SER:Feeling guilty  by the Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh

   "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, `Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to
be called your son....'" (Lu. 15: 18f) Among the pains of life that
trouble us are guilt feelings. We have all had these. Yet many students
of behavior today question the value of a guilt feeling. We face the
question: Is it right or wrong to feel guilty? When is it right and
when is it wrong?

   The answers to these questions will help us form a healthy attitude
about ourselves--about both our spiritual progress and our natural way
of life.

   It is sometimes necessary to feel the anguish and concern of guilt;
sometimes it is not necessary. We should be able to distinguish between
a genuine sense of guilt and a false one. The one is most useful in
awakening us to the spiritual dangers which threaten our eternal life,
but the other merely saps our spiritual vitality and reduces our
usefulness. In this sermon we will look at the question of guilt and
its use in our life.

   We believe in guilt because we believe in Divine law. Guilt exists
when the law is knowingly broken. Some fail to recognize any absolute
laws of human behavior. Therefore they seen no need for a man to be
burdened with a sense of guilt for what he thinks or does. According to
this philosophy, what the man does is merely the normal reaction of any
man who might have had this kind of background and upbringing.

   For example, should we expect a child who has been raised to lie and
steal to behave in any other way? And would it not be wrong for us to
burden this child with a sense of guilt for doing the things he has
been brought up to do? He is not responsible for his training and
should not feel guilty for his deeds. Are not we, rather, the guilty
ones for failing to provide this child with benefits of care and
training that would have led him to more socially acceptable behavior?

   This viewpoint has appeal because there is a half truth in it. It is
true that people may break laws innocently and may be in disorders for
which they themselves are not responsible. They should not feel guilty
for this. But this does not mean that there are no laws.

   Where there is a belief in God a belief in Divine law must be
accepted as a natural consequence. And where there is order according
to law there exists also the possibility of disorder. We can see the
truth of this on the natural plane of life and it is just as true on
the spiritual plane.

   Take, for example, our physical health. It is maintained by a
balanced life. If we eat too much, stay up too late, or over- exert
ourselves, we create strains on the body that may result in disorders
or complete physical breakdown. When we begin to break the laws of
health the body lets us know. It hurts, or we feel sick. There is a
corresponding mechanism on the spiritual plane of life. Here, too, the
intended order of the Lord's creation may be broken; here too, there is
a warning signal enabling us to correct the disorder and return to
normal. This is the function of a sense of guilt. It warns us of
spiritual transgressions that could lead to our spiritual death. It is
like a pain, but an internal one. So a guilty feeling sometimes is
referred to as "a pain of conscience." Guilt is a danger signal.

   Of course, no one enjoys pain. Neither does anyone enjoy feeling
guilty. Yet these sensations have a use. Without a sense of guilt we
will not notice the evils of spiritual life and consequently will
suffer from their effects.

   On the other hand, just as there are those who are super- sensitive
to bodily pain, who think and complain about it constantly, so there
are spiritual hypochondriacs who worry constantly about guilt feelings
and immerse themselves in futile recriminations and needless
self-condemnation.

   Think of the sense of guilt as a merciful provision for the sake of
our happiness. The Lord derives no pleasure from man's guilt feelings.
So it is that those in hell never suffer from a sense of guilt. They
are guilty of evil, and are punished for evils they dare to commit, but
the Lord does not make them suffer from a now useless feeling of guilt.
The case is similar even in this life. So we are told in the Arcana:

   "If...when a man betakes himself to evils, he feels any anxiety when
he reflects upon his having done what is evil, it is a sign...that he
will afterward suffer himself to be reformed; but if, when he reflects
upon his having done what is evil, he has no anxious feeling, it is a
sign...that he will not afterward suffer himself to be reformed" (AC
5470).

   There is a use in a sense of guilt. Yet we must realize that not all
the guilt feelings we have contribute to this use. Some can be ignored
or eliminated--some because of false standards that we have adopted;
some because of extenuating circumstances. To feel guilty when we are
not justly guilty is to suffer needlessly. In addition, such guilt may
well affect our usefulness to others, causing us to withdraw from
healthy relationships, activities and uses.

