Article April 2, 1979 Issue

Impossible to forgive?

FERN CARROLL WILLIAMS

When we feel that we have been wronged, it may seem impossible to forgive. We long to be free to love wholeheartedly everyone we know, but pride attempts to dominate us. Self-righteousness tries to persuade us that an evildoer, one who has wronged, is more sinful than an evil thinker, one who cherishes resentment—a form of hatred.

It is always helpful to remember that divine Love is stronger than hate. Paul assures us, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5:20; We may know that the holy influence of God's grace is sufficient to purify thought and restore peace.

If in a night dream the villain's part were played by a loved member of our family, upon awakening would we think of that one as mean and hateful? Would we continue to resent his dream actions? Evil is part of the mesmeric dream narrative described by Mrs. Eddy on page 188 of Science and Health: "Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of mind." She also writes, on page 14, "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth."

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