EMBRACING HUMAN FALLIBILITY - ON FORGIVING ONESELF AND FORGIVING OTHERS

Forgiving another and forgiving oneself are both experiences that bring relief and a sense of a new beginning in life. The relationship between these two phenomena is explored through a phenomenological and hermeneutical interpretation of one person's story of reconciliation. It is argued that guilt and shame give rise to the search for forgiveness, and that in either type of forgiveness one moves into a deeper and more profound connection with one's own life as well as the lives of others.