In Praise of Forgiveness

Relationships fall apart, marriages fail, couples break up – it happens to us all. Time corrodes passion, and the routines of daily life stifle the excitement that initially surrounds the emotion of the first encounter. The difficulty of uniting sexual pleasure with love, which Freud considered to be the most common neurosis in any love life, has become emblematic of a truth that seems undeniable: desire is destined to die if its object is not constantly renewed, if we do not change partner, if it is confined for too long within the restrictive bounds of the same bond.

And yet, what happens to these bonds when one of the two partners betrays the other, when the promise fails, when there is another emotional experience cloaked in secrecy and deceit? What happens if the traitor then begs forgiveness? Are they asking to be loved again and, having declared that it is not like it used to be, now want everything to go back to how it was?

Should we make fun of lovers in their attempts to make love last? Or should we try to face up to the experience of betrayal, with the offence caused by the person we love most? Should we not perhaps attempt to praise forgiveness in love?

In Praise of Forgiveness by Massimo Recalcati challenges us to think deeply about these questions and consider the role of forgiveness in maintaining the bonds of love.