| Guilty......................155 | |
| I admit, but actually, I am not really guilty here. Naturally, these are unconscious processes, and they | 9 PRAYER AND MEDITATION -- THE LORD'S PRAYER |
| my answer is: Not all beings are equally guilty in the Fall. And besides, it was never | 24 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| present reality. This is what makes you feel guilty, my friends, and not the actual faults you | 31 SHAME |
| may possess. These would never make you feel guilty, provided you adopted the right kind of shame | 31 SHAME |
| fault, so as to prevent you from feeling guilty. For no fault has been added on to | 32 DECISION-MAKING |
| do not deserve love, and so you feel guilty. The more love is given to you, the | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| it is not so. So do not feel guilty if you also become happy. But do not | 39 IMAGE-FINDING |
| do this, you will find that you feel guilty at having erred. And then ask yourself again | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| then ask yourself again, Why do I feel guilty of being fallible, of making mistakes, of having | 40 MORE ON IMAGE-FINDING: A SUMMARY |
| knowledge into the unconscious and, because it feels guilty, will also build defenses against what it considers | 41 IMAGES: THE DAMAGE THEY DO |
| else hides the discovery in the unconscious, feeling guilty about having found something unworthy in the parent | 42 CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS -- OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY |
| -- which is a fault -- you feel guilty? The unconscious of the personality will say: I | 42 CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS -- OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY |
| other sins come. And that makes you feel guilty. QUESTION: What is the connection, and the difference | 42 CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS -- OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY |
| wanted to say, You see, I declare myself guilty, but I have no real reason to do | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| more than you are now. If you feel guilty because you are still what you are, you | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| your sexual drive. Each one of you feels guilty about it, if not on the surface, where | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| does not is precisely because you have felt guilty about it and suppressed awareness of it as | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| such. Its existence is no reason for feeling guilty. You act on a misunderstanding when you attempt | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| which seems sinful to you, and then feel guilty because you cannot do so. The remedy is | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| will no longer be any reason to feel guilty about sex. Try to understand that, my dear | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| how confused your unconscious thinking is. You feel guilty about a God-given force instead of feeling guilty | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| guilty about a God-given force instead of feeling guilty about your fear of loving, which is born | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| imperfect should not in itself make you feel guilty. But the guilt for hurts you inflict on | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| correspond to your ideal and makes you feel guilty, the self is destroyed. The self-destruction takes different | 49 OBSTACLES ON THE PATH: OLD STUFF, WRONG GUILT, AND WHO, ME? |
| has a further, and again inevitable, reaction. Feeling guilty, the unconscious says, I desire to be punished | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| you. That is also why you constantly feel guilty. If it were really a matter of the | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| too loudly. This voice says, I am too guilty. I must not be happy. I do not | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| you feel completely isolated and ashamed, with your guilty secret of not only hating, but also of | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| your compulsive high standards which make you feel guilty and undeserving of what God wants you to | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| But beware of the opposite extreme, of feeling guilty when you gratefully enjoy life, because you also | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| your emotions can do so. Don't ever feel guilty because of such discoveries; rather accept them and | 53 SELF-LOVE |
| with love. Whenever it manifests, the person feels guilty and ashamed, trying, erroneously, to tear out the | 54 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| am responsible for myself, I am even more guilty. This is most destructive; it is very wrong | 56 CAPACITY TO WISH -- HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY MOTIVES IN DESIRE |
