I'm so sick and tired of guilt. The problem we have is to find something else in place of guilt. So many times with my clients, I've seen that if you remove guilt, they walk around empty. They don't know what to do without it. They want to fill it up with something. It's sort of like taking off a pair of tight shoes that you've worn for so long, and realizing that you can actually walk without pain.
Put the word compassion in the place of guilt. Compassion means "caring and understanding." It's not pity or empathy. It means, "I care by choice." You're not pulled down by a feeling of "I have to . . ."
As you probably know, the Essenes were Gnostics. The Essenes authored the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most theologians now say that these scrolls were definitely part of the original Bible, but church officials eradicated and ruled them out over time. In A.D. 325, during the First Council of Nicaea, they eliminated everything that had to do with reincarnation and eradicated the Gnostic movement. The Bible, as we now know it, is not the full version of the Bible.
There was one passage that struck me as reflecting our philosophy so much: "An edict went out amongst the Essenes [later the Gnostics] that stated, 'Stop holding on. Quit having the stubbornness of guilt.'"
It really struck me how tenacious guilt is. We have to discern if we're on the right path, which means being in tune with God's will. You're the experiencing part of God feeding data back to the Divine. We have to discern what is righteous guilt, what is stubborn guilt, and what is inane guilt. If the motive, the heart, and the emotions are pure, they will weigh strongly in our defense.
Guilt is Unhealthy for Mind, Body, and Soul
Guilt is a killer -- no doubt about it. Guilt causes cancer and breaks up families; it can make you crazy and make your soul weigh heavily. Now, we're a guilt-programmed society. We get it in our religious structures. Churches have been the biggest harbingers of guilt. Sometimes I just wonder if the guilt and negativity hasn't become its own Antichrist. It's something to think about.
Think about the fact that we have guilt about our children, and why do we? We're programmed socially, economically, and culturally to think that whatever goes wrong is our fault. No. You see, these entities come to us with their own written charts that they must fulfill. How much control do we really have over it? Very little.
Why Do You Have Guilt?
Because you're human, you rant and rave over the fact that you have a kid who happens to be rotten, or your parents are driving you crazy. Let's take leave of all this screaming and yelling and hollering. If someone is sitting in front of me and I walk over and smack that person, I should have guilt, because that person hasn't done one single thing to hurt me. I should have guilt for that. See what I mean? That is an overt action against someone who hasn't done one singular thing to me in my life.
But let's say that someone comes up and hurts you, and you turn around and say to them, "Stop." Or you push them away with justifiable anger. You have so much guilt over things that you have no control over. Why? Because somebody told you that you were not a good enough mother, spouse, or child.
So you don't like your mother -- well, maybe no one does; maybe she just isn't likable. Did you ever think of that? So you think your kid is rotten -- that may very well be the consensus of 70 other people. Why do you have guilt? Do you think that because this entity came through you or you married this person, it's your responsibility forever and ever to take up that crucible?
Let me tell you from my own experience, my friends. In one twinkling of an eye, because of a belief, it can be taken away. How do you stand with that? You stand tall. Overall this is only God, and the way we serve Him.
I would never ask you to do anything I haven't lived through and done. When you make that commitment to God, you can have it all. He may let it drop away or it may be taken, but what has anyone ever taken from you? Make sure that when all things are taken, you don't stubbornly hold on to this guilt. We hold on to that more tenaciously than we do any material thing.
Replacing Guilt With What?
Once I helped this woman's whole family: Her mother got off alcohol, and her brother got off drugs. Afterwards, she said to me, "Now what am I supposed to do?" She wanted to carry the responsibility and guilt for their limitations.
We don't like to let go of our old, familiar dragons. They breathe fire at night, and haunt our beds. We say, "Oh, there you are. I know you're there." Our anxieties and our illnesses are these feelings of guilt. Jesus was trying to rid us of this. Even the sacrament of baptism was originally meant to symbolically wash away what has gone on before in your past lives.
Please let go, and let your soul stand with dignity. How dare you not know that you're a spark of the Divine?
You're a spark of the Divine Mother and Father God. You're a beautiful, perfect, infinite soul. Don't let the world get you. Don't let the world put that on you. Walk above all of this. The sky won't fall in on you. You may fall in on you, but God's love, which is constant forever, will keep on pulling you out if you stick to your belief.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher
Hay House Inc., www.hayhouse.com
This article is excerpted with permission from the book:
The Nature of Good and Evil
by Sylvia Browne.
By combining her philosophical and theological views, Sylvia Browne creates a spiritual umbrella that rises above traditional religion. All paths that lead to knowing God have merit -- Sylvia simply invites you to know Him/Her in your own way, free of dogma and fear.
Info/Order this book.
About The Author
Millions of people have witnessed Sylvia Browne's incredible psychic powers on TV shows such as Montel Williams, Larry King Live, and Unsolved Mysteries; she has also been profiled in Cosmopolitan, People magazine, and other national media. Her on target psychic readings have helped police solve crimes. Sylvia is the author of Adventures of a Psychic, Life on the Other Side, and The Other Side and Back, among other works. Contact Sylvia Browne at: www.sylvia.org or Sylvia Browne Corporation, 35 Dillon Ave., Campbell, CA 95008. (408) 379-7070.
