Magnanimity must follow victory. Victory demands courage. An act of courage emerges out of a life of faith. Faith is the consequence of love. Love is an act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is an emblem of generosity. Generosity is the result of magnanimity. In this way one transcends justice.
If I am the victim of a crime, a robbery let us say, how is it that I seek justice, or more directly, what is the character and the consequence of the justice that I seek? I want to see the items that have been taken from me returned. I wish to see the guilty party punished. But, can I conclude that what was taken from me had been earned, or did it come to me by fortune? Also, do I understand the condition of the criminal well enough to determine the reasonableness of his actions? As an alternative, is forgiveness- born of a radical form of acceptance- possible?
If I forgive the criminal, I give birth to a love of this world. I affirm the nature of existence with an act of forgiveness. This is how I initiate the transcendence of justice, I overcome my temporal desire for fairness with unbound generosity, and acknowledge my inability to comprehend the mind of another with compassion. Justice is temporary, forgiveness is eternal. As I pronounce my love for the world as it is in this way, I am compelled by its generosity to me to transcend my desire for justice and my expectation of fairness.
Beyond my love of the world as it is, lies a region more obscure and enigmatic. The future will never be known, and so my desire to live in the light of creation requires a faculty most difficult to obtain. Even when it is perfectly expressed, it still cannot be seized. The leap of faith swallows the abyss of fear. The anticipated never materializes. The outcome exceeds expectation by a magnitude that realigns every variable. In this way faith transcends expectation. In this way I am liberated from fear; fear of success and fear of failure.
Now the strength of existence flows through me, and I am encouraged by it. This courage comes only after fear has been conquered, when life is embraced and death is welcome. With courage I transcend failure and success. I rely on nothing, relate to nothing, and nothing threatens me. I have become the agent, the actor, the creator, and the universe itself must resist me.
Before we may be magnanimous we must be victorious, but our victory is not over a rival, not a sophisticated win, an outmaneuvering or a strategic success. It is a triumph in the end over ourselves, over our petty emotions and paltry desires. As victory draws near, the most treacherous terrain is laid bare before us. Now, as the resistance of the world falls away, we must resist ourselves, we must become our own universe. In doing so, the great spirit descends upon us. Our modest, mortal, tepid being is touched by the divinity of heaven, and we are left to enjoy our own generosity.