If you were raised in the church, like me, then you are familiar with sin and its association with guilt. Sin was essentially a label attached to anything we did that was deemed wrong, immoral, or evil. God hates sin, we were told, and is quick to banish us to Hell for eternity for even the smallest thing we do wrong.
Guilt is an attack on unconditional love, used by the ego to strengthen itself. The ego doesn’t want to surrender to love, because it would mean the end to the reign of the ego. Caitlin could not receive love or become aware of love, because the ego would not allow it. The guilt ensured the continuity of the ego’s reign.
Where do we learn our beliefs about guilt? Think about it this way… We instinctively believe that guilt is a call for punishment for the mistakes we make. Somehow, we think that our self-imposed sentence will ease the pain of the guilt because enduring the punishment transforms us from bad to good people again.
Guilt is the self-defining voice of the ego. Since we identify with the ego, we innately believe that whatever we are feeling guilty about is who we are.
Guilt is a fearful feeling that arises when we compromise or violate either a universal or personal moral code or rule.
