Shame and Guilt

Your ideas of shame and guilt are a social phenomenon. What people feel guilty about in one society, they do not feel guilty about in another society. Shame and guilt are not natural. It is just that certain religions have made you feel guilty about everything.

If you list out all the things they consider as sin that you should feel guilty about, you must feel guilty about being alive, because your very birth is supposed to be sin. All your life, you feel guilty. If certain religious teachings were not there, guilt and shame would not exist.

If there was no room for guilt and shame, you would correct your actions. Guilt and shame gives you a lot of shadowy areas in your life. You can endlessly do the same stupid things, feel guilty about it, wash your guilt away, do the same things again... People who have been taught great levels of shame and guilt are the ones who commit too many things because there is always a way to fix the guilt, every week.

Consciousness is one thing – conscience is another thing. Consciousness is the basis of life and existence. Spiritual process is about consciousness, not conscience. Conscience is a socially set up mechanism, usually with a religious basis, which makes you feel guilty of this or that or everything in your life. When you feel guilty, you will become subservient in some way.

You do not need a conscience – you need consciousness, because consciousness is inclusive. This inclusion fixes your actions. You do not do something not because you think it is wrong. You know that you would not like to do it to yourself, so you would not like to do it to someone else. You know it would not work for yourself, so you would not want to do it for someone else. That is all it is.

Consciousness fixes you because of your inclusiveness. Conscience tries to fix you with guilt, fear, punishment, and shame. This is something that makes a human being feel like a wretch, and you cannot expect a human being to grow when he or she feels like a wretch. Instilling shame and guilt means there is no interest in the growth, transformation, and transcendence of human beings. There is only interest in holding them on the leash. Guilt and shame come from social conscience, not from universal consciousness.