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Ever since man first looked at himself and knew that he was naked, his mind has been perplexed by the mystery of good and evil and its attendant cycle of sin, guilt, and redemption. The dragon and the dragon slayer, symbolic of darkness and light, have battled their way through the myths and legends of all races until, winded by the thin air of increasing sophistication, they retreated to the nursery, leaving the adult arena to the theologian, the philosopher, and the lawyer. As a medical doctor, I too, have become absorbed in this most fascinating of all problems, not through any taste for theological speculation, but because I am convinced that it has a considerable bearing on the mental health of all of us.
Though I had long suspected this I was convinced of it soon after beginning the serious study of modern psychology, and being incurably practical by nature I felt obliged to put my findings in a form which would be easy for others to understand and to apply to everyday life.
Though I had long suspected this I was convinced of it soon after beginning the serious study of modern psychology, and being incurably practical by nature I felt obliged to put my findings in a form which would be easy for others to understand and to apply to everyday life.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 13, 2014
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October 17, 2021
“For perhaps the first time in history, the concept of collective guilt has dawned on the public consciousness as a serious and important issue. I do not think this is mere chance. On the contrary I believe it to be a clear sign that we are all called upon today to re-examine our attitude toward this problem. We need new patterns of thought to cope with the basic questions of community…Guilt is part of the larger problem of good and evil, of sin and redemption. It is specifically religious.” (p. 4)
This last is thought provoking. My initial reaction was to disagree with his conclusion, that guilt stems from a sense of morality. But I realize this is just semantics. Morality suggests right and wrong, good and bad, good and evil. Guilt 9and morality) also suggests a commitment to the sense of belonging to a community. It is difficult to feel guilty when one doesn’t feel any attachment to that or whomever is affected by your actions. They are not wronged if you don’t believe in wrong or individual responsibility in society. There is a tribalism and selfishness in the guiltless that human efforts to create and sustain community and order strive to overcome. As society breaks down, however, sense of right and wrong blurs as one thinks more, however mistakenly, about personal security and survival. Guilt has little place in communities of chaos.
So if by stating guilt is specifically religious, the author means requires ungrounded faith and acceptance in structures and beliefs about potential and promise, then morality and belief in man’s ability to live cooperatively and compassionately is truly religious. Not simply masked in “spirituality” but in a more codified religion – codified in so many different ways over time but still with the core, perennial belief system that people can be, must be good.
Returning to Ockel:
“It is one of the fundamental beliefs of Quakerism, growing out of the experience of 17th century seekers and defined by George Fox in particular, that it is possible for every man to hear the voice of God. Patiently and attentively, he must wait for the word that comes to most of us only in a whisper. The power to hear this whisper is sometimes imbedded far below the level of consciousness – a truth which first came alive for me when I began to study psychology. It was a profoundly shocking but happily transforming experience for me to discover that this modern science obliged me to embrace the same views as were proclaimed by Jesus in the gospels. Had I been questions as to my religious convictions I should have described myself as an atheist. The struggle for existence seemed to me the most essential fact of life, and courage in winning it the supreme virtue. [emphasis added] (pp. 5-6)
Of course, the “struggle for existence” outside of any moral grounding is delusional and solipsism. None of us exists without requiring the existence of many, many others. And there is no “winning it.” Winning existence? This implies a life has a definable value or purpose, otherwise there is every justification for anarchy, survival of the fittest, and the resulting hardship that would ensure. It is also unrealistic. We wouldn’t have everything modern life entails if the mere struggle for existence was the accepted mindset of all humans. This is the arrogant denial of religion, but not the absence of it.
Ockel again:
“Pleasure and pain in their proper balance create a direct contact with reality. Now guilt does for the soul, what pain does for the body. Just as pain serves the instinct of self-preservation, quilt performs one of the two principal functions of the social urge, the maturing of which is man’s most pertinent task. As pain is the reverse of pleasure, so guilt is the shadow side of love.” (p. 7)
“Only love and guilt together can bind our spiritual lives to God.” (p. 8) Ockel recognizes this statement is counterintuitive to traditional and well-fixed Abrahamic religions and the “descent of man” through “original sin.”
