Your guilty conscience and you

[Sebenko]

I don't feel guilt.
I regret, I feel shame (meaning that I'm pissed because of what people will think of me), sometimes I fear getting punished for what I've done, but never guilt.
It's healthier that way.

Sounds a lot like me.
I think my conscience has given up telling me not to do things.

 

[teisjm]

My guilty conscience is tied up and locked in the basement, along with my empathy, fear and other weeknesses.

Real men are ice-cold killers willing to do anything to achieve their goals.
Even if it involves chainsawing your way through a kindergarden at the baby-seal petting zoo in order to reach the fridge with the last candy-bar.

I don't really have problems with guilty consience... I tend to just, you know, not do stuff that makes me feel guilty.

 

[blackcherry]

It really does depend. The things I have experienced in life mean that, whilst I do feel shame at some of the things I do and occasionally am kept up at night by past 'improper' actions nagging at me, on the whole I really don't have time or patience for a conscience. If that makes any sense.

I'm a very busy and goal focused person, so if I see something to achieve, I will feel little to no guilt over any conventional rules I break, as long as it doesn't contravene with my own set of rules. Everyone gets regrets now and then and are haunted by their actions. Its just all about if you can justify them to yourself.

If not then you tend to be rather inactive when it comes to decisions, something I can't be arsed with at my lot of life.

 

[Pseudonym2]

I remember that my guilty conscious is just a sign it's working. I feel a lot better afterwords.

I'm going to see if I can join the port militarization resistance though.

 

[Lord George]

Never felt guilty over anything, why should I?

 

[Lexodus]

I generally don't feel overly guilty unless I do something which, in my eyes, is something that a good person wouldn't do.

How does one define a 'good person', though? Someone who is celibate and lives at a monastery? Or just someone who makes mistakes but does so in a human capacity? Personally, I'm not sure how I would define one, seeing how it's all subjective.

My view of a "good person" is pretty old fashioned. Basically chivalry. xD

I agree. Chivalry is not dead, it is merely sleeping.

 

[jackbomb9]

My conscience doesn't affect me in games, cos, you know, the whole escapism issue, but in real life? It's running overtime! I feel guilt for so much as thinking about lying. Probably why I'm so terrible at it.

That's only the beginning too. I feel guilt for pretty much everything that I see as bad. I'm rude to somebody on the phone? Guilt trip. I'm a little late handing in an assignemt? Guilt trip. I insult a friend during an argument? Guilt trip.

I missed one of my friend's 18th birthday party because I had to study for exams that were the next week and I didn't feel I could spend the time with him. I still haven't quite gotten over it.

I generally deal with by just letting it sit. If I can apologise for it, I will, but most of the time I just think about it for a bit, and eventually (maybe over a day or so, depending on how bad it was) get over it.

That's not an exaggaration, either. You asked for honest, I gave you honest.

 

[Gruthar]

In my younger days, my conscience didn't bother me much. I could lie, cheat, and steal, and not think twice about it.

These days, my conscience is a nagging *****. It's much harder for me to lie, and the mere of thought of anyone sacrificing anything of themselves on my behalf is uncomfortable. Worse yet, I feel guilty about some of things I did many years ago, but have no way to make amends. Mercifully, memories fade with time. I'm certain I've forgotten many of the selfish things I've done, but I'd like to think I've atoned for them through my good deeds in more recent years.

 

[Gooble]

I dislike it, but I'm too self-centred to stop doing certain things, or amend the things I have done. Which makes me feel even more guilty, and makes me more ashamed of myself.

 

[Low Frost]

I have always had a pretty strong conscience. It will remind me, sometimes for YEARS, about the cruel things I have done, so long as they are remotely rememberable.
The only time it doesn't reign on my actions is when I get angry, then everything goes in to the garbage can.

 

[teisjm]

My guilty conscience is tied up and locked in the basement, along with my empathy, fear and other weeknesses.

Real men are ice-cold killers willing to do anything to achieve their goals.
Even if it involves chainsawing your way through a kindergarden at the baby-seal petting zoo in order to reach the fridge with the last candy-bar.

