[Guilt] Much of fear is rooted in guilt.

"Truth and Subjectivity" by David R. Hawkins, pp. 253-258

Perhaps guilt is the most feared obstacle in the attempt at spiritual inquiry, and it is likely the reason why many people hesitate to pursue it. Many confess that they are afraid to look inside themselves because they do not know what they might discover there. Guilt is rooted in the fear of the Last Judgment. It evokes terrifying images of sin, hell, and the wrath of God. The fearful, shadow side of being human is condensed into sin/guilt/judgment/condemnation/punishment/death/hell. It is the gloom that hangs over life and becomes the trapdoor leading to hell. Death, in particular, is dreaded as the trigger that could open that trapdoor at any moment. We often hear that at the final moment, life flashes before one's eyes. The "Ghost of Christmas Past" (Translator's note: One of the spirits appearing in the 1843 classic "A Christmas Carol" by British author Charles Dickens) points its phantom finger and demands accountability. "Oh, Spirit," the person says. "Have you no mercy? I have seen enough. I have heard the rattling of the chains. What will become of my fate?"

Much of fear is rooted in guilt. This is because the unconscious projects the images of what it condemns onto the unknown. Every judgment passed upon oneself in the past is projected onto a terrifying God, and the wrathful vengeance of that God is so absolute that it is horrifying even to imagine. However, at the root of this is the fear of death, and death is viewed as the ultimate judgment of justice passed by God. Yet, even death is not enough; then, the angry God casts the soul into the eternal fires of hell.

Because of such horrifying scenarios, trembling people resort to denial and mock all spiritual truth. They try to bury these terrifying scenarios in sweet oblivion by pretending that God does not exist, and that the soul and the afterlife are all non-existent. They dream that by saying "When you're dead, that's it," they can escape spiritual responsibility. They cross their fingers tightly and shut out all "products of the imagination" from their consciousness. Their friends respect this and wish them luck.

Everyone (except for the mentally ill) is familiar with guilt in its various forms. Shame, regret, self-reproach, self-blame, low self-esteem, self-loathing, and the faint inner pangs of conscience—all of these are examples. If one is a person of faith, they likely know the traditional methods for alleviating guilt. For example, confession, repentance, absolution, prayer, and atonement through good deeds.

Guilt is based on three primary positions. These are things you should definitely know before tackling the entirety of guilt.

A typical statement of guilt is as follows: "I (Error Number 3) should not have done that (Error Number 2), therefore I am a bad person (Error Number 1)." Such hypotheses look realistic, but within the context of time, we act as reasonably as possible according to the weakness or strength of the moment.

The definition of the self as "I" or "me" is not fixed, but fluctuating. Therefore, the context of an action also has an equally fluctuating effect. If the self thinks, "I am hopeless," it will act in a completely different way than when it thinks, "I am safe." The idealized self is different from the self living the actual life. The ego/self changes from moment to moment. One moment it may seem gentle, the next it is angry, then selfish, and the next moment it may be generous. Just as the self that accompanies an action is an illusion, the self of this very moment is also an illusion.

Decisions are heavily influenced by underlying factors. Therefore, actions are subject to the complex interaction of both conscious and unconscious programs, as well as the invisible influence of the consciousness field that is dominant at any given time.

The factors mentioned above are closely linked to what is called "situational ethics." Situational ethics is a method of perception that goes further than a rigid moral view or value judgment of simply black or white, and it takes into account not only the content but also the context. In court, when judging a case, we consider whether there are any mitigating factors (context). And there are times when mitigating factors outweigh legal responsibility. Any activity reflects the human consciousness in the process of growth within the entire context of the universe. Therefore, we use the phrasing, "At this point in time, that is the best idea."

The ego is a collection of programs where reason operates through complex and multi-layered algorithms. Within those algorithms, thoughts arise along specific "decision trees" that are heavily influenced by past experiences, doctrines, and social forces. In other words, it is not personally created. The intelligence of the forebrain can have genetic defects, or it can be swept away by intense emotions that well up from the deeper, more primitive parts of the brain. Actions are also influenced by the person's life phase and invisible karmic forces (negative).