| for your life you are all the more guilty and inferior, and therefore becoming more hopeless than | 56 CAPACITY TO WISH -- HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY MOTIVES IN DESIRE |
| images about God, one feels all the more guilty and inferior. Guilt cannot remedy this situation. You | 57 THE MASS IMAGE OF SELF-IMPORTANCE |
| in the right way, you will not feel guilty about it. In the right approach there is | 60 THE ABYSS OF ILLUSION -- FREEDOM AND SELF-RESPONSIBILITY |
| I cannot help it. I have to feel guilty for something I cannot help. Therefore, a guilt | 60 THE ABYSS OF ILLUSION -- FREEDOM AND SELF-RESPONSIBILITY |
| men and women suppress their opposite trends, feeling guilty and inadequate about them. Needless to say that | 62 MAN AND WOMAN |
| strengthen his emotional nature, he is afraid and guilty of the weakness he senses in himself. On | 62 MAN AND WOMAN |
| selfish desires in your unconscious make you feel guilty, but so also do the rightful desires. Both | 64 OUTER WILL AND INNER WILL -- MISCONCEPTION ABOUT SELFISHNESS |
| Not doing the unselfish act makes you feel guilty, doing it seems to be a violation of | 64 OUTER WILL AND INNER WILL -- MISCONCEPTION ABOUT SELFISHNESS |
| either in doing something that makes you feel guilty, or in doing something that appears to be | 64 OUTER WILL AND INNER WILL -- MISCONCEPTION ABOUT SELFISHNESS |
| of this fourfold conflict is that you feel guilty for being selfish, and guilty and ashamed for | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| that you feel guilty for being selfish, and guilty and ashamed for being unselfish. QUESTION: You said | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| searching about the very thing you are consciously guilty about. Examine it, and you will find that | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| will also find that quite often one feels guilty about a common human failure or fault. Upon | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| weakness, for reasons still hidden. Therefore you feel guilty. That means you have to find out why | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| give it up, you will no longer feel guilty. You continue to feel guilty only if you | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| no longer feel guilty. You continue to feel guilty only if you try to give up the | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| want to give up what makes you feel guilty? Or isn't there some hidden recess of your | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| another alternative regarding guilt feelings: One often feels guilty when that feeling is unjustified, as I said | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| for the real reason about which one feels guilty. As I said some time ago, often the | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| you are ashamed of it. Thus you feel guilty for not loving and ashamed to love. Consider | 66 SHAME OF THE HIGHER SELF |
| joyful recognition even what you may have felt guilty about. It will lead you a step closer | 68 SUPPRESSION OF POSITIVE AND CREATIVE TENDENCIES - THOUGHT PROCESSES |
| because you thought erroneously that you must be guilty and ashamed of it. That you did suppress | 68 SUPPRESSION OF POSITIVE AND CREATIVE TENDENCIES - THOUGHT PROCESSES |
| and limitless love is wrong; therefore it feels guilty about it. It is true that exclusive and | 69 THE FOLLY OF WATCHING FOR RESULTS WHILE ON THE PATH; THE VALID DESIRE TO BE LOVED |
| about a little thing, and you therefore feel guilty about having such a childish reaction. But it | 71 REALITY AND ILLUSION CONCENTRATION EXERCISES |
| fear of loving makes you withdraw and how guilty you feel, deep down, about withdrawing. Find also | 71 REALITY AND ILLUSION CONCENTRATION EXERCISES |
| feeling neither obliged to give in, nor feeling guilty if you do not. You will see clearly | 72 THE FEAR OF LOVING |
| able to explain it rationally made you feel guilty and uncomfortable. You therefore pushed it out of | 73 COMPULSION TO RECREATE AND OVERCOME CHILDHOOD HURTS |
| be hidden, too, because it makes you feel guilty for other reasons, so it comes out in | 73 COMPULSION TO RECREATE AND OVERCOME CHILDHOOD HURTS |
| horizon, you may inwardly feel ill at ease, guilty, tense, full of anxiety or impatience. In other | 74 CONFUSIONS AND HAZY MOTIVATIONS |
| to assume mature responsibility, then one naturally feels guilty for desiring the goal. If a person accepts | 75 THE GREAT TRANSITION IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT FROM ISOLATION TO UNION |
| friends, it is not so. Do not feel guilty if you also become happy. That certainly does | 76 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Compiled from Private Sessions and Earlier Lectures) |
