The only way to heal yourself was to understand. Understand the love or the hate or the cowardice, or the impulsiveness, the lack of will of the one who hurt you–the circumstances that twisted them, the influences that warped them. And when you forgot yourself and saw the others with pitying comprehension, saw their tortured motives, a white, healing peace descended upon you. Your betrayal became an impersonal one, like a bridge giving way when you crossed it, lightning, a motor collision–you were in the way and you were damaged–that was all. It wasn’t meant for you. When you understood, you were released into a new freedom and wisdom.
Mary Schumann, Strong Enchantments