On Guilt and Emotions

Guilt is a peculiar feeling.

Regretting an action; feeling bad, culpable, criminal.

Perhaps It has a purpose in guiding moral behavior. Guilt is the punishment for having done wrong, a sensation that functions to discourage such actions in the future.

Yet sometimes we feel guilt for actions we have never committed, for thoughts and feelings that remain internal and unvoiced. Does this guilt serve a purpose?

We should never feel guilty about our emotions or thoughts - only about our actions. Our emotions and thoughts should evoke guilt insofar as they spawn poor behavioral decisions; but feelings in themselves are unjudgeable. They simply exist, floating in the ether of consciousness. Many times we cannot control these fleeting feelings, as if they seemingly arise from someone other than ourselves. And instead of reacting negatively to those emotions which we find distasteful, unpleasant, and guilt-worthy, we are better served by acknowledging and then releasing them. Mindfulness.

We cannot force ourselves not to think of something or not to feel something at a given moment. However, we can perceive these thoughts and emotions as more of an observer than a victim. We can choose which thoughts and emotions are worth attending and experiencing.

It is also the case that we cannot necessarily force ourselves to instantaneously feel a given emotion. When depressed, one cannot simply experience happiness using sheer willpower. And one cannot compel themselves to feel attraction or repulsion, love or hatred toward another without calling upon a degree of deception.

Humans are sentient, cogitant beings. To feel guilty for feeling is to feel guilty for being human. Authenticity lies in recognizing our wide spectrum of emotions and thoughts, in unconditionally accepting our whole selves: both our virtues and vices, the honorable and disagreeable. Because even our most raw and unsightly feelings are beautiful in their radical honesty.