Guilt

Bozeman, Montana

The vast majority of the guilt that we feel serves no purpose whatsoever.

True guilt has a natural purpose.  When we feel guilty about something we did, we can try to correct it, apologize for it, and resolve that when a similar situation arises, we will act differently.  Natural guilt causes us to be better and better.

Artificial guilt only serves to make us anxious and depressed.  It serves no function.

How can we tell the difference between natural and artificial guilt?  When we feel guilty,  we can ask ourselves the following question:  "If we were confronted with the same situation, would we do the same thing, or something different?"  If the answer is that we would do something different, that is natural guilt.  We can try to repair the situation that we caused, apologize sincerely, and resolve to act differently in the future.  The guilt has served its purpose and dissolves of its own accord.

If the answer is that we would do the exact same thing, that is artificial guilt.  Artificial guilt is a relic of our conditioned belief systems.  It is not necessary to figure out where it came from.  It is important to just get rid of it.  We can rid ourselves of artificial guilt permanently in about a month.

When we feel guilty and ask ourselves the question: "If we were in the same situation, would we do something different or would we do the same thing," and realize that we would do the same thing, the realization that the artificial guilt serves no purpose lessens its hold on us.  By undergoing this process, we understand how absurd it is to feel guilty.  We surrender the thought and feeling, and it dissolves when faced with the light of awareness.  With practice, it never even has a chance to affect us.  We are immediately able to differentiate between natural and artificial guilt and the artificial guilt disappears before it is able to enter our consciousness.

Let's be aware of our guilt.