Guilt and Gratitude

We don’t have to feel emotions like guilt. Happiness and sadness, these emotions come and go naturally, but guilt is dependent on the insertion of self into a situation where it doesn’t need to be inserted. We might think “I feel guilty because I have been granted things other people have not.” This is pitting ourselves against other. We’re saying, “I have this and you have this, and what I have is better than what you have so I now I feel guilty about this.”

Guilt is dependent on this contrast. It is dependent on the self in contradiction to the other. If we let go of self we let go of guilt. There is no guilt if there’s no one to feel guilty about. Something like sadness, however, is just sadness. Something terrible happens and then there is sadness, and this is the natural response. Guilt is dependent on me vs. you. This separation is not necessary.

Instead of guilt, we can be grateful. Gratitude is not conflicting. Guilt is conflicting by nature because it’s dependent on a judgement made between self and other. I am here, and you are there. I am judging your position as lower and my position as higher, and so I feel guilt. (A pretty egotistical stance to take, all things considered.)

Gratitude, however, is simply noticing what is happening, and thinking “thank God for that! Thank God something is happening, whatever it is. This is happening, and that’s pretty neat. It’s pretty neat this is happening. I accept what’s happening, I am immersed in what’s happening, and I am grateful it’s happening. I am grateful I’m happy because it’s nice to be happy. I’m grateful I’m sad, because in order to be happy sometimes I have to be sad. I’m grateful I can feel something rather than nothing.”

Gratitude is free of judgement. It is simply accepting what is and being grateful for it, whatever it may be.  Guilt is dependent upon judgement. Judgement is not observation; it is the forming of an opinion about something and laying preference to one thing over another. Something happens and we interject self into the situation, saying “okay, this thing is happening to me, and I am placing judgement upon it as being better than this thing, which is happening to you, and so I feel guilty about it.

But this is not necessary. This is simply commentary. This is commentary about a situation and an insertion of judgement into that situation coupled with the insertion of self. We are inserting self into the situation, judging the situation, and then comparing that situation to another situation. And this is all dependent on thought, which is to say that guilt is dependent on though. Happiness or sadness are not dependent on thought. We can’t help but feel these emotions when certain things happen. Guilt requires us to take additional steps, and we simply don’t have to take those steps.

- Butternut Billycream

**If you've enjoyed reading this, please consider NOT DONATING to my pride and joy, the Butternut Billycream Fund. I am a giant piece of shit and you should not support me.

The Butternut Billycream Fund

$7.00

Buy Now