I call it love, they call it living in
Guilt.
I've been told that there's a difference between guilt and conviction. Conviction lets you know that you've done wrong but that it can be undone with patience, love, and support. Guilt can consume you with that "stuck-in-quicksand-with-no-rope" feeling.
So do we feel guilt, or do people impose guilt on us, or does it differ from situation to situation?
I feel guilty for 95% of my daily behavior. For going to classes that are irrelevant to my future yet I still took for fear of a lack of success. I'm guilty for my cowardly behavior. For not going to classes. I'm guilty for that laziness. For spending time with friends- procrastinating. For not spending time with friends- selfishness. For my behavior with Joe- infatuation, lust, emotional attachment. For my laid-back interactions with friends- rudeness and insensitivity. For my serious interactions with friends- inaccurate judgment. For my concern with future events- untrusting.
So if I should seize the day and conquer all these problems, would I then feel liberated, free, happy? Or should I be encouraged to remind myself of the fallibility of human nature and my inability to become a truly perfect person- to not embrace the problems, but to embrace myself despite those problems? Trust me, I will never run the risk of existing for a moment on this earth without being aware of my imperfections. So can the world please stop shoving them in my face? Or at least throw me a rope or something.
I've been told that there's a difference between guilt and conviction. Conviction lets you know that you've done wrong but that it can be undone with patience, love, and support. Guilt can consume you with that "stuck-in-quicksand-with-no-rope" feeling.
So do we feel guilt, or do people impose guilt on us, or does it differ from situation to situation?
I feel guilty for 95% of my daily behavior. For going to classes that are irrelevant to my future yet I still took for fear of a lack of success. I'm guilty for my cowardly behavior. For not going to classes. I'm guilty for that laziness. For spending time with friends- procrastinating. For not spending time with friends- selfishness. For my behavior with Joe- infatuation, lust, emotional attachment. For my laid-back interactions with friends- rudeness and insensitivity. For my serious interactions with friends- inaccurate judgment. For my concern with future events- untrusting.
So if I should seize the day and conquer all these problems, would I then feel liberated, free, happy? Or should I be encouraged to remind myself of the fallibility of human nature and my inability to become a truly perfect person- to not embrace the problems, but to embrace myself despite those problems? Trust me, I will never run the risk of existing for a moment on this earth without being aware of my imperfections. So can the world please stop shoving them in my face? Or at least throw me a rope or something.