Empowered by the Misuse of Guilt?
Beware the guilt hustlers!
Dianne (Masters) Linderman
What would you do without the use of guilt? How would you motivate your employees, employers, spouses, kids, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, the checker in the store, the person you may complain to about a bad service? What power would you have if you did not use guilt as a tool to get what you want? How would you motivate others or feel empowered to be the person you are? I know you’ve all heard the following comments a million times in your life, “You know how hard I work,” “I worked all day to keep food on the table,” etc.
The whole world uses guilt to control, manipulate, degrade, confuse, and to avoid feeling healthy guilt. Guilt, a simple form of hypnosis, is the controlling influence over the masses in politics, marketing, education, and raising kids. It is the main source of the power struggle between husbands and wives, bothers and sisters, etc., etc., etc. Why do we constantly keep reaching for this designer tool, and how is it that we are so skillful at its use? Each and every one of us has the skill of a trained heart surgeon with pinpoint accuracy in the use of guilt. We are so accustomed to using guilt as our tool of choice that we have lost our awareness of how dangerous the power of guilt really is—not only to the person who is receiving the message of guilt, but also to the person delivering the emboldened strike!
"Guilt should free us from wrong, but because of our pride, it enslaves us."
To the guilt hustlers: After you read this article, you will start to become aware of your wrong use of guilt. You will put down your weapon of guilt and look for the true form of power, “love.” But love does not come from you; it comes from wanting to recognize the wrong inside yourself, and hatches a new life of love for others. This new power has patience, strength, tolerance, and is self-propelled and inspiring. You will no longer need to motivate husbands, wives, kids, employees, and employers: this newfound power of love will penetrate everyone, freeing them from being manipulated by guilt. Life will become simple.
To the receivers of the guilt hustlers: What if you had no guilt, or had nothing to be guilty about? What would happen to the people throwing around their so-called power of guilt but with no reaction from you? The attackers would suddenly hit the wall of powerlessness, and an assortment of wicked reactions would be released ending with complete submissiveness.
The truth about guilt is its purpose was intended for good, but it is deceptively used as a means of control. Guilt should free us from wrong, but because of our pride, it enslaves us. I always ask people this simple question, “Do you feel guilty, or are you truly guilty?” To admit your guilt and face the truth is an instant freedom! The delay of an admission is denial and sets you up for anyone to control you. We are swimming in an ocean of guilt, and the only free-spirited individuals are the truth-facers, the ones that love the sound of the sweet words of truth!