dealing with guilt and shame

[kdsii]

Aaron always has good insight into emotions and relationships.
Here's a good scenario, and the insight into it:

(Questioner) Q: You talk about the sanctity of all life. I was driving and accidentally killed a squirrel. How serious is this? I feel very guilty.

(Aaron) A: What does this experience teach you? Was your mind completely on your driving? Would you have been paying closer attention? Guilt is a negative emotion; it will not help you learn. Open your heart to life’s lessons compassionately and without judgment. Learn what you need to learn. And thank this small being for its great gift. It has given its life to teach you something important. Perhaps this gift of love was its life’s purpose. Thank it with all your heart, and send it your love.

it seems quite interesting that Ra does NOT use the word guilt or shame at all in their communications. Maybe those words are just too loaded for us.

there are a couple of extant threads on these 2 topics:

on guilt: http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthread.php?tid=1354
on shame: http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthread.php?tid=1383

but in terms of balancing, both Guilt and Shame seem to be 2 big areas. Actually, maybe they are just 2 different manifestations of the one root phenomena; that of not being good enough, or doing something wrong, or breaking some sort of moral or spiritual code.

both seem like instruments of self-attack; a way of diminishing the self in relation to others. It's a form of comparing, and finding that you yourself are not up to scratch.

the insidious thing is that it becomes a self-imposed torture chamber.

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I have some repressed memories of shoplifting when I was very young. I was caught twice, and the guilt somehow became detached from the circumstance, and became a thing in itself. I can see how it has been present as a 'monster' in my consciousness for most of my life; because I never dealt honestly with the originating event.

there is a lot of inner work to make peace with this guilt force.