Human Angels's Blog - Posts Tagged "guilt"
An excerpt from our forthcoming book/4
In anticipation of the relase of our forthcoming book 'We Are Human Angels, We Inspire Change' we're sharing an excerpt a day. Today's is from Chapter 1.3, Feelings of Guilt.
(...) Guilt is the shadow of the ego. Feelings of guilt are the outcome of an ego-centered vision of life, and they are always founded on the denial of reality. We believe ourselves to be so important and so special that we think that something can happen because we, and only we, make it happen. Whatever we have done that has made us feel guilty, we must remember that everything that happens is always part of a divine plan of love. Everything that happens holds meaning for us as well as for everyone else. Nothing is ever worthless or pointless in the Uni-verse. Nothing can ever happen without a covenant of souls: both of ourselves and of the people whose suffering we feel guilty for.
Furthermore, we feel wrong and guilty when we judge ourselves for having once again been caught in the old and well-known snares of the ego. Even though we have already endured them many times. We may once again feel anger towards someone for which we no longer want to feel angry. Alternatively, we passively allow someone else to act in a disrespectful way toward us, or we do not find the courage to say something that we want to say. If yet again you are repeating a pattern of behavior, which you had been trying to stop, or that you thought you had already overcome, do not judge yourself. Do not feel either wrong or guilty. This is simply how “it had to happen.” What we call “mistakes” are life’s lessons. We find our “mistakes” difficult to bear, because if we judge ourselves, we cannot see them for what they are: a source of wisdom. We continue to label our “mistakes” as faults and to feel guilty because of them. This is why they always return to our lives.
A sense of guilt is the most powerful obstacle to the accomplishment of ourselves: we become our own worst enemies. Our attempts at fulfillment, both in our romantic and our social relationships, will fail due to our destructive feelings of guilt, and therefore we do not feel worthy or adequate. When we are happy, we feel guilty as if our happiness is an insult to those who suffer. When we receive love and attention, we feel guilty and uncomfortable because we feel we are not worthy of it. When we allow ourselves to be ourselves, we feel guilty, because in this way we disappoint those who (partners, parents, children, friends) would like us to be different, each according to their expectations projected onto us.
Feelings of guilt make us vulnerable and subject to being manipulated. We often do things that we do not want to do, and we also abstain from doing things that we would love to do with the purpose of not making our loved ones suffer or not disappointing the expectations that others have of us. Behaving this way, we score the illusory goal of abstaining ourselves from experiencing the unpleasant feeling of awkwardness. However, in this way we give up on being who we are and we live a life that we believe someone else has chosen for us. The result is, on one side, the profound sadness that arises from the act of self-betrayal. On the other side, the inevitable result is resentment. We are resentful towards those that we believe have forced us to make decisions that are not in accordance with our will. (...) We Are Human Angels, We Inspire Change
We Are Human Angels, We Inspire Change goes on sale on April 17, 2016. It is available for pre-order at Amazon
(...) Guilt is the shadow of the ego. Feelings of guilt are the outcome of an ego-centered vision of life, and they are always founded on the denial of reality. We believe ourselves to be so important and so special that we think that something can happen because we, and only we, make it happen. Whatever we have done that has made us feel guilty, we must remember that everything that happens is always part of a divine plan of love. Everything that happens holds meaning for us as well as for everyone else. Nothing is ever worthless or pointless in the Uni-verse. Nothing can ever happen without a covenant of souls: both of ourselves and of the people whose suffering we feel guilty for.
Furthermore, we feel wrong and guilty when we judge ourselves for having once again been caught in the old and well-known snares of the ego. Even though we have already endured them many times. We may once again feel anger towards someone for which we no longer want to feel angry. Alternatively, we passively allow someone else to act in a disrespectful way toward us, or we do not find the courage to say something that we want to say. If yet again you are repeating a pattern of behavior, which you had been trying to stop, or that you thought you had already overcome, do not judge yourself. Do not feel either wrong or guilty. This is simply how “it had to happen.” What we call “mistakes” are life’s lessons. We find our “mistakes” difficult to bear, because if we judge ourselves, we cannot see them for what they are: a source of wisdom. We continue to label our “mistakes” as faults and to feel guilty because of them. This is why they always return to our lives.
A sense of guilt is the most powerful obstacle to the accomplishment of ourselves: we become our own worst enemies. Our attempts at fulfillment, both in our romantic and our social relationships, will fail due to our destructive feelings of guilt, and therefore we do not feel worthy or adequate. When we are happy, we feel guilty as if our happiness is an insult to those who suffer. When we receive love and attention, we feel guilty and uncomfortable because we feel we are not worthy of it. When we allow ourselves to be ourselves, we feel guilty, because in this way we disappoint those who (partners, parents, children, friends) would like us to be different, each according to their expectations projected onto us.
Feelings of guilt make us vulnerable and subject to being manipulated. We often do things that we do not want to do, and we also abstain from doing things that we would love to do with the purpose of not making our loved ones suffer or not disappointing the expectations that others have of us. Behaving this way, we score the illusory goal of abstaining ourselves from experiencing the unpleasant feeling of awkwardness. However, in this way we give up on being who we are and we live a life that we believe someone else has chosen for us. The result is, on one side, the profound sadness that arises from the act of self-betrayal. On the other side, the inevitable result is resentment. We are resentful towards those that we believe have forced us to make decisions that are not in accordance with our will. (...) We Are Human Angels, We Inspire Change
We Are Human Angels, We Inspire Change goes on sale on April 17, 2016. It is available for pre-order at Amazon
