Still, one doesn't have to look far to find talking heads who will happily tell you that some group of people has slighted you and that you need to respond (by voting for [X]). So even if vengefulness is helpful, and even if forgiveness is the answer for unhelpful vengefulness, is there any way to keep it from being hijacked at scale?
Is it religion?
You can find this in religion, or generic spirituality, or meditation, or any number of activities. Putting in the effort to be aware of yourself in the moment, in your mental context, and in the context of the group you find yourself in, your place in society and in the world, and where you are now and where you want to be before you shuffle off the mortal coil, all of these things are important and matter.
Of course, if you can fully grasp onto all of this at once then you're a better person than I, but it's still a task worth attempting since it can let you meta analyze your life and your feelings and increase the chance that your decisions are made intentionally, which is nice because you have to live with them no matter what.
Before attempting to apply such explanations, you'd need to have an extremely broad cultural perspective. Practically everybody you know is WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic). You can't really draw a pattern without including a lot of other cultures, both existing and extinct.
> To help people safely release their revenge cravings and experiment with forgiveness, I’ve created a method known as the Nonjustice System that’s contained in my book and in the free Miracle Court app.
"Buy into my self-help program"
drooby•6mo ago
I come across info bits like this every once in a while and I can't help be think... were they really answering the question truthfully, and just having a little laugh to themselves? Or, are we really this close to reverting to midieval behavior if our modern justice system crumbles