Aphelion

“There are many upsides to guilt, one of which is that the anticipation of guilt can guide your behavior in such a way that it makes you more trustworthy and successful. It can lead to self-control in situations where you’d rather give up (like when you want to hit snooze and call in sick). It can cause you to uphold the goals of your employer and look out for their best interests (which can lead to promotions, recognition, and raises). It can cause you to give to those in need (a habit that leads to happiness and fulfillment). So while it can appear that guilt is a negative emotion that always steals our joy, the anticipation of guilt if we don’t live up to expectations can actually lead us to make choices that meet others’ expectations. And those choices often come with positive rewards and success. This is the upside of guilt: it can be a guide that makes you better. For example:

•GUILT PROMPTS YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING. Over time, doing the right thing builds positive relationships, helps you reach important goals, and makes you trustworthy.

•GUILT HELPS YOU STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES. Staying true to your values brings peace. It also means being authentic, a necessary skill for resilience.

•GUILT IS AN INVITATION TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. It’s healthy to own up to it when you are wrong. Guilt invites you to take responsibility for your actions.

•GUILT CAN TRIGGER POSITIVE CHANGE. If you want to align your actions with your values and be at peace, then guilt, or the anticipation of it, can motivate you to take action to change.

•GUILT CONTROLS GREED. Guilt can trigger fairness when excesses tip out of balance.”
― Valorie Burton, Let Go of the Guilt

“I WAS ASKED recently, “Who is your best friend?” I don’t know. I don’t use language like that anymore. It doesn’t fit. I have friends that hold the keys to different doors of my personality. Some open my heart. Some my laughter. Some my mischief. Some my sin. Some my civic urgency. Some my history. Some my rawest confusion and vulnerability. Some friends, who may not be “the closest” to me, have the most important key for me in a moment of my life. Some, who may be as close as my own skin, may not have what I need today. It’s okay if our spouses or partners don’t have every key. How could they? It isn’t a failure if they don’t open every single door of who you are. The million-room-mansion of identity cannot overlap perfectly with anyone.
But I will say, my closest friends have a key ring on their hip with lots of keys, jingling.”
― Jedidiah Jenkins, Like Streams to the Ocean: Notes on Ego, Love, and the Things That Make Us Who We Are

“The traumatized person’s sense of their ability to protect themselves has been damaged or destroyed. They feel endangered, even if there is no actual danger in the present, because in the past they have experienced profoundly invasive cruelty and they know it is possible.”
― Sarah Schulman, Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair

“Kali was a symbol. According to the Vedic philosophy, Kaali signifies ‘Kaal’. In Sanskrit; kaal has two meanings :
1. Time. (like—kaal kya hoga)
2. Darkness. (like—Kaala kaaua)

Now, why does ‘kaal’ signify both of these?

Because, the Time is inseparable to the Space.

The space is Dark. So the time is also considered as Dark. The “Kaala”. That’s why ‘kaal’ has two meanings; Darkness, and Time; in Sanskrit.

There is no separate time, and separate space. Time is the fourth dimension of this universe along with three-dimensional space. The space exists; because time exists simultaneously with it.

Kali is considered as the symbol of this time-space; the ultimate structure of the world—and this is why it is portrayed as dark; just like the space-time in reality, is dark.


The violent and horrific form was portrayed of Kaali; because Kaali is the symbol of ‘kaal’, the time; and Time is unforgiving. Time is horrible by its nature. We all know how bad time can be. Time takes everyone to the death eventually; time destroys everything in the end. Time doesn’t take into account of who you are; time doesn’t take into account of how big you are or what your value is, be good or bad; each and everything has an end in the realm of time; and each and everything recedes ultimately in the ever engulfing mouth of the Time.

This is the reason; death is portrayed all around the Kaali. The decapitated heads of demons; the bloods all around. All symbolize the death. The ending. The mortality of everything. Not of evil only; but of everything. It’s just, the evils are first in the line of death.

And that tongue sticking out of her mouth symbolize—that the hunger of Kaali (the time) is never filled up. That tongue is always ready to savor the next death; the next destruction; the next ending of something. This stuck-out tongue is a reminder to the viewer; the hunger of ‘Kaal’ is not filled yet; and the next person she is going to savour can be you. In no way you can resist her for eternity; and in no way you can escape her. And she relishes licking out your death. It’s her duty; and amusement both.

This is the reason why Kaali’s tongue was made stuck-out while portraying her in Vedic Scriptures.

There is no clothing portrayed on Kaali; because— Time also shows you the nude reality. Time is rough, tough, rude, and nude. It speaks bluntly. Both good times and bad times comes without warning; and may go without warning too. Time does not know or follow politeness. Time does not follow any protocol.

Time has nothing to ‘hide’ from you. Because she knows; in the end, whoever you are, you are all hers.




Time holds each and everything in this universe in its womb. The creation happened; only because it has got a ‘time-space’ dimension for it. For anything to exist; Time has to produce it by creating a space for it. Time is also the destroyer of the all things; but time also creates everything; and holds everything within the eternal flow of her.

That’s why time is considered as feminine. Time is a female who gives birth to its children; bears it for a while; and then takes them back again on her embracing lap. While singing the lullaby of the funeral; she gives her children the most peaceful eternal sleep for of their life : the Death.

Life is beautiful; only because it has a time-limit to it. Without the time-limit imposed by the death; life is a prolonged disaster only.

This is why; Time was considered as Mother in Vedic Culture. An energy; who is feminine in nature.”
― Anoymous