The results are shame, guilt, and an unforgiving mind. Religious morality cannot help us forgive because it imposes an idea of forgiveness that does not come from the heart. I forgive you because God expects that of me. We attempt to live up to God's standards of tolerance. Such gestures do not come from an open heart but from a prescribed ethical standard.
Forgiveness can only arise out of deep humanity.
Forgiveness was never divine. It has always arisen from the innocence of heart which gives permission to be fallible. One of the distressing events in my early adulthood was the death of my mother. I was going to school in Ohio and my parents were living in Georgia. Occasionally I would fly down to Georgia to visit them on holidays and weekends.