Guilty Conscience

Sigmund Freud proposed the idea of our different states of mind. He stated that the ego, in essence, is our complete mind intelligence or database. It holds everything we know, but doesn’t make the decisions. That is where the id and the super-ego come into play. The id is pretty much your instinct. What you naturally desire. The super-ego is your conscience or morality. This part of the mind will make inferences on what you know, and decide if it matches what you believe is right or wrong. Both depend on the ego, because that is where it obtains data for current, as well as future inferences.

 Now if you don’t get what I am trying to say, I’ll put it in simple terms. This is the classic “devil and angel on each shoulder” concept. You have one side (lil’ devil) telling you to do what you want without giving concern for the result, while the other (lil’ angel) tells you not to do it because you know it’s wrong. Now realize that the little devil n’ angel both always look like the individual. This suggests that we have both God (good) and Lucifer (evil) indwelling in our minds. You can follow either one you choose, but both reside in the mind. It is just that one will be suppressed, while the other becomes the beloved. Which one we choose depends on varies ways (the given dilemma only takes on so many views at once). You could take an ethical standpoint on your situation. You could let emotion rule over the next action. Then there is the case of past experience, giving you some familiarity on the problem. Each of these, and many others, make your overall decision. But what comes out of it also has to do with these very things. This is where the matter of guilt enters the game. What you see as bad won’t be the same across different cultures. Many men from Japan don’t have respect for women so they don’t have any guilt toward their actions toward them (a broad statement, not all are like that). Yet if a guy were to beat up his girlfriend in Belgium, then there would probably be some conviction of guilt (maybe). Sure, there are social moralities that hold true in most cultures, but people still fail to measure up to these standards. Due to this, they will either feel guilt or rather not care for what comes out of it.

 If you yell at your sister, then you are the one who decides what comes out of it. You will either feel bad about that, knowing that she didn’t mean it or didn’t know any better, or quite honestly not give a damn and carry on with the task on hand. You could have done wrong to a girl, yet not have realized it until after the whole episode occurred. In some instances, you will feel guilty yet not do much about it. The person may feel like it is too late to right their wrong. “I swear, either I’m gonna get yelled at, slapped, or ridiculed for even attempting to apologize.” Just having the knowledge that you caused it brings a feeling of remorse. A feeling you wish you could change by going back in time. Such fears limit us from doing what is right. What’s worse is the simple yet complex fact that the other person has already forgiven us. If they are willing to forgive you, then the assumption that everything is okay is deffered. Some may make things right through this. They will try to make it up to them when it really isn’t required. Others will accept the forgiveness, yet not forgive themselves. They get so caught up in the fact that “How could I have done something so stupid”. This arouses the feeling that they don’t deserve it. This results in the failure of forgiving themselves. They won’t forgive themselves. This is selfish in so many ways. It may not be realized, but by doing this you are making yourself better than they. Too say “I don’t deserve to be forgiven” basically translates into “I’m too good for your forgiveness”. Something many people do with, not only other people, but with Christ Himself. The largest contributing factor in this equation is what you know. From what you know will determine what you do next. If you have had past experiences with just such a problem, then the outcome will vary. If you are not accustomed to this, then you just may do something to get you into a worse situation. Your morality will always depend on what you see as right/wrong and what you instinctively want. Your guilt ties in with so many things that there are too many resources to consider even naming. This will hinder you from doing certain things, but your morality is what makes you human. Without it, we wouldn’t be where we are today (not the bad, but the good).

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