Guilt

Today at church, our deacon talked about guilt in his homily. The gospel reading was about an old, poor woman, who gave only two cents while several rich men were able to give hundreds of dollars. After observing this scene, Jesus taught his disciples that the woman’s gift was worth so much more than the rich men’s gifts, because she gave all she could while they donated from their surplus wealth. The deacon used this story to talk about an emotion he characterized as “Catholic Guilt,” a type of guilt that Catholics, though not limited to only Catholics, may experience when they are more fortunate than others in areas out of their control, like feeling guilty for having a home while others are homeless, or food while others are hungry. He then went on to say that guilt is selfish, for it comes from the thought that we are the center of the universe.

In saying this, however, he failed to realize that guilt also stems from disappointment, or perceived or future disappointment in others as a result of one’s actions. While confessing something to my friend today, I happened to leave several choice details out, which the Church teaches us is deception and thus lying. Later on, while reflecting back on my day, guilt seeped into my emotional complex as my conscience’s engine began revving, as it often does at night. In this instance, my guilt was a result of my awareness of my friend’s probable disappointment if she found out that I had not been wholly honest with her.

His point, though true in a narrow aspect of the broad guilt, did not encompass all of the reasons behind feelings of guilt. In feeling guilty about things that are out of your control, like that you have a house and others do not, you are in fact being selfish, for you cannot play caretaker to every person on Earth; and by giving up your house, which you feel so guilty possessing, how are you helping those who are homeless? You are not, and even if you do take in several homeless people, there are still millions more across the globe so that you cannot even begin to solve the problem of homelessness.

However, the more common feeling of guilt does not emerge from this category of problems; it emerges from the act of sinning and the awareness that you have sinned. It is your culpability, the fact that you can and very well may be caught doing or having done some sinful act that caused the guilt that develops from the remorse you feel from doing the act. In this way, guilt is very selfless, and it does, in fact, prove beneficial to humankind, for without guilt, how could we define right and wrong? Wrongful actions cause guilt in the majority of humanity – not just today’s humanity, but humanity throughout the history of the world, the total combination of all of the persons whom have lived – and it is for this reason that we can classify actions as wrong and right.

Actions can only be labeled as either “right” or “wrong” if they cause some kind of emotion – actions that are “wrong” cause unpleasant emotions, and actions that are “right” cause pleasant emotions, in the long run. Emotions caused by specific actions cannot be analyzed in the short run, because rightful actions may cause distasteful feelings in the short run, like standing up to peer pressure. By refusing to drink, you may initially experience feelings like loneliness (being the only one not drinking and therefore left out), hostility (at being pressured to drink in the first place), or cowardly (for not trying something “new” and “adventurous”). But by turning down that alcohol, you have done the right thing because if you are caught a. you are underage, and can therefore be arrested, b. your parents would be disappointed in you, and c. you are preventing any damaging acts you may perform as a result of that drinking, like driving drunk, having sex, or doing drugs.

Guilt therefore comes from some kind of culpability, of blameworthiness, or a feeling of fault because of how you would be perceived if a certain act was uncovered by other members of society. So although guilt is an upsetting feeling, it does in fact serve mankind by providing itself, a negative emotion, to be associated with an action that has been decided by society to be “wrong,” and thus preventing repetition of the act.

There are so many emotions that are usually considered bad, and yes, it is bad to feel guilty. But without it, we wouldn't even know what not to do. Appreciate every emotion, good or bad, for helping you become a better person.