It says in my book Bread For The Head™ that:

"The True test of love is not in forgiving your enemies, the true test of love is in not having any enemies."

This philosophy sublimates the breeding of conscious viciousness as well as vicious consciousness.

It is because many times people feel that when they forgive someone, they are somehow doing a favor to others.

But in reality, by practicing the act of forgiveness, they are actually doing a favor to themselves.

Because forgiveness relieves them from the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual torment that one experiences while harboring grudges against others.

One day, when my daughter Anahita was about 3-years old, I may have said something to her that hurt her feelings. So she got up and left.

The moment I recognized that, I immediately went up to her and said:

"Anahita, I am so sorry for hurting your feelings. Would you please forgive me!"

She looked straight into my eyes and she said:

"OK Baba, that's fine. But keep in mind that this will be the last time that I will ever forgive you !!!!"

Well, to-date, I have heard that statement numerous times.... Ha Ha.

Now, as an integral part of raising Anahita, my wife Katayoon and I, have assidously been talking with her about the concept of forgiving and forgetting.

So one day, when she was a toddler, I asked her: "Anahita, I have been talking about the concept of forgiving and forgetting with you for quite sometime now, but I have never asked what this concept really means to you."

To which she promptly responded:

"First you FORGIVE what a person has done and then you FORGET about him."

Now, this statement may sound humorous, but it contains the seed of most relationship challenges that we face in our society today.

Let me share this story to further expound on the horizon of this concept.

One night, while I was having dinner with my friend Jack, he said:

"Meher, I know that you believe in forgiving and forgetting, but what do you do with a person, who commits a crime, is forgiven by the judge, and commits the same crime again."

Now, this was one of those moments, when I became speechless.

I told Jack: "I do not have an answer for you, but I will meditate on this thought and get back with you."

That night, I went to sleep with this thought floating at the back of my mind.

Around 4 o'clock in the morning, it suddenly dawned on me when Anahita's statement somehow re-entered the dimension of my consciousness.

"First you FORGIVE what a person has done and then you FORGET about him."

At that time, I realized that Anahita may have absorbed this specific perspective from exposure to media or society.

Around 7:00 am, I called Jack and I told him:

"We need to re-evaluate our process of FORGIVING & FORGETTING.

"When a person commits a crime, the Judge FORGIVES his DOING and then, we as a society, conveniently choose to FORGET about his BEING.

"Thus, when that person realizes that nobody cares about my BEING, in return that person chooses not to care about his DOING."

Unfortunately, in our communal justice system, a person is somehow "WANTED" for the wrong reasons - the BAD DOING instead of the GOOD BEING.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Brothers & Sisters, in order to enhance the spirit of humanity...

Once we understand this philosophy, we will be able to heal this planet with one soul at a time.