| being on the defensive, you must find yourself guilty, otherwise you would not have to protect yourself | 77 SELF-CONFIDENCE: ITS TRUE ORIGIN AND WHAT PROHIBITS IT |
| simply by avoiding looking for what you feel guilty about. If you attack in order to hide | 77 SELF-CONFIDENCE: ITS TRUE ORIGIN AND WHAT PROHIBITS IT |
| felt, is not the right solution. To feel guilty and proud as you think, I should not | 82 THE CONQUEST OF DUALITY SYMBOLIZED IN THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JESUS |
| truth had to be hidden; it became a guilty secret, and you started to build a false | 83 THE IDEALIZED SELF-IMAGE |
| will make him or her just as self-contemptuous, guilty, and frustrated as are the other two types | 84 LOVE, POWER, SERENITY AS DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AND AS DISTORTIONS |
| others, will they change. Submissive people also feel guilty about these resentments because they do not correspond | 86 THE INSTINCTS OF SELF-PRESERVATION AND PROCREATION IN CONFLICT |
| it is important that you do not feel guilty about the existence of such emotions which are | 89 EMOTIONAL GROWTH AND ITS FUNCTION |
| not annul your love, you will not feel guilty. You will know that you are hurt and | 89 EMOTIONAL GROWTH AND ITS FUNCTION |
| about which, consciously or unconsciously, you feel so guilty. Let me discuss three such conditions. The first | 90 MORALIZING -- DISPROPORTIONATE REACTIONS -- NEEDS |
| negative feelings will be present. You will feel guilty about existing negative trends while still wanting to | 91 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| to recognize that often what you felt most guilty about is not only normal and healthy, but | 92 REPRESSED NEEDS - RELINQUISHING BLIND NEEDS - PRIMARY AND SECONDARY REACTIONS |
| way I have tonight. QUESTION: I always felt guilty because I didn't have real pity for my | 94 SIN AND NEUROSIS -- UNIFYING THE INNER SPLIT |
| and in spite of knowing it, I feel guilty. ANSWER: Your guilt, my dear, has nothing to | 94 SIN AND NEUROSIS -- UNIFYING THE INNER SPLIT |
| apathy. This can make you feel angry and guilty about what you would commonly call laziness. It | 96 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS; COMMENTS ON LAZINESS AS SYMPTOM OF SELF-ALIENATION |
| of your parents. You may feel disloyal and guilty if you stop glamorizing an adored and idolized | 99 FALSIFIED IMPRESSIONS OF PARENTS: THEIR CAUSE AND CURE |
| -- not forcefully, by superimposition, not by feeling guilty that childish reactions still exist within, but in | 101 THE DEFENSE |
| Healthy anger will never make you tense and guilty and ill at ease. Nor will it compel | 102 THE SEVEN CARDINAL SINS |
| such erroneous ways in yourself, beware of feeling guilty, of being frantic, of feeling I should not | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| may come to you. Or you may feel guilty about something you are not aware of. A | 107 THREE ASPECTS THAT PREVENT LOVING |
| become defensive and defiant because you vaguely feel guilty, without being able to put your finger on | 109 SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH THROUGH RESTITUTION FOR REAL GUILT |
| immature, unjustified demands from others to avoid feeling guilty or fearing unwelcome consequences. In both cases the | 111 SOUL-SUBSTANCE -- COPING WITH DEMANDS |
| demands become more urgent, while you become more guilty and resentful. Whenever this knowledge is not sufficient | 111 SOUL-SUBSTANCE -- COPING WITH DEMANDS |
| merely observing what is, you become frightened, suspicious, guilty, and resentful; because some image or pseudo-solution is | 111 SOUL-SUBSTANCE -- COPING WITH DEMANDS |
| shedding these shackles. You may even feel somewhat guilty when you do so, because are burdened with | 115 PERCEPTION, DETERMINATION, LOVE AS ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS |
| in a self-centered way, while the person feels guilty and sinful -- often very much unaware of | 116 REACHING THE SPIRITUAL CENTER-STRUGGLE BETWEEN LOWER SELF AND SUPERIMPOSED CONSCIENCE |
| is confused with hostility for which he feels guilty. So he feels guilty also for healthy male | 116 REACHING THE SPIRITUAL CENTER-STRUGGLE BETWEEN LOWER SELF AND SUPERIMPOSED CONSCIENCE |
| for which he feels guilty. So he feels guilty also for healthy male aggression and energy. He | 116 REACHING THE SPIRITUAL CENTER-STRUGGLE BETWEEN LOWER SELF AND SUPERIMPOSED CONSCIENCE |
| would be questionable. This would make you feel guilty and, in turn, breed new problems in the | 117 SHAME: A LEGACY OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, EVEN FAVORABLE ONES |
| the child receives an allowance and he feels guilty for keeping it, while not actually deserving it | 117 SHAME: A LEGACY OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, EVEN FAVORABLE ONES |
