Unearned Guilt Part I

What causes unearned guilt? This is a question of philosophy, though many people do not recognize it as such, just as many people do not recognize that they are carrying any unearned guilt. There are many aspects of our society that not only cause unearned guilt, but enhance and nurture it as well.

Before we go any further, let us define the term "unearned guilt" Guilt is defined as "a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined." To feel this feeling without having done anything wrong, such as the word "imagined" suggests, is unearned guilt.

So how does our society nurture unearned guilt? What are the primary sources of this guilt? First and foremost is the attitude of today's society that we are our neighbor's keeper. Altruism. The belief that if we have more than our neighbor we are morally obligated to give them a portion of what we have. The belief that if we sacrifice for those who don't have, everyone is better off. We are made to feel guilty because we have something and someone else doesn't, but if we have earned what we have, why should we feel guilty about having it? There is a huge difference between giving to someone who doesn't have as much as you because you want to, and being made to feel morally obligated to do so. This is the difference between charity and altruism. Charity does not require a sacrifice - you are giving because you can and because you want to. Altruism always requires a sacrifice - a sacrifice of time, money, or your entire being for someone or something else.

One of the greatest proponents of altruism is religion in general, but I want to talk specifically about Christianity, since it is the religion I am most familiar with.  The beginning of the Bible's quest to turn us into altruists is the Garden of Eden - the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. Because Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were banished from the paradise of the Garden and all of mankind was cursed to be born already in sin. Millions of generations of people have been born feeling no integrity and no self-worth simply from this story. But Christians have a way out: Jesus Christ. The weight of guilt, not only from the Garden, but from the inability to follow the incredible amount of laws and commandments God gave his people, should make any serious Christian run straight to the alter and beg Jesus to be his master. But that is exactly what the Christian system is designed to do. When you read page after page of completely impossible regulation on your life, your only choice in this system is to submit to a savior - the one who can save you because you can't follow the law. But this, too, comes with a price. This master expects complete obedience to his word for saving you from your impossible state, and he expects to be worshipped, at that. In this phase, there is continuing perpetual guilt - the feeling of never being good enough or of never doing enough for this master who saved you from your previous guilt. The master tells you to give and you give constantly of your time, your money, and anything else you feel is necessary to give - and this is the sacrifice. This is the slavery to your unearned guilt that is perpetuated by Christianity. Some would say that this isn't a sacrifice, that there is reward at the end of this road of sacrifice. Who says this? The master, the one who has them enslaved in their guilt. No one really knows if this reward is real or not; they rely on faith - a belief in something for which there is no sensory evidence or rational proof - and the threat of eternal pain and suffering in hell. All of the pieces are in place to keep the serious Christian in a constant state of guilt and half-hearted hope.

I am not trying to argue about the specifics of Christianity as much as I am trying to show how the religion keeps people in a constant state of guilt. Christianity pulls people into a master/slave relationship and keeps them there for years and years, unless one is able to recognize the constant guilt and the mechanism behind it, power. Anyone who is the "master of" this type of relationship has power over their "slave" by means of their guilt. There are many such relationships in our society, not just religion, and I will be exploring other such relationships in future posts.