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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in guilt
Dreams: You Are Guilty of a Crime

Dreaming that you’re guilty of a crime can be a sign that you are feeling bad about a mistake you made when you were awake. Think about your actions and interactions in the real world. Have you done anything recently that could have hurt one of your friends in some way? Offend Perhaps you said something that offended a family member? If you know you have done something wrong, this dream could also be a sign that you are afraid of the consequences of your actions. Those consequences will catch up to you sooner or later, so it’s time for you to own up to them and make things right.

Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 Old Home Sour Cream, Pure | Dairy | Priceless Foods

Sour cream keeps for a long time, but this particular batch—filmed over with a scum of red goo—is clearly well past its Use By date.

Normally, I would take it out back and scrape the contents into the compost; then I would wash the plastic container and put it into the recycling. But I'm busy making breakfast and suddenly the extra work seems more than I want to do. I replace the lid and, feeling a pang of guilt, put it into the garbage.

I'm a pagan. I reuse, repurpose, and recycle religiously, and I mean that literally. In the general way of things, I generate very little garbage, throwing out maybe one bag of garbage every couple/three weeks: mostly dental floss (the commercial stuff is all plasticized) and non-recyclable plastic (like the bags that leaf spinach comes in). I feel a little stab, seeing the eminently-recyclable plastic sour cream container in amongst the spinach bags, but I steel myself and turn back to my breakfast-making.

I don't get far in my preparations, though, standing at the chopping board in a miasma of guilt as pungent as a fart. I heave a sigh, retrieve the sour cream, and take it out back to the heap. Life would be so much easier if we had no values.

Many come to the Old Ways from shame cultures, seeking an escape from the internalized guilt that poisons their natal societal air.

Well, I've got some bad news for you: only sociopaths feel no guilt. When it comes to guilt, pagans feel our share; we're just differently guilty. Perhaps the very best to be said is that when pagans feel guilt, it's because we've broken our own rules, not someone else's.

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  • Katie
    Katie says #
    This is so very familiar. Been there. Had that guilt wrench looking at a glass jar filled with old, moldy salsa, too liquidy to p

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Many come to the new paganisms as refugees from other traditions, hoping for a new life free from the burden of guilt.

Oh and woe, I've sorry news for you, my friend: pagans feel just as guilty as anyone else. We just feel guilty about other things.

Some things that pagans feel guilty about:

  • Using “disposable” diapers.
  • Not buying organic.
  • Not doing what you said you would.
  • Driving vehicles dependent on fossil fuels.
  • Driving instead of walking.
  • Throwing away the container of slimy mold from the back of the refrigerator instead of composting the mold, and washing and recycling the container.
  • Breaking an oath.
  • Using the cheap bottle of wine for the libation instead of the good stuff.
  • Wishing on “Hypocrite Mitch” McConnell a long, unhappy life full of suffering, instead of a clean, quick death.
  • Lying by omission.
  • Nuclear waste.
  • NIMBYism.
  • Not eating healthily.
  • Throwing stuff away. (Every pagan knows that you can't ready throw anything away.)
  • Buying stuff you don't need.
Last modified on

Posted by on in Studies Blogs
Ruminations on the Soul: Guilt and Shame

I've taken some of my group material I used as a Chaplain Fellow with my PTSD and substance abuse program veterans and modified it here as blog material. I feel the content and message of the material is universal enough that it needs to be shared, even if the context is different. I hope you enjoy.

"Well baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah..."

...
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