I don't really have problems with guilty consience... I tend to just, you know, not do stuff that makes me feel guilty.

But the whole chainsaw thing, that was something that didn't make you feel guilty?

Ok i admitt it. I felt slightly guilty for not wiping it clean of blood untill the day after. Keep your tool shiny if you don't want them to rust.

 

[CakeDragon]

I have a pretty bad guilty conscience, and as a result, I'm a really honest person. I suppose not really the best thing, but if I do something and I guilt trip, or I feel bad about it, there's only so long I can stand before I tell someone. And usually end up crying.

Of course, this depends on the circumstances. I never ever guilt trip when I lie to my parents that I'm going to stay at a friends', when I'm actually going to see my boyfriend (to cut a long story short, they don't like him).

I can also guilt trip over really little things, like, if I say something a bit out of line or do something to offend someone. I'm a sensitive wuss and it won't take much for me to get upset

 

[manicfoot]

My conscience is pretty ridiculous. I feel insanely bad about little things I did or didn't do... Like when I didn't initiate a conversation with someone when I should have or when I don't say "excuse me" when asking for something because I usually stutter when I say words starting with E... With stuff like that, I'll usually hear a voice in my head calling me a **** and that I should kill myself immediately. It can from a few hours to a few days. I'm sure you can imagine how bad it is when I mess up something important...
Funfunfunfun.

 

[MasterSqueak]

Guilt? Does not compute.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

If I've done something dickish it will usually occupy my mind for a few hours, maybe the rest of the day.
There's the odd thing that I did as a teenager (15+ years ago) that I still feel bad about when I remember.
There is another thing that wasn't entirely my fault, but wouldn't have happened without me and I'm sure I could have done more to stop at least for a while, that really fucked up someone very close to me (& myself). It probably would have happened eventually without me anyway by some other means or maybe not, but whatever, I was the initial 'vector' so to speak. The guilt eventually died down after a few years of continued self destruct followed by just cutting myself off from said person (if it's not right in front of me eventually I'll just forget). Thanks for reminding me you fucker P)

 

[CheeseSandwichCake]

I spend half my forum-time on 4chan.

I have no conscience.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

First off, I'd like to ask people to reply to this thread honestly. You don't have to lie or make yourself look better; anyone who judges you for not being a saint is being unrealistic.

Anyway, related to that above sentence, I was thinking today about asking you guys this question, simply because, to each other, we are just computer screens. I could be an advanced computer program, for all you know. So, given this unprecedented level of anonymity, I want to ask you something personal.

How does your guilty conscience affect you? Traditionally, were I to pose this to someone standing right in front of them, they would most likely lie to me and make themselves look good. But your guilty conscience is more often than not a very large factor in how you behave and hold yourself. Guilt and morals are often very hard to be honest about.

For example, I myself feel guilty for doing so much as skipping a class. Granted, this guilt diminishes if the teacher gets angry afterwards or is unreasonable, but I still hate doing it. Anything I can do that will cause discomfort to others is pretty much quarantined by my mind. However, others will skip with wholehearted abandon, either because they don't care or can waive their guilt.

So, how do you handle such feelings and situations?

I try and justify it in my head. Like, think of reasons as to why this situation is better for me than another hypothetical one, etc.

 

[matnatz]

I don't really have a very loud or very vocal conscience. I have done things in the past, and I've never felt bad. I can hurt pretty much everybody's feelings and I'll feel fine, the one exception being my mother, I could never do anything to make her feel bad.

 

[CuddlyCombine]

I supppose it all depends on how you define guilty.

Well, I'd say guilt is anything that makes you illogically review past actions in a negative light. There's no reason to dwell on the past, at least from an evolutionary standpoint; survival of the fittest should dictate that we do whatever suits us best, regardless of any trivial consequence like losing a friendship.

I'm not sure, however, that everyone feels the same thing, as everyone deals with it differently, and some don't at all, as you can tell from the varied responses above.

Makes me wonder if guilt is a 'nature or nurture' thing. Y'know, if people develop it independently or have it instilled/jumpstarted by their upbringing.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Whatever I do, I have to be able to live with.