| denied and superimposed with substitute needs. Feeling erroneously guilty about the natural need to receive, automatically impairs | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| it or receiving and feeling unfree, inhibited and guilty. He or she cannot find the way out | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| another current problem: self-assertion. Suppose a man feels guilty about expressing his healthy, masculine aggressiveness, confusing it | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| ego, chances are, provided you do not feel guilty about it, that ways will begin to open | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| Ascertain which particular needs cause you to feel guilty and ashamed. Ascertain which needs must remain unfulfilled | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| yourself every gratification and fulfillment. You feel extremely guilty, not only about this still undeveloped part of | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| rightful desire to receive. You feel just as guilty about the one as the other. The fact | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| which in the past have made you compulsive, guilty, confused, and wavering. A disharmonious mood will so | 122 SELF-FULFILLMENT THROUGH SELF-REALIZATION AS MAN OR WOMAN |
| hurt, your sense of being isolated with a guilty, shameful secret that makes you different from others | 125 TRANSITION FROM THE NO-CURRENT TO THE YES-CURRENT |
| limited wrong conclusion, it must make you feel guilty as you reach out for what you wish | 129 WINNER VERSUS LOSER: INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE SELF AND CREATIVE FORCES |
| love and do not want to, I feel guilty and am bad. When you feel this way | 133 LOVE: NOT A COMMANDMENT, BUT SPONTANEOUS SOUL MOVEMENT OF THE INNER SELF |
| a whole. This should not make you feel guilty. It should rather enlighten you and free you | 135 MOBILITY IN RELAXATION-SUFFERING THROUGH ATTACHMENT OF LIFE FORCE TO NEGATIVE SITUATIONS |
| being of which one will feel ashamed and guilty. One of the severest forms is that of | 139 DEADENING OF THE LIVE CENTER THROUGH MISINTERPRETATION OF REALITY |
| from the destructive desires, you would not feel guilty, hence you would not need to atone. And | 140 CONFLICT OF POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE ORIENTED PLEASURE AS THE ORIGIN OF PAIN |
| feel that others cannot blunder and you feel guilty for not being like others, then you will | 142 THE LONGING FOR AND THE FEAR OF HAPPINESS -- THE FEAR OF RELEASING THE LITTLE EGO |
| triumph. You will resent the former and feel guilty about the latter. Both create intense frustrations and | 143 UNITY AND DUALITY |
| that you can have your goal or feel guilty about getting it, or have a sense of | 145 RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF LIFE |
| pleasure attached to your destructiveness. Instead of feeling guilty about this pleasure and consequently repressing it, you | 148 POSITIVITY AND NEGATIVITY: ONE ENERGY CURRENT |
| hold on equally to pleasure and destructiveness, feeling guilty and at the same time afraid of both | 148 POSITIVITY AND NEGATIVITY: ONE ENERGY CURRENT |
| be envious and therefore you will not feel guilty. You will not be faced with the apparent | 148 POSITIVITY AND NEGATIVITY: ONE ENERGY CURRENT |
| when real feelings are blocked. The personality feels guilty for hindering the natural flow of feelings, for | 151 INTENSITY: AN OBSTACLE TO SELF-REALIZATION |
| it is blind. This makes you feel so guilty, so bad and unacceptable that you cannot imagine | 156 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| to facing the very impulses you feel most guilty and ashamed about. Then you will no longer | 156 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| Then you will be unable to feel so guilty and self-rejecting about it; nor will you feel | 156 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| become not to be influenced and feel falsely guilty for that which truly deserves no guilt. You | 164 FURTHER ASPECTS OF POLARITY -- SELFISHNESS |
| be ungiving, nor will you need to feel guilty for wanting your own fulfillment and joy. With | 166 PERCEIVING, REACTING, EXPRESSING |
| by and through your activity, without falsely feeling guilty about your healthy aggression. The creative activation will | 169 THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE PRINCIPLES IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS |
| responsibility for others in the sense of feeling guilty when his reason tells him he need not | 171 SPIRITUAL LAWS |
| his reason tells him he need not feel guilty. At the same time, he may sell out | 171 SPIRITUAL LAWS |
| he tries to be masculine and thus feels guilty, the less love feelings he can express in | 171 SPIRITUAL LAWS |
