07:46

Forgiveness Practice (Christian & Buddhist Wisdom)

by Thomas McConkie

Rated
4.8
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
1.7k

Forgiveness can be a difficult quality to cultivate - maybe among the hardest. In this practice, Thomas draws from Christian and Buddhist wisdom texts to offer insight into what true forgiveness might consist of.

ForgivenessChristianityBuddhismWisdomInsightBody AwarenessSpiritual AwarenessPersonal DevelopmentAcceptanceConflict ResolutionEmotional ResiliencePersonality Development

Transcript

Just notice how you're feeling in the moment.

Just let your awareness fill and illuminate the entire physical body.

Notice physical sensation.

Notice the feeling tone throughout the body.

Notice the stillness.

On one level of human life there is the activity of the personality,

The function of the personality.

Moment to moment the personality evaluating what it likes,

What it doesn't like,

What it seeks,

What it avoids,

What pleases it,

What displeases it.

And these are all perfectly normal and functional and healthy dynamics.

But if they're the only dynamics that we have access to,

We live like prisoners in the personality.

When we practice this path,

We learn how to jailbreak the spirit in a sense.

We bring our awareness to awareness itself.

Just the simple immediate wakefulness that experiences all experience.

And this light,

This consciousness,

The spirit is not bound to the personality.

It's not subjugated by the personality,

At least we don't have to be as this light.

In this moment you can notice everything about this moment that the personality doesn't particularly like.

Maybe the body is a little uncomfortable,

Maybe it's a little hot where you're sitting.

Maybe you're in conflict with someone you care about,

A relationship that's gnawing at you.

Maybe you feel lonely.

Whatever the conditions coming up,

Just notice that the animal body and the personality,

They have their opinions about what's good and what's bad.

But as conscious spirit,

You can completely embrace these conditions.

It doesn't mean you just sit around like a sack of potatoes and never do anything in life.

But it means you fully accept that this is the way things are in this moment.

And trust that you can show up appropriately as the moment calls for it.

Notice human beings especially who challenge your personality,

Who challenge the personality.

And just see how many faces and names come to mind,

The personalities that clash with your personality.

And notice that as awareness you can just see these clashes,

These dynamics playing out.

And these ego dynamics,

These personality dynamics playing out,

They're not different than waves colliding on the sea.

Thunder clouds merging together,

Lightning striking,

Wind howling,

Rain pouring,

Earthquakes giving rise to mountains,

Winds and water carving out valleys.

These personalities are forces of nature and they clash and there's friction and heat and stress.

And personalities grow this way,

They wake up this way.

And at the same time you,

Conscious spirit,

Are always already awake and free.

As conscious spirit you're not bound to what the personality prefers.

Personality prefers praise over blame,

Gain over loss,

Pleasure over pain.

But from a different perspective as conscious spirit you know perfectly well that the conditions,

The heat,

The friction,

The colliding,

The struggle,

Is all giving rise to something greater.

These personalities,

These conditions cry out for you,

Spirit,

To hold them,

To love them,

To illuminate them.

And from this expanse how can you generate even the slightest thought of irritation towards these most precious beings?

Are they not you,

Yourself?

Meet your Teacher

Thomas McConkieBoston, MA, USA

4.8 (122)

Recent Reviews

Aaron

November 18, 2025

No doubt at all. Adult development is forgiveness. Excellent meditation. 👍🏻🙏🏻

Trinity

October 24, 2025

Genuinely one of my favorite things I’ve listened too,so eye opening and beautiful! Thank you so much! I hope you make many more like this

Ellen

July 16, 2024

Helpful

Jennifer

October 16, 2021

Insightful. Truthful. Helpful. Thank you.

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© 2026 Thomas McConkie. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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