An Israeli friend comments on guilt: One has to have a little. You get used to it after a time.
Another friend: No, i don't like feeling guilt [so i try to avoid the feeling by trying not to do that which gives me guilt, a.k.a. sin].
Israeli: It's part of life.
Me: That's a danger, accepting and getting used to guilt. Like anything else, with time and repetion you'll feel it less. It might even take more unhelpful behaviour to actually to notice that 'guilty feeling' again. One doesn't have to just live with it, me thinks.
At this point i think i lost him. But i continue: Wouldn't it be better to avoid the bad feelings of guilt by simply checking your behaviour? Become aware that the fire is hot and avoid burning yourself: Not sinning? No guilt. And if it is, as you say, part of life, then couldn't you choose to walk a path to minimalise it? To walk in awareness of your choices, avoiding the words and acts that cause the feelings of guilt?
Half my audience was lost.
The other smiles.
Free will means free to choose and accepting the consequences of one's choices: only children and the mad are excepted by this society. To continually choose what is not perhaps in one's best interests and live with the consequences day in and day out, seems an unnecessary burden. To surrender and accept the burden and its harvest of guilt as simply a part of life we all share, seems mad to me! At least, it seems worthy of serious introspection. No ... Whether accepted cultural histories or lazy resignation or fear of change, we can change. The power to choose is free. Forgiveness can remove the yolk of our past. Grace can allow us to shine anew. Love can pick us up after we have fallen down, again and again and again if necessary. Contrite. Repentant. Resolute. Accepting guilt as a part of life? I believe that all the choices we make in a lifetime define us. Getting used to guilt? Good news! At each moment we are welcome to start anew, through God's love.
Deo gratias.
Another friend: No, i don't like feeling guilt [so i try to avoid the feeling by trying not to do that which gives me guilt, a.k.a. sin].
Israeli: It's part of life.
Me: That's a danger, accepting and getting used to guilt. Like anything else, with time and repetion you'll feel it less. It might even take more unhelpful behaviour to actually to notice that 'guilty feeling' again. One doesn't have to just live with it, me thinks.
At this point i think i lost him. But i continue: Wouldn't it be better to avoid the bad feelings of guilt by simply checking your behaviour? Become aware that the fire is hot and avoid burning yourself: Not sinning? No guilt. And if it is, as you say, part of life, then couldn't you choose to walk a path to minimalise it? To walk in awareness of your choices, avoiding the words and acts that cause the feelings of guilt?
Half my audience was lost.
The other smiles.
Free will means free to choose and accepting the consequences of one's choices: only children and the mad are excepted by this society. To continually choose what is not perhaps in one's best interests and live with the consequences day in and day out, seems an unnecessary burden. To surrender and accept the burden and its harvest of guilt as simply a part of life we all share, seems mad to me! At least, it seems worthy of serious introspection. No ... Whether accepted cultural histories or lazy resignation or fear of change, we can change. The power to choose is free. Forgiveness can remove the yolk of our past. Grace can allow us to shine anew. Love can pick us up after we have fallen down, again and again and again if necessary. Contrite. Repentant. Resolute. Accepting guilt as a part of life? I believe that all the choices we make in a lifetime define us. Getting used to guilt? Good news! At each moment we are welcome to start anew, through God's love.
Deo gratias.
No comments:
Post a Comment