Forgiveness is Grace

It is said that Buddha brought Compassion but Jesus brought forgiveness, both of which are useful within the cultural contexts of where these teaching arose and which cultures they arose into. I would have to say that both compassion and forgiveness are two of the foundations of civilization on earth. For without compassion and forgiveness we would all be in small tribes still all over earth killing each other and counting coup on each other seemingly forever. Forgiveness and compassion have allowed especially western civilization to flourish and I would say compassion has allowed eastern civilization to flourish.

When we look at what forgiveness actually is we see it is a way to overcome the "fight or flight" tendency of all mammals on earth (of which humans are one of the species). If you watch animals they will fight to stay alive, for food, to defend their offspring and to defend their tribe (depending upon which group of animals or creatures we are speaking about). Compassion and forgiveness allow someone sophisticated enough to forgive a transgression so that one does not have to kill the other. Because often if one kills the other it can set up centuries of retribution between families. So, allowing minor transgressions to go unpunished allows civilization to exist. However, major transgressions like murder, rape, and mass theft civil authorities are supposed to step in and create justice. In most of the world this just doesn't work very well and eventually the people just have to stand up and make their governments work better. We are seeing this happen from Tunisia all the way into China right now on earth and this likely could continue like this for years or decades or longer until these governmental systems respond to the needs of the now much more highly educated people.

So, the catch is being wise enough to know what to forgive and what to not allow to go on. This is very difficult for all beings to fully ascertain. So the balance between forgiveness and justice is always on everyone's mind that is civilized on earth. But if I were to envision and ideal world Forgiveness creates a state of Grace for all of us when properly balanced with human rights and justice. So, even though ideal worlds are difficult to create and harder to sustain I believe they are worth trying to create for they are the only hope of the generations to come (our children and theirs and theirs and so on).