Forgiving The "Unforgivable"

by Lael

We speak about Peace on Earth over the holidays, and we say we want an end to war. We may even judge the leaders we deem responsible for war. But are we willing to make peace in our own lives by forgiving those we believe to have wronged us?

As above, so below, the spiritual saying goes. As locally, so globally, and as personally, so politically, the Daily Mantra might add. As long as we are not at peace individually and within our own hearts, for just that long, war will prevail.

The road to peace takes courage and honesty. It also often requires inspiration. Our consciousness is collective; any path walked by another person before us makes that path more easily traversed by the rest.

The 2006 anti-death penalty documentary The Closure Myth features the moving story of a mother named Aba Gayle, a trailblazer on the path of peace. Following the murder of her beloved nineteen year old daughter (see photo), Aba Gayle supported the prosecution's decision to seek the death penalty for the responsible party, a man named Douglas Mickey.

Despite the closure and relief she was promised by those in charge of her daughter's case, seeking punishment brought her no comfort whatsoever. Vengeance and bitterness only led Aba Gayle to experience ever-greater distress.

After years of intense suffering, this bereaved and tormented mother experienced a spiritual transformation. Stemming, in large measure, from her work with the exercises in the book A Course in Miracles and from the support of her spiritual community, the Santa Rosa Church of Religious Science, this transformation led her to do what once seemed unthinkable-contact and forgive the man who deprived her beautiful daughter of life.

What happened next is best conveyed by Aba Gayle herself. If peace is truly what you crave, I highly recommend reading her own account of her story.

Forgiveness takes those who practice it into unforeseen territory. If you wish to be not just a peace-talker but a peacemaker, if you wish for the certain knowledge of your own innocence and worthiness, I recommend the way of forgiveness and a teacher named Aba Gayle.

| 01/01/08 | Lessons