As co-authors of The Book of Forgiving – The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his biographer (and daughter), Reverend Mpho Tutu, assert that nobody and nothing is inherently beyond forgiveness. Is that actually true?
You know, I think it really is. That said, I feel that each individual needs to decide for themselves who, what and when they’re ready to forgive. As I wrote previously on The Wisdom Daily, there are painful situations where atonement may be sincerely offered but forgiveness is not achievable for years, or remains very hard work indefinitely.
This book by the Tutus – available this month for the first time in paperback (following up the pair’s 2011 joint effort, Made for Goodness) – is beautiful to read, and I definitely recommend it. My only caution is that you need not feel badly about yourself if you don’t immediately start forgiving everyone for everything. We can presume that’s not the authors’ intent, but this collaborative effort does run the risk of making some readers feel that way, and that would be a shame.
What The Book of Forgiving does – with genuine wisdom, courage and beauty – is remind readers that the option to forgive is always there, and that when we offer forgiveness to others, we may be giving ourselves a remarkable gift as well. The same is true, I think, when we seek forgiveness from others, whether it’s ultimately granted to us or not.
In Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu’s own words, from the pages of this book: “There are days when I wish I could erase from my mind all the horrors I have witnessed. It seems there is no end to the creative ways we humans can find to hurt each other, and no end to the reasons we feel justified in doing so. There is also no end to the human capacity for healing. In each of us, there is an innate ability to create joy out of suffering.”
Image credit: Tinseltown/Shutterstock.com
Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”