The encounter with God, the experience of the absolute, is a principle at work in ourselves... This awakening to the brightness of the inner light is a necessary step in the full spiritual development of the person, of EVERY person, a step in which the transcendental sense awakens, the inner eye opens, and reality is finally encountered. It is a breaking forth from the constricting shell of ego-consciousness, an opening to the breadth and fullness of life found in cosmic consciousness.
Perhaps it's possible to forgive in one grand swoop, but I didn't experience it that way. I did it in bits and pieces. You forgive what you can, when you can. To forgive does not mean overlooking the offense and pretending it never happened. Forgiveness means releasing our rage and our need to retaliate, no longer dwelling on the offense, the offender, and the suffering, and rising to a higher love. It is an act of letting go so that we can go on.