Ockel then uses 23 pages remaining in the pamphlet to relate a myth to help illustrate his point, interprets the myth's meaning in relation to guilt and Christianity and closes with a discussion regarding the meaning of collective guilt relative to Nazism, the Holocaust, and WWII. Ockel, a German Quaker is active in the work of rebuilding Germany. How broad can the net of guilt be cast for those who profited from the war and those who knew about Hitler's policies toward Jews and did nothing (ahem, U.S.).
I found the first section of the pamphlet particularly useful today as the need to recognize, accept, embrace and respond to collective guilt on so many issues confronting western society and the global community (climate change, racism, women's rights, inequality of opportunity, etc) . I recommend visiting this one.
This last is thought provoking. My initial reaction was to disagree with his conclusion, that guilt stems from a sense of morality. But I realize this is just semantics. Morality suggests right and wrong, good and bad, good and evil. Guilt 9and morality) also suggests a commitment to the sense of belonging to a community. It is difficult to feel guilty when one doesn’t feel any attachment to that or whomever is affected by your actions. They are not wronged if you don’t believe in wrong or individual responsibility in society. There is a tribalism and selfishness in the guiltless that human efforts to create and sustain community and order strive to overcome. As society breaks down, however, sense of right and wrong blurs as one thinks more, however mistakenly, about personal security and survival. Guilt has little place in communities of chaos.
So if by stating guilt is specifically religious, the author means requires ungrounded faith and acceptance in structures and beliefs about potential and promise, then morality and belief in man’s ability to live cooperatively and compassionately is truly religious. Not simply masked in “spirituality” but in a more codified religion – codified in so many different ways over time but still with the core, perennial belief system that people can be, must be good.
Returning to Ockel:
“It is one of the fundamental beliefs of Quakerism, growing out of the experience of 17th century seekers and defined by George Fox in particular, that it is possible for every man to hear the voice of God. Patiently and attentively, he must wait for the word that comes to most of us only in a whisper. The power to hear this whisper is sometimes imbedded far below the level of consciousness – a truth which first came alive for me when I began to study psychology. It was a profoundly shocking but happily transforming experience for me to discover that this modern science obliged me to embrace the same views as were proclaimed by Jesus in the gospels. Had I been questions as to my religious convictions I should have described myself as an atheist. The struggle for existence seemed to me the most essential fact of life, and courage in winning it the supreme virtue. [emphasis added] (pp. 5-6)
Of course, the “struggle for existence” outside of any moral grounding is delusional and solipsism. None of us exists without requiring the existence of many, many others. And there is no “winning it.” Winning existence? This implies a life has a definable value or purpose, otherwise there is every justification for anarchy, survival of the fittest, and the resulting hardship that would ensure. It is also unrealistic. We wouldn’t have everything modern life entails if the mere struggle for existence was the accepted mindset of all humans. This is the arrogant denial of religion, but not the absence of it.
Ockel again:
“Pleasure and pain in their proper balance create a direct contact with reality. Now guilt does for the soul, what pain does for the body. Just as pain serves the instinct of self-preservation, quilt performs one of the two principal functions of the social urge, the maturing of which is man’s most pertinent task. As pain is the reverse of pleasure, so guilt is the shadow side of love.” (p. 7)
“Only love and guilt together can bind our spiritual lives to God.” (p. 8) Ockel recognizes this statement is counterintuitive to traditional and well-fixed Abrahamic religions and the “descent of man” through “original sin.”
Ockel then uses 23 pages remaining in the pamphlet to relate a myth to help illustrate his point, interprets the myth's meaning in relation to guilt and Christianity and closes with a discussion regarding the meaning of collective guilt relative to Nazism, the Holocaust, and WWII. Ockel, a German Quaker is active in the work of rebuilding Germany. How broad can the net of guilt be cast for those who profited from the war and those who knew about Hitler's policies toward Jews and did nothing (ahem, U.S.).
I found the first section of the pamphlet particularly useful today as the need to recognize, accept, embrace and respond to collective guilt on so many issues confronting western society and the global community (climate change, racism, women's rights, inequality of opportunity, etc) . I recommend visiting this one.
Displaying 1 of 1 review