When I talk to a genuine Shaman, by which I mean one of two that I’ve met, their description of evil spirits correspond exactly with the description of undermining thinking that people with depression and anxiety experiencing within Inner Space (that world inside our being) are identical. They both engender unnecessary guilt and shame.
What do I mean by unnecessary shame and guilt? Necessary guilt and shame relate to any deeds we did to harm others. The twelve step programmes ask us to do a fearless moral inventory and then take full responsibility for any harm we’ve done.
A sponsor of mine was sponsored by someone who had Bill W, one of the two founders of Alcoholic’s Anonymous, as a sponsor*. He said that Bill W said most of us need to make most of our amends to ourselves. We beat ourselves up for being a human being. Warranted guilt and shame is a guide to where we need to make amends.
Most of the people who come for therapy are tormented by unwarranted shame and guilt: mistakes we made when we were children, when we first started dating if we did date. Many people hold shame for having a human body with its strong desires and it’s various fluids and waste.
Unwarranted shame and guilt can’t be found in the heartspace (see upcoming blog post on the heartspace) and warranted guilt will be gone when we’ve made amends. (For those who have broken a law that amends may have a high cost, but any cost is worth paying to have a heart free of warranted guilt.)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy seeks to change our thinking. Natural State Restoration allows us to find the state where shame and guilt doesn’t exist.
*I got clean from drugs when I left an abusive home at the age of 14, actually one month before 15. I lived for two years in upstate New York near where Alcoholics Anonymous was founded. I put in an appearance in Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous when I need to work a step.
