What does it mean to repent?

Biblically speaking, to repent doesn't mean to feel sorry about, to regret. It means to turn, to turn around 180 degrees. It means to undergo a complete change of mind, heart, direction. Turn away from madness, cruelty, shallowness, blindness. Turn toward the tolerance, compassion, sanity, hope, justice that we all have in us at our best.

- Frederick Buechner

from Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

as quoted in Sojourners online