   How can we distinguish a genuine feeling of guilt from a spurious
one? First, we know that true guilt comes only from transgressions of
true law. Society and self-appointed moralists often have set up laws
of behavior that are artificial. Recall how the Lord rebuked the
scribes and Pharisees for requiring burdensome obedience to customs and
traditions of the people while forgetting the essence of the law.

   If we know from the Word the truly important things of life we will
not overly concern ourselves with feeling guilty about inconsequential
social blunders or moral mishaps. Not that we should ignore accepted
external forms of behavior and deliberately flaunt customs and
traditions, but our concern about them should be relative to their
importance in life.

   Divine laws of order are established to promote uses. The extent of
true guilt in any matter is measured by the degree that a use is harmed
or destroyed by what we do. Our knowledge of Divine laws of order and a
perception of uses of life, which comes only from regular study of the
Word, are the important means by which we may eliminate false standards
from our concern and thus free ourselves from false or imagined
feelings of guilt.

   One of our greatest worries, at least when we reflect upon our
spiritual life, is our inherited evil. We all are inclined to certain
hereditary tendencies toward evil and a disposition to put self before
the neighbor. We should know that the Heavenly Doctrine is quite clear
about our hereditary inclinations. We all have them and we all, no
doubt, have a sense of guilt about them. It is important to remember,
therefore, that what we have inherited is an inclination and not a
guilt.

   We are not condemned for Adam's sin or our father's or grandfather's
sins. "The soul who sins shall die, " declared the prophet Ezekiel.
"The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear
the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself" (Ezek.
18: 20).

   We are not guilty for our inheritance but for what we make our own
by our free and rational choice. Our heredity has a powerful influence
upon us. Our will is formed from it. Sometimes we act from our
hereditary will and these inclinations are revealed in our life. This
does not necessarily mean we are guilty for what we have done. We may
not even be aware of the seriousness of what we have done.

   We know that children are not condemned to hell yet they often act
from their hereditary will. They have not yet learned that these
inclinations are evil. We, too, may act without thinking from
inclinations of our will. Often this happens in a moment of sudden
stress or emotion. We become angry--strike out with word or deed
against someone who opposes us. Later, we regret it and perhaps feel
terribly guilty for what we have done. Certainly, we should regret our
action. Should we feel guilty about it?

   The Writings teach that "evil from the will and not at the same time
from the intellectual does not condemn, because the man does not see
it, thus does not consider whether it is evil, and therefore he is not
conscious of it. Such evil is evil from heredity, before the man has
been instructed that it is evil, and also after he has been instructed
and is merely in external life, or the life of the body" (AC 9009
underlining added).

   Any action taken without thinking--whether from ignorance or in a
state when rational reflection is not possible--is not an action that
condemns us. Again, we are taught: "Evils which proceed solely from the
will, thus not with premeditation, are such as the man inclines to
hereditarily, or from some previous consequent actual doing of evil.
These are not imputed to the man, " we are told, "unless he has
confirmed them in his intellectual part..." (AC 9009). Such is the
mercy of the Lord.

   We may suffer also from the feeling that our inherited tendencies
are worse than the tendencies of anyone else. It is true that the evils
to which we incline may differ greatly from those to which others
incline, yet we are no more guilty of them, no matter how depraved,
than others are guilty of theirs. Everyone is given the chance to
recognize his tendencies for what they are, to know in his thought that
they are from hell, and to wish to be rid of them. We are all alike and
equal in this regard.

   Even if we commit an evil after recognizing it in ourselves and
desiring to be rid of it, we are not necessarily condemned. True, the
Heavenly Doctrine teaches: "to see and to understand that a thing is
evil, and still do it, makes a man guilty" (AC 9069), and that "the man
who knows a thing to be evil, and does not repress it, is guilty; for
he approves it" (AC 9075). These are strong teachings and should not be
ignored. Still, it is not easy to be rid of the habit of
evil--especially one that has been entered into from youth and is
strongly confirmed. It requires repeated effort and trial and the Lord
allows for human weakness and failure.

