be Confused with some Sentimental Outpouring. Love is something much Deeper than Emotional Bosh...Now we can see what Jesus meant when he said, "Love Your Enemies". We should be Happy that he did Not say, "Like Your Enemies". It is almost Impossible to Like some People. "Like" is a Sentimental and Affectionate Word.
How can we be Affectionate toward a Person whose Avowed Aim is to Crush our very Being and Place Innumerable Sumbling Blocks in our Path? How can we Like a Person who is Threatening our Children or Bombing our Homes? That is Impossible.
But Jesus recognized that Love is Greater than Like. When Jesus bids Us to "Love Our Enemies", he is Speaking of Understanding and Creative, Redemptive Goodwill for ALL Men.
Only by Following this Way and Responding with this Type of Love are We able to be Children of Our Father who is in Heaven."
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The Power of Pure Love and Forgiveness - Instant Healing Story
In the book, "Love, Medicine & Miracles" by Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D., are the Stories of Survivors of the Holocaust in Germany.
"Another Survivor, Jack Schwarz, has told how he Passed out during aWhipping and had a Vision of Christ (Jesus). Filled with Love from the Image, he said to his Torturer (in German):
"Ich Liebe Dich" (I Love You).
The Guard was so Shocked that he Stopped, and he was even more Astounded when he saw
Right before his Eyes the Prisoner's Wounds Healing within Moments."
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Attitude of Forgiveness - Restores and Maintains the Body Healthy
In the book, "Love, Medicine & Miracles" by Dr. Bernie Siegel, M.D., is another Story of a Survivor of the Holocaust in Germany.
"Psychiatrist George Ritchie, author of "Return from Tomorrow", tells this story of "Wild Bill", one of the Death-Camp Survivors with whom he Worked after the Liberation:
"(Wild Bill) was one of the Inmates of the Concentration Camp, but obviously he hadn't been there long: His Posture was Erect, his Eyes Bright, his Energy Indefatigable. Since he was Fluent in English, French, German and Russian, as well as Polish, he became a Kind of Unofficial Camp Translator...
Though Wild Bill Worked 15 and 16 Hours a Day, he Showed NO Signs of Weariness. While the rest of Us were Drooping with Fatigue, he seemed to Gain Strength...
I was Astonished to learn when Wild Bill's own Papers came before Us one day, that he had been Wuppertal since 1939! For 6 Years he had Lived on the Same Starvation Diet, Slept in the same Airless and Disease-Ridden Barracks as Everyone Else, but without the Least Physical or Mental Deterioration...
Wild Bill was our Greatest Asset, Reasoning with the Different Groups, Counseling Forgiveness.
Bill's Story: "We Lived in the Jewish Section of Warsaw," he began slowly, the First Words I had heard him Speak about Himself, "My Wife, our Two Daughters, and our Three Little Boys.
When the Germans reached our Street they Lined Everyone against a Wall and Opened Up with Machine Guns. I Begged to be Allowed to Die with my Family, but because I spoke German they put me in a Work Group.
I had to Decide right then, whether to Let Myself Hate the Soldiers who had done this. It was an Easy Decision, really. I was a Lawyer. In my Practice I had Seen too Often what Hate could do to People's Minds and Bodies.
Hate had just Killed the Six People who Mattered Most to Me in the World.
I Decided then that I would spend the Rest of my Life - whether it was a Few Days or Many Years - Loving Every Person I came in Contact with."
This (Pure Love) was the Power that had kept a Man Well in the Face of every Privation."
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