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October-December, 2019

Is Guilt Justified?

by Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C.

Well, I hate to spoil the suspense, but I’m just going to say right off that the answer to that question is an unqualified no. I know that it sometimes seems like guilt could be justified. We read things in the paper and listen to the news at night and certainly it seems like someone and often a lot of someones out there are guilty. Believe it or not, no one is guilty.

I used to say that evidently, I came here this time to undo the belief in guilt. I said that because I felt so guilty for so many things that clearly releasing guilt had to be my purpose. It seemed so difficult to do this at times. I would remember something that happened when my children were young and I would feel so guilty for not handling it better. I would think about someone I know whose child was murdered and the effect this loss had on her life, and I was sure that the murderer was guilty.

It has taken me most of my life, but I have finally given up on the idea of guilt. One reason for this is that we are the Sons of God, perfect creations of a perfect God. How could we ever be guilty? To believe we could be guilty is to believe we have changed God’s creation. I know that being His child I am powerful but this is the one thing I cannot do. I cannot undo or change creation in any way.

It does seem that somehow I have actually accomplished this impossible task. God created us whole and complete and it looks like we have shattered that wholeness and have made ourselves separate and special. But this has not actually happened, in spite of appearances. What we have done is use our creative power to make something temporary, like children building complex and spectacular sand castles that will one day be washed back into the ocean.

But in the meantime, we are experiencing a world of our own making and we are always having the experience that we choose. Lesson 152 is one of my favorites. It says this about our power of decision:

No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. And no one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its whole reality for you. And it is only here salvation is. (W-pI.152.1:1-8)

This is uncompromising. The world in its totality, and that part of the world that seems to be me, is exactly as I chose it to be. This time around, I chose some very interesting experiences to have, and I chose some very challenging experiences as well. I have suffered abuse and failed relationships. I have experienced both extreme lack and abundance. I have had joyful moments and terrifying moments.

This story of Myron has all the elements of a good movie script and it is exactly what I wanted, all of it, not just the fun parts. Therefore, how could anyone in my script actually be guilty? First of all, it’s my script and if they are part of it, it must have been my choice to have them there. I owe them thanks for helping me to have the experiences I wanted, not anger for playing their part.

Second, it’s a script, a play, a chosen experience. Why would I judge the characters I chose to play the parts I asked them to play? Why would I judge something that is not real anyway? When I leave the movie theatre, I’m not mad at the actor that played the villain. I just appreciate his skill. We didn’t vilify Anthony Hopkins for his role as the creepy and awful serial killer, Hannibal Lector. In fact, we gave him an Oscar for doing it so well.

The villains in the story of Myron are not guilty for playing their part either. Sometimes Myron took on the role of villain and she is not guilty for that. It is silly to think of any of us as guilty when we realize that we are all just playing parts in fictional stories. And it is vital that we remember that this is all fiction. We are not bodies living out real lives. That fact negates any guilt that we might imagine for any of the players.

I used to say that I wanted to give up guilt but I just didn’t know how. Now isn’t that just silly. I don’t know what I was thinking. Well, actually, I do know. I thought guilt was a real thing. It turns out that guilt is just a belief. I believe someone is guilty but that doesn’t make that belief true. I can justify the belief by listing all their sins, and then I run into an objection. Sin is not real, either. It, too, is just a belief.

So, having established that guilt was a belief, I could no longer claim that I didn’t know how to give it up. If I believe something and don’t want to believe it anymore, I just change my mind. It’s simple. I change my mind all the time. I decide to go to the store and brush my hair, grab my keys and head for the door. Just as I get there, I remember that I promised to take a call in a little while so I put the key down and go back into my office.

It took about a second to change my mind. So why should it be hard to change my mind about guilt? I have all the reasons it doesn’t make sense. When I was complaining about how hard it was, what I really meant was that I didn’t want to forgive that idea. I found value in guilt and I wanted to keep it. When I finally realized the value was false and that guilt was too costly to keep, I let it go. If you are still choosing to believe in guilt, I recommend you reconsider. The freedom and peace of mind that is discovered when guilt is discarded is miraculous.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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