The Role of Forgiveness in Adult Learning and Education

Adverse experiences can initiate angry and negative emotions and if not addressed and resolved have the ability to impede learning. Forgiveness counseling gives learners and educators a way to extinguish the power of these hindering emotions and thereby enhance learning. From the first birthing cry to the last drawn breath, humans are bathed in emotion. Emotions first appear in the prenatal setting. For example, babies in utero will suck their thumbs or umbilical cords for solace (deMause, 1997). A loud noise will frighten the unborn causing them to react with a jump or a kick. Learning begins in unprotected emotional innocence, an exercise of curiously exploring the environment, seeking comfort, and avoiding discomfort. In a perfect world, children are nurtured and encouraged to satisfy this primal curiosity in a safe learning environment. If this happens, learning becomes a challenging adventure, where risks may be taken and ideas tried and tested (Dirkx, 2006; Perry, 2006). A lack of success is not seen as failure but is encouraged as a learning experience. It is in an emotional setting that most learning occurs (Dirkx, 2001, 2006; Dirkx, Mezirow, & Cranton 2006; Wolfe, 2006). When encouragement is lacking or has been non-existent, either in the family or in educational settings, learning becomes black and white, a matter of right and wrong. Failure then leads to judgment. Not knowing the correct answer and being made to feel stupid can change learning into a stressful and shameful experience (Perry, 2006; Wolfe, 2006). The shame, psychological pain, or trauma caused by these events can leave learners feeling angry and resentful, believing that they are inadequate or stupid (Perry, 2006). These feelings can continue long after the initial anger experience (Fitzgibbons, 1998; Perry, 2006; Reed & Enright, 2006; Sukhodolsky, Golub & Cromwell, 2001). Anger is then carried into adulthood and, if not recognized and resolved, can be displaced and manifested as underachieving or disruptive learners (Dirkx, 2006; Enright, Knutson, Holter, Baskin, & Knutson, 2007; Fizgibbons, 1998; Perry, 2006). The result is often an angry, negative and/or fearful adult learner, which leads to the resistance or rejection of learning and the educational process (Britzman, 1998; Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007). Forgiveness counseling is an effective tool for breaking the cycle of anger, anxiety, resentment, and depression in adult samples (Enright et al., 2007; Fitzgibbons, 1998; Gambaro, Enright, Baskin, & Klatt, 2008; Lin, Mack, Enright, Kran, & Baskin, 2004; Reed & Enright, 2006). Fitzgibbons (1998) reported in his practice that “the psychotherapeutic uses of forgiveness have resulted in a significant diminishment in the emotional, mental, and physical suffering” (p. 63) with reported benefits of a sense of freedom, a reduction of stress, resentment, and anger, along with a sense of physical and psychological well-being (Fitzgibbons, 1998; Coyle & Enright, 1998; McCoulough, 2000; Reed & Enright, 2006; Toussaint & Webb, 2005). This reduction of stress, resentment, and anger can have a positive impact on the student’s affect and motivation to learn (Dirkx, 2001; Gambaro et al., 2008; Knutson, Enright, & Garbers, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which learning about forgiveness and forgiveness interventions might contribute to, and enhance, the adult learning experience. To do this, the ways in which emotions, primarily anger and resentment, can impact learning are