Guilt is a
feeling that invades us when we perform an act for which later we repent, arises from a
lack , which, a priori
, we believe that we have committed, although sometimes it's not. But,
what had you ever wondered why we invade these feelings? According to the theories of
Freud, we could say that
we are so civilized that at times, we feel guilty without knowing quite why, even without expressing it directly.
A possible example
may be when we find ourselves in a jam and suddenly, the driver of the car in front moves forward and slams on the brakes. In that moment
we enter a terrible desire – the unconscious - of killing him, but,
obviously, we do not.
The problem, according to
Freud, is that
that desire that had been, in reality, it is real, but as we know that we are human and that is forbidden, we then
aggression against ourselves. Do you feel guilty? that is to say, do you feel the guilt for a prolonged period for having thought so?
The attacks that you do, both mental and physical, to other people in the end rests on our consciousness, therefore, of any form is also a burden on ourselves, and this is the feeling of guilt. According to Freud: ” The
aggression is introjected“, that is to say, it is the
unconscious process by which a subject incorporates attitudes, ideas, beliefs, etc, of an individual or group of individuals, upon identification with them and internalized”.
We are civilized beings
We feel guilty because
we are civilized. The power of our guilt,
even if it seems indicative of our level of civilization and even of what has come through christianity over the years. Today, we can say that there are more and more young people who are confused, who do not know how to distinguish when a fact is all wrong, which means they do not experience any feeling of guilt after having done something serious. That is a sign that there is something in civilization that goes wrong because, in some way,
to be civilized is to feel almost as guilty of committing crimes that have bad instincts.
Guilt is closely tied to the civilization, because
we don't feel guilty in the moment that we sin, but in the moment in which the civilization requires that we be accountable for our actions.