   As the Lord said to Peter when He had found His disciples sleeping
while He Himself suffered agony in the garden of Gethsemane: "Could you
not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The
spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak" (Mk. 14: 38). He knew
better than they knew just how weak, for He was in the flesh. The
spirit is willing, or ready, but the flesh is weak. It is an all too
familiar saying.

   Actually, the meaning is just the opposite. The flesh, or the call
of the natural will and its selfish demands, is most powerful.
Sometimes it can overpower the best intentions of a willing spirit.

   The Lord has provided that our salvation does not depend upon what
the flesh does or does not do. It depends rather upon our inner
purpose, intention and end in life. So we read that: "Evil or good is
imputed to every one according to the nature of the will in his deeds,
and according to the nature of his understanding concerning them" (CL
527: 2). If a man does evil "from some prevailing concupiscence of the
body, it is not imputed to him because he did not propose it to himself
and does not confirm it with himself" (CL 529).

   This is a most important teaching in that it relieves man of the
greatest burden of guilt which he is likely to feel--guilt for failure
to do what he knows is right. We are not condemned for the evils we do
which we did not intend to do and which we regret afterwards. This does
not mean we should be unconcerned, or should not try to avoid every
situation that leads to a downfall of this kind. Every evil we commit
brings both spiritual and natural harm to ourselves and others.

   Yet this is taught: "With the man who from natural is becoming
spiritual there are two things, commonly called the spirit and the
flesh, which in the beginning combat against each other...If it happens
that the lust of the flesh is aroused to a heat beyond what the spirit
acting from reason can restrain, it follows that...the heat of lust
pours such allurements over the spirit that it is no longer master of
its reason and hence of its duty" (CL 488).

   Evils committed in such a state are imputed or judged in a man
according to the degree his understanding afterwards does or does not
favor them. If the man does not favor what he has done and confirms his
intention not to do it again, he is not guilty of the evil as he would
be if he favored his deed and made it allowable in his own mind.

   This doctrine is not to be used as an excuse to yield to the demands
of the flesh whenever they come in conflict with the ideals of the
spirit. Yet, if we fall, as we often do, we can know that there will be
another opportunity to combat our evil inclinations. We should not
become discouraged remembering that the most fatal insinuation of the
hells is the feeling of despair for our salvation.

   Our feelings of guilt should be most acute when we discover an
interior intention of doing evil, knowing that it is wrong yet not
wishing to put it away. If we recognize such an intention, let us make
ourselves guilty of it, confessing it before the Lord and asking His
help to shun it. This is repentance.

   Neither are the demands of repentance great. If it is undertaken at
recurring seasons it is sufficient to initiate us into the way that
leads to heaven. "If from will and understanding, or purpose and
confirmation (men) abstain from one evil because it is a sin, and still
more if they abstain from several, they abstain from all: for as soon
as one from purpose or confirmation abstains from any evil because it
is a sin, he is held by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the
rest. Therefore, if he does evil from ignorance or from some prevailing
concupiscence of the body, it is not imputed to him because he did not
propose it to himself and does not confirm it with himself. A man comes
into this purpose if once or twice a year he examines himself and
repents of the evil which he finds in himself. Not so with one who
never examines himself" (CL 529).

   Let us, therefore, like the prodigal son of the Lord's parable, say
in the awareness of our guilt: "I will arise and go to my father, and
will say to him, "Father I have sinned against heaven and before you,
and I am no longer worthy to be called your son...." (Lu. 15: 18f).

   And the Lord will answer: "Do I have any pleasure at all that the
wicked should die...and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
Therefore turn and live!" (Ezek. 18: 23, 32). Amen.

   Lessons: Ezek. 18: 20-32; Lu. 15: 11-24; AC 9009