Guilt

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is a discovery that Newton made in Physics.


In the area of emotional science, this law still applies. For every action of ours there will be, if not equal, some opposite reaction. This is not something anyone needs to be taught. Almost everybody in this small world of ours knows this by the time they reach the age of two. Our great society, creation of ours, has taught us so many things. The top of this is "Morality"; What is good and what is bad in the eyes of this society. It doesn’t teach us, anymore, how to perform the good and how to avoid the bad so that we don’t become an outcast.

Actually we did have those centres that were teaching us how to lead the path of good and avoid the bad patches in that path. Those were called Gurukuls. There, all young children go through a tough learning curve where they learn how behave in various situation and how to be balanced in reacting to various situations. By the time, they graduate from the gurukul, they come out as well nurtured beings no matter what your actual nature was. So, the people were actually grounded and they mostly know what to do in various situations. Living was mostly smooth in those days.

Then when the world became a place that accommodates a lot of adventurous explorers, there came a phase where people started exchanging philosophies and mix of culture. The gurukul still existed but the rolls were rolling downwards. People started sending their children to be trained in other philosophies. This opened the ground where there were different kinds of people nurtured in different ways and they reacted to situations differently. An atmosphere prevailed where people were constantly confused because of other’s action and at times, they made mistakes in other’s eyes.

In my view, only during these days we acquired one of the most negative emotions that we posses today – Guilt. As we know there is going to be a reaction for our actions, we should think before the action and prepare ourselves on how we are going to face the consequence (reactions) of our action. Instead we just give in to the pressure and we act without thinking. The feeling that you get the moment you find out that what you did is wrong in some one’s eyes is guilt. The feeling of guilt is something that kills the joy of any action. We have to gear ourselves up to a position where we are ready to face the consequence and not feel guilty to any of our actions. That will be the next stage of evolution of the human emotions.

That means we always think before we act. Even when we commit a murder if we have gone through a thought process before committing it and considering all the consequences, we can commit it in an artistic manner and derive immense pleasure from it. Otherwise even after having a tasty chocolate we would end up feeling as if we have stolen some one’s last meal.

--Satish