From your recent posts here, it seems that there are many misunderstandings about what forgiving is.  Why do you think there are so many misunderstandings out there?

I agree that there are many misunderstandings of forgiveness in the general public, in mental health professionals who are trying to help people to heal, and in scholars who publish articles on forgiveness.  I think this is the case because most people, including mental health professionals and scholars, have never examined the term forgiveness from a philosophical perspective.  This often results in a failure of understanding what Aristotle called “the specific difference” between forgiveness and other related ideas such as “just moving on” or reconciling or even just engaging in a few psychological techniques such as writing a letter that is not sent to the offending person.  Forgiveness as a moral virtue takes time and practice.  It includes thinking in new ways about the offending person, waiting for softer emotions to emerge, and deciding whether or not to reconcile.  So often people miss some or even all of these important points, thus distorting what forgiving actually is.

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