“If you are one of the many people who have an issue with their parents, if you still harbor resentment about something they did or did not do, then you still believe that they had a choice — that they could have acted differently.
It always looks as if people had a choice, but that is an illusion. As long as your mind with its conditioned patterns runs your life, as long as you are your mind, what choice do you have? None.
You are not even there. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of insanity. Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment you realize this, there can be no more resentment. How can you resent someone’s illness? The only appropriate response is compassion.
Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures. You share the vulnerability and mortality of your physical form with every other human. You die as an earthly mortal. A humbling realization of your shared humanity leaves little room for pride.
‘Forgiveness’ is a term that has been in use for two thousand ye
ars, but most people have a very limited view of what it means.
You cannot truly forgive yourself or others as long as you derive your sense of self from the past. Only through accessing the power of Now, which is your own power, can there be true forgiveness.
This renders the past powerless, and you realize deeply that nothing you ever did or that was ever done to you could touch even in the slightest the radiant essence of who you are. The whole concept of forgiveness then becomes unnecessary.
When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. The Now is the key.”
The Power Of Now – A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle, pgs. 196, 228 – 229.