It is also useful to consider the motives that cause undesirable behavior. Fear usually lurks there. Fear of loss, fear of control, fear of defects or failure, or fear of losing status—all of these are examples. There may also be impulsive reasons or a lack of information for acting, such as the inability to distinguish truth from falsehood. These are all classified as so-called "human weaknesses." From the moral perspective, which is a hypothesis, yielding to that "weakness" is an unforgivable act. However, if one's consciousness evolves but they do not become a saint, or if they do not obtain a healthy brain or superior genes, who is responsible? Is it the old animal brain, the olfactory brain that devours to survive? Or is it the parents, society, or the media that performs Pavlovian conditioning? Is the responsibility with the DNA or gene pool of people who were born without common sense and think they can do whatever they want? Testosterone (Translator's note: A type of male hormone. It promotes the development of secondary sexual characteristics.) should be blamed first, as it brings numerous mistakes into life. (There are clinical experiments showing that castrated men live more than nine years longer than ordinary men.) The same goes for the media, which invites moral decay and fosters evil.

In this kaleidoscope of interacting factors, where exactly should we seek responsibility? Who should take responsibility, repent for their mistakes, and lament? Even if we take a single action and break it down, we find that we cannot find a single determining factor, and we find that even the "person" who ostensibly took that action does not exist. However, the mind will say: Is this not all just rationalization to wash away guilt? We believe that by suffering or repenting somewhere, we can become better people.

Looking at the complex factors contained in a single trivial action, we see that only an omniscient and omnipotent God can judge. The spiritual maxim "Judge not, lest ye be judged" comes from this. It is vanity that makes the ego think it can judge others or itself.

There is no literature conveying high-dimensional truth that records that God is affected by guilt or that God's pain is alleviated by it. Saints and sages throughout history have used the word "sin" instead of guilt, stating that it arises from ignorance. They teach that while certain actions cast the soul into unpleasant realms, the practice of virtue leads to higher realms after death. They are simply stating facts, and there is no intention to threaten or frighten.

Past mistakes must be viewed with compassion and responsibility. That is the only way to correct a mistake. When reflecting, one must always verify the intention behind the action while recognizing the difference between guilt and regret. Regret usually occurs when the result is undesirable. True guilt arises regarding the intention, while regret occurs regarding the undesirable result.

It is self-evident that the mind is often irrational, unreliable, and lacks sufficient factors to justify actions. It jumps to conclusions before properly examining the situation. Also, it is susceptible to environmental pressure, and when exposed to stories of "little madness," it immediately becomes irrational. This is a common phenomenon. We often hear the line, "I wasn't myself at the time." The mind should be rejecting "insane" choices or conditions each time, but in reality, it is not reliable. This is one reason why, in business, a large check requires the signatures of two or more people.

Empirically, guilt appears as "reality" until the ego that supports it disappears. Spiritual seekers tend to critically look back on past actions from a newly acquired spiritual perspective. Self-analysis must always be done with compassion. Past mistakes occurred in a different context than the present. The best solution to guilt is to contribute again to God and one's fellow man, and to forgive others and oneself.

Suffering is never a gift to God. It is the same as rain clouds not being a gift to the sky. Guilt can also become selfishness. It is better to use the energy consumed by it to contribute to one's fellow man. One must forgive oneself and others. Otherwise, the ego is further strengthened by self-blame. Self-loathing must be surrendered to God and abandoned as self-centered and narcissistic selfishness. It is nothing more than clinging to the past, and truth cannot be found there.

[Guilt] How was it? The clumsy mistakes caused by the animal brain (instinct) = the ego that you don't want to remember were not done by the true 'I', so let us forgive them with a heart of compassion.

The same applies to media that invites moral decay and fosters evil.

Right now, Russia and Ukraine, the vaccination of 5 to 11-year-olds, the pandemic from two years ago, and if you go back in history, the 9/11 terrorist attacks—please observe carefully how the media is amplifying fear.

If you watch TV all the time, your animal brain (instinct) = ego will mistake those illusions for reality.

Depending on how you perceive things in your heart, your view of the world can change 360 degrees. It is natural not to know how to perceive things if you do not have information on how to do so, and I hope that more people will become interested in knowing that such information exists as one way of perceiving things. Let us be conscious of the standpoint of an aware heart based on love, and change and evolve so as not to identify with the animal brain (instinct) = ego.

The animal brain (instinct) = ego reacts negatively. Because it is based on fear, it reacts unconsciously, but that is not the true 'Self.' The true 'Self' is the standpoint of an aware heart based on love. The goal of the dark forces is to draw out negative emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger from people.