One must remember that cultivating the spirit can have powerfully benevolent and illogical - some would say unnatural - results. It is natural to strike back even fold, it is natural to succumb to an “eye for an eye,” yet why is it repeatedly that the most spiritually devout and advanced throughout human history have championed the “unnatural” path of forgiveness? Only one who can see beyond the circles of this world can understand the test that is our lives, the human test of civilization.

My compassion is not limited to those who have not yet reconciled within themselves the scope of their crimes. As God’s compassion toward me is unlimited so shall my compassion to those who transgress and injure me. Why do you think Pope John Paul II visited his would-be assassin in prison? Was it because the assassin expressed great remorse? No it was not. Following in the footsteps of Christ, the Pope did the ultimate act of courage—he forgave unconditionally he who had trespassed him.