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Guilt as a useless emotion...
Mar. 4th, 2004 01:43 am
"There is no grace, there is no guilt. The whole of the Law, do what thou wilt. Love is the Law, Love under Will"...
Had an interestingly long debate about guilt yesterday. Came to a profound conclusion that guilt is a wasted emotion. Guilt has never stopped anyone from doing anything - it rarely stops them from doing the same thing twice. We all have free will, & the ability to exercise free will, so if we'd all think about the outcome of our actions, guilt would become obsolete. When you undertake a decision of your own free will, why feel guilty when you fully meant to do it in the first place?
Of course, I'm talking about the conscious making of a decision & acting upon it by a whole, fully-realized adult. People with mental disorders are not exactly whole, fully-realized adults, they have a sickness that makes them not in their right minds, not able to practice discernment in their actions.
Rob thinks it's all tied in to having concern for what other people think about you, & he says there's a discrepancy in my philosophy because I'm discounting external guilt. But why should I be forced to accept guilt from someone else? Consequences, yes. Consequences for the action I've taken, be it good or bad, but not the actual guilt.
Of course, I'm not exactly "normal" in that I don't know how to care about what other people think about me. I never have been. Why should it matter to me what someone else thinks about me, unless I'm trying to get a job or some other practical reason, like keeping said job once I've gotten it?
Had an interestingly long debate about guilt yesterday. Came to a profound conclusion that guilt is a wasted emotion. Guilt has never stopped anyone from doing anything - it rarely stops them from doing the same thing twice. We all have free will, & the ability to exercise free will, so if we'd all think about the outcome of our actions, guilt would become obsolete. When you undertake a decision of your own free will, why feel guilty when you fully meant to do it in the first place?
Of course, I'm talking about the conscious making of a decision & acting upon it by a whole, fully-realized adult. People with mental disorders are not exactly whole, fully-realized adults, they have a sickness that makes them not in their right minds, not able to practice discernment in their actions.
Rob thinks it's all tied in to having concern for what other people think about you, & he says there's a discrepancy in my philosophy because I'm discounting external guilt. But why should I be forced to accept guilt from someone else? Consequences, yes. Consequences for the action I've taken, be it good or bad, but not the actual guilt.
Of course, I'm not exactly "normal" in that I don't know how to care about what other people think about me. I never have been. Why should it matter to me what someone else thinks about me, unless I'm trying to get a job or some other practical reason, like keeping said job once I've gotten it?
