The reason to let go of selfishness is not because of guilt. Not because it’s a “sin.” Not because it’s “wrong.” All such motivations come from lower consciousness and self-judgment. Rather, the reason to let go of selfishness is simply because it is impractical. It doesn’t work. It’s too costly. It consumes too much energy. It delays the accomplishment of our goals and the realization of our wants. Because of its very nature, the small self is the creator of guilt and its self-perpetuator; that is, out of guilt we strive to accomplish and achieve success. Then when we achieve success, we feel guilty because we have it. There is no winning of the guilt game. The only solution is to give it up, to let it go.
Our mind would like to make us think that guilt is laudatory, and the guilt-mongers of the world love to make an idol of it. Which is more important: to feel guilty or to change for the better? If somebody owes us money, would we rather they feel guilty about it or pay us the money? If we intend to feel guilty, we should at least consciously choose it instead of being unwittingly run by it.
When we move from being selfish with a small “s,” we move into being Selfish with a capital “S.” We move from our smaller self to our greater Self. We move from weakness to power, and from self-hatred and pettiness to lovingness and harmony. We move from strife to ease, and from frustration to accomplishment.
From Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, ch. 7, pg. 121-122
That talk about giving up guilt and selfishness is so relevant to someone things I’ve been processing the last couple days!
Thank you so much!
Love,
Jordan
So so true. Of course I was raised in guilt–religiously–impossible to escape being imprinted by guilt if you are exposed to religious dogma while growing up. Then as an adult I found replacements for the religion that I thought I had given up to further exacerbate my guilt. People, jobs, circumstances–I was attracted to all that made me feel guilty. I became very successful in business, making over $30000 a month (which for me was hugely successful) then went into self destruct mode–all because of the guilt. I believe today that guilt and self-hatred are synonymous. You cannot have one without the other.
Thank you so much for this pearl of wisdom.