Guilt

I heard a good description of guilt, on the audio book, Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert).

A former South African nun said--

"...guilt is the ego's attempt to convince you that you're making moral progress."

Whoa...
I cannot even begin to contemplate how this works, but it seems so intuitively right. Guilt has a way of grabbing you by the collar and holding on for dear life, and you let it, because it feels so good to beat yourself up for some far-flung, old thing you said, did, or even thought (a la Jimmy Carter). Guilt does not let go easily once that collar has been grasped, and it begins to choke you after a while. Guilt has no power unless you give in to it. Guilt can only be helpful when you have begun to use it for moral improvement--in the Episcopal church, perhaps confession with a third party, prayer, making amends, if possible and if it will improve relationships, and then working to get past this thing, on to new behavior: thinking, speaking, relationships.

It takes a lot of work to break the stranglehold of guilt. You must be courageous, not just guilty: you must be ready for change and transformation, for repentence and conversion (read: literally, "turning around"). Change of self is hard indeed, much harder than nurturing guilt, being kind to it, and letting yourself feel how good it hurts.

Jesus, whenever addressing someone who is guilty, always calls them forward to their best selves, to repent, to give up their wealth, to pick up their pallet and walk. He often asks those he heals if they want to be healed. This is our cue to healthy Christian lives.

Do I want to be healed?