And here is the thing: all of us have sinned. All of us have done things which we know have hurt other people, things we have done out of malice, pain, thoughtlessness, spite and anger. Most of us have done bad things to ourselves. Quite often, rather than punish others for our pain, we punish ourselves, in various ways. Addiction is a punishment of sorts in itself. It is an introjected aggression, a grenade we create then fall on to protect others.
But until we learn to forgive others, we can never include ourselves in that blanket amnesty. You can’t let YOUR OWN past go until you learn the process of severing the bonds of guilt, resentment, hate and anger with respect to others.
True morality never requires us to choose between our own interest and that of others. The ideal, always, is that we all feed one another–you may recall the story of the long spoons and heaven and hell–and in so doing become happy and connected.