Guilt and Morality

Posted by Alicja Aratyn on 12th Nov 2014

I have thought recently about moral standards we apply to our life. How much has it changed even in my own lifetime…It is not even about the fact that I grew up in a different economical and political system, since all over the world, in fact, people stand up for and represent very similar values. It is because these values are connected and should stay in accordance with higher spiritual level (Divine, if you wish) and not necessarily with Earthly order. These moral and ethical standards were set a long time ago by many religious systems and have quite a few common aspects such as: respecting others, do no harm, serve and protect younger and older generations etc. (getting aside from typical religious remarks).

From very ancient times and more classic spiritual traditions until recently one could trust that we all regard, respect and follow core moral standards. Then - as time passed and people became more materialistic, their system of values started to adjust to those new expectations. So - in the time of “me, my, mine and I”, which we experience nowadays, many of us started to treasure more personal advantages over common good and betterness of whole community (town, city, country etc).

Even though we act that way, there is something inside, this deep, idealistic spark in each of us, which feels sad and unfulfilled. Sorry for what and how we go around with our business. We are then feeling guilty without obvious reasons, getting the famous “inner conflict”and - finally - getting sick. We wonder why there is an increasing amount of terminal illnesses and long standing health conditions.

I do believe that guilt before acting is morality. So every time we go for something with even slightly mixed feelings, we will end up feeling sorry and will pay higher then expected price. In fact every price has a few components: one of them is material component, but most important is a spiritual component, which is impossible to overpass. In my own life, every time I feel guilt, I stop, think, feel and - mostly - refrain myself from acting. Do you? How do you discern between what is and is not moral in your world?

I would love to hear from you…