Forgiveness Is The Word, The Work, and The Turning

In different phases of one’s life, different passages of scriptures find different significance. It ripens depending on one’s maturity. As I was reading the following passage from the Quran this morning after prayer, I felt the obligation to share it with you. Why? Beside its general guiding principles, some words now resonate differently in my ears. One is the word “usurious”: remember the destruction imposed upon the earth by capitalistic greed and financial oligarchy. The other word is “forgiveness”. What is this forgiveness? It seems to be in contrast with the next verses that asks us to walk the steep hill and labor for good. How come? Why should human being labor and take the difficult route rather than the easy? God says forgiveness will be given to those who “give in prosperity and adversity”, who “restrain from anger and forgive people”, those “who ask for forgiveness if they do something wrong or shameful and never knowingly persist in doing wrong”—is this steep hill not the path of human heart’s awareness of what is wrong and shameful? The easy way is to succumb to one’s whims, the difficult one is to take the difficult route. After peeling off all cultural pretensions and false identities and consciences, every person understands these words in their core. We assumed that forgiveness and laboring are contradictory. Because if I ought to labor the steep hill, then why should I ask for forgiveness anyhow? The coherency of the answer is understanding the mystery of what the good life is for human being with a labyrinthian inner world. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization, are not enough for a good life. Secular ideology forgets cosmological values which are embedded in human hearts and never one will feel satisfied without walking the steep hill of doing good: giving, forgiving, and asking for forgiveness. Only then the forgiveness is earned. But is it ‘forgiveness’ if it is earned? A secular ideology has forgotten the intrinsic value and the inner world—the inner is now disenchanted by identification with the genes and physiological dispositions and environment. The inner world ought to turn to God through awareness, and labor this path. The very labor and steep path are the modal of turning the inner world. Forgiveness is this inclination to turn to God. We can’t forgive ourselves, and our inner world will not change if our ‘karman’(action) is not changed, because human being has an inner world which is not on its own. We can’t give ourselves the ultimate Law. Only those who do good and take care of their real conscience and learn to forgive those who don’t persist on their actions, only those who are disposed to labor for restoration, rather than acting on anger—will be ready to receive God’s forgiveness, which is this ultimate grace to assist the inner world to turn to forgiving oneself. We don’t have unconditional forgiveness, because it is our very conscience that takes the path of forgiveness or suffering—it is up to us, to our labor to turn to God and thus receives forgiveness. As Heidegger puts it: “What speaks to us only becomes perceivable through our response. Our hearing is in itself a responding.”

“You who believe, do not consume usurious interest, doubled and redoubled. Be mindful of God so that you may prosper–beware of the Fire prepared for those who ignore– and obey God and the Prophet so that you may be given mercy. Hurry towards your Lord’s forgiveness and a Garden as wide as the heavens and earth prepared for the righteous, who give, both in prosperity and adversity, who restrain their anger and pardon people– God loves those who do good– those who remember God and implore forgiveness for their sins if they do something shameful or wrong themselves– who forgives sins but God?– and who never knowingly persist in doing wrong. The reward for such people is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens graced with flowing streams, where they will remain. How excellent is the reward of those who labor!” (3:130-136)