On Forgiveness..

I have reached a milestone in my work on my ethical system, it can be summarized in one line, which however exist in two versions: theological and philosophically.
Personally I believe that the theological one better captures the emotional significance of the statement:
"God forgives those who cannot forgive themselves."
and the secular one:
"Only those who cannot forgive themselves, deserves forgiveness."

To elaborate.. What I mean by this is that the sufficient and necessary criteria for forgiveness is the inability to forgive oneself. By accepting that our actions and their consequences are permanent and that we cannot erase them, we need to compensate our mistakes by helping others in order to justify our moral well being.

People can get lost in feelings of worthlessness when brooding over how their actions through carelessness or ignorance have created suffering for others. It is here that the above statements are useful:
Because they affirm worth, to those that also need it.