| and conscientious I am that I feel so guilty, even about unreal issues. When discovery does not | 171 SPIRITUAL LAWS |
| you knows this quite accurately and justifiably feels guilty for it, makes you hate and punish yourself | 176 OVERCOMING NEGATIVITY |
| revenge. He wants to make his parents feel guilty; he wants them to worry; he wants them | 179 CHAIN REACTIONS IN THE DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE LIFE SUBSTANCE |
| it to me. The game of making others guilty is so pervasive that it constantly passes unnoticed | 180 THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIP |
| subtlety and indirectness confuses you, makes you feel guilty about your instinctive responses, but you are even | 183 THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF CRISIS |
| specific aspects of yourself that make you feel guilty and afraid, and apply this knowledge to all | 184 THE MEANING OF EVIL AND ITS TRANSCENDENCE |
| enjoy them; they feel pleasurable. But I feel guilty. For instance, I overspend money. I negate that | 184 THE MEANING OF EVIL AND ITS TRANSCENDENCE |
| want to give up the irresponsibility, you feel guilty. Thus you reject that vital part of you | 184 THE MEANING OF EVIL AND ITS TRANSCENDENCE |
| the more you hide what makes you feel guilty and the less capable you become of dissolving | 188 AFFECTING AND BEING AFFECTED |
| to kill and destroy, you need not feel guilty about it. The other school of thought says | 188 AFFECTING AND BEING AFFECTED |
| make others responsible for what you feel too guilty about to face squarely. Even you, who work | 188 AFFECTING AND BEING AFFECTED |
| even inevitable. It should not make you feel guilty, and, certainly, you should no more hide it | 194 MEDITATION: LAWS AND VARIOUS APPROACHES-SUMMARY (MEDITATION AS POSITIVE LIFE CREATION) |
| all of these traits must make you feel guilty. Such guilt may find its outlet in an | 196 COMMITMENT: CAUSE AND EFFECT |
| or not, it must make you feel rightfully guilty. For whenever you are negative and withholding, you | 196 COMMITMENT: CAUSE AND EFFECT |
| angry, but you will not be confused, weak, guilty, or afraid, nor will you be diminished and | 198 TRANSITION TO POSITIVE INTENTIONALITY |
| love to your ungivingness is to render them guilty; to build the case in such a way | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| anything. I will punish you by making you guilty, and if you want something from me, I | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| do not want to be made to feel guilty by your hurt. Just imagine how this would | 202 PSYCHIC INTERACTION OF NEGATIVITY |
| then failed to comply, you would feel falsely guilty, which would rather hinder you. This is why | 205 ORDER AS A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE |
| as something you fear in others and feel guilty about in yourself. Power is thus always exclusive | 208 THE INNATE HUMAN CAPACITY TO CREATE |
| to obey my wishes. You will be too guilty to offend me when I have proven to | 213 THE SPIRITUAL AND THE PRACTICAL MEANING OF LET GO, LET GOD |
| dependency, blaming, and making the other person feel guilty. If that person partially truly loves you, but | 213 THE SPIRITUAL AND THE PRACTICAL MEANING OF LET GO, LET GOD |
| so by trickery. I shall make you feel guilty for not giving me what I want from | 213 THE SPIRITUAL AND THE PRACTICAL MEANING OF LET GO, LET GOD |
| I have no right to make you feel guilty by pretending that this devastates me. This is | 213 THE SPIRITUAL AND THE PRACTICAL MEANING OF LET GO, LET GOD |
| with your hopelessness. When you feel self- rejecting, guilty and bad, it is important to realize that | 216 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE INCARNATORY PROCESS AND THE LIFE TASK |
| us assume a child is angry and impatient, guilty and self-rejecting because it is not yet an | 218 THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS |
| is self-exoneration at the expense of making others guilty, whose victim you profess to be. The truth | 219 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE -- MESSAGE TO THE CHILDREN |
| who are being judged. Religions have been particularly guilty of this distortion. A counter-reaction had to set | 221 FAITH AND DOUBT IN TRUTH OR DISTORTION |
| you refrain from destructive behavior, and also how guilty and self-rejecting you feel when you give in | 227 CHANGE FROM OUTER TO INNER LAWS IN THE NEW AGE |
| The old restrictions that make sexuality a dirty, guilty secret no longer exist. It is important that | 239 CHRISTMAS LECTURE 1975 |
| rightfully earned these privileges; he either feels too guilty to even really want them, or is so | 242 THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS |
| aggression must be bad. I would also be guilty and bad for having denied Christ and my | 247 THE MASS IMAGES OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY |