Activity Sheet in Philosophy of Human Nature
Lesson 3 The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
Week 5 Day 1 “Forgiveness”
Name: _____________________________________
Section: ___________ Date:_____________
Purpose: Evaluate own limitations and the possibilities for their
transcendence
General Reminder: Use this activity sheet with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s
on the part of the activity sheet. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the
exercises. Read the directions carefully before doing each task. Return the activity
sheet to your teacher/ facilitator once you are through with it.
Explore
Direction: Before you start studying this module, answer the following
questions to find out how much you know about the topic.
Give the words that describe the word below. Write your answer on a
piece of paper.
FORGIVENESS
As a person, why it is important to forgive?
Learn
Forgiveness is often defined as an individual, voluntary internal
process of letting go of feelings and thoughts of resentment, bitterness,
anger, and the need for vengeance and retribution toward someone who we
believe has wronged us, including ourselves. Our capacity for forgiveness is
a part of human nature that has evolved in the process of natural selection,
and according to evolutionary science, it developed in the same way as our
tendency toward revenge. Both forgiveness and revenge are social instincts
that solved problems for ancestral humans. Although both of these are fixed
aspects of human nature, these capacities can be altered which gives us
hope that we can make the world a more forgiving and less vengeful place
(McCullough, 2008).
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” Marcus Aurelius
Forgiveness can be initiated by different means and can be a result of
changes in cognition, the offender’s behavior, the victim’s behavior, willful
decision, emotional experience or expression, spiritual experience, or any
combination of those. Some of us are more forgiving than others and
forgiveness can be conceptualized as a personality trait or as an aspect of
more complex enduring quality like resilience. There are several definitions
of forgiveness that emphasize different aspects of it and represent many of
the existing models of understanding and approaches to forgiveness.
Decision-based forgiveness is defined as the cognitive letting go of
resentment and bitterness and need for vengeance. However, it is not
always the end of emotional pain and hurt. Forgiveness here is viewed as an
act of will, a choice to let go or to hold. People can separate their thoughts of
resentment and bitterness from their feelings of hurt.
Cognitive definition of forgiveness is based on the perspective that
sees transgressions as violations of cognitive structures, like beliefs for
example (Gordon et al., 2005). A cognitive approach to forgiveness employs
standard cognitive therapy and psychodynamic therapy interventions to help
people change their cognitions.
“the framing of a perceived transgression such that one’s responses to
the transgressor, transgression, and sequelae of the transgression are
transformed from negative to neutral or positive. The source of the
transgression, therefore the object of forgiveness, may be oneself, another
person or persons, or a situation that one views as being beyond anybody’s
control like illness, fate, or a natural disaster.”
Emotional Forgiveness
Worthington (2006) defined true forgiveness as something that
happens only when emotional forgiveness can occur because emotional
replacement is necessary. When emotional forgiveness is complete, the
person will have replaced negative emotions associated with unforgiveness
like anger, resentment, and vengefulness with positive emotions like
empathy, compassion, sympathy, and altruistic love. They argue that the
change in emotional forgiveness, as it begins and moves toward completion,
will be reflected most accurately by changes in emotions, not by changes in
thoughts, motivations, or behavior, although those will often occur as well.
Forgiveness as a Process
Finally, Enright and Fitzgibbons (2015) believe that all three aspects of
forgiveness need to change, namely cognitive, affective, and behavioral, if a
person is to fully forgive.
They argue that a person must have a form of emotional readiness to forgive
before they are likely to be receptive to forgiving. The process of forgiveness
may take many forms and involves some of the following: cultivating
acceptance and empathy, perspective taking, and benefit finding.
For example, a person may decide to re-write the story of the transgression
in a journal by using one or more of these approaches and thereby alleviate
the anger and allow for emotional healing to occur (McCullough, Root, &
Cohen, 2006).
https://positivepsychology.com/forgiveness-benefits/ retrieved on July
19, 2020
Engage
List the advantage or benefits of forgiveness and disadvantage of not
forgiving. Write it in a short bond paper.
Advantages of giving forgiveness Disadvantage of not giving
forgiveness
Apply
Share your experience on the past, were you forgave someone.
How did you do it?
What did you feel?
What are the benefits to yourself when you forgive? To the one you
forgive?
Is it easy to forgive? Why or why not
Write or type it on a short bond paper.
