Guilt and Responsibility

Love and guilt cannot co-exist, and to accept one is to deny the other. ~ A Course in Miracles

To become more famililiar with my client base I attended a cancer support group. I was intrigued by the guest speaker who addressed the group; she explained that we shape our lives by the thoughts and attitudes we hold. She further explained that illness is the universe’s way of getting our attention so that we can realign our life with the perfect pattern we deserve. "Because our thoughts and energies have a role in manifesting disease, we can facilitate healing by shifting our vision toward wholeness". Wow, I thought!

After the lecture, a sponsor angrily told this guest speaker that he didn’t like her making his people feel guilty for their cancers; that "they felt guilty enough as it was!"

I was stunned; she had not said anything about guilt? To the contrary, I thought. I stood at a distance to listen as she explained calmly to the sponsor - it was her intention to empower the patients - to know that they were worthy of being healed, and to open up to the possibility that they could take an active role in their healing.

She explained that the ego, which thrives on guilt, does not understand responsibility, for the separated mind cannot conceive of being at cause. Its very existence is built on the illusion of being an effect. The notion of creatorship threatens the ego’s platform of victimhood.

Someone who feels guilty will fight the notion of responsibility, as the ego cannot see beyond the blame game. In the game of creative living, however, each of us has the power to manifest the world we choose, regardless of the worlds that others are choosing for themselves or would choose for us.

Guilt is debilitating, while responsibility is liberating.

Guilt focuses on what you did in the past, while responsibility looks at how the choices you make now will affect your future.

Guilt is shrouded with blame; responsibility empowers us toward greater possibilities.

Guilt is emotional and implies sin; responsibility is reasonable and points toward laws of success.

Guilt calls for punishment; responsibility calls only for correction.

We are all responsible. Let us reclaim our power to be healthy and live the lives we choose.

The power of my life is in my hands. I choose to love and be whole.