ABSTRACT
Forgiveness is an elusive experience, and its pseudo-manifestation is probably far more common than the genuine article. The dynamic picture Salman Akhtar paints is similar in some respects to a percept-genetic one, where a sequence of revenge, reparation, and reconsideration with each experience of forgiveness replays what may be a developmental sequence. Forgiveness is almost simultaneous with an acceptance of one's true culpability that may be both born of affection for the individual who is the victim of one's transgression and permits genuine feeling for them. Forgiveness and the growth of love go hand in hand in a mutually facilitative, benign cycle. Setting evolutionary theory aside, in terms of a psychoanalytic theory of development, there is an important hint about the intergenerational circularity of forgiveness. The analyst's request for forgiveness seems to be rooted in a wider understanding of the interpersonal situation between patient and analyst and a capacity to see the conflict from the patient's perspective.
