by Napoleon Hill
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8. When two forceful personalities are opposed and it is desirable that they live together in harmony, at least one must use the power of PMA.
9. Be sensitive to your own reactions and to the reactions of others.
10. Would you like to live contentedly in Happy Valley?
TO BE HAPPY MAKE OTHERS HAPPY!
CHAPTER 19 Get Rid of That Guilt Feeling
You have a guilt feeling. That's good!
But get rid of that feeling of guilt.
A sense of guilt is good. And every living person regardless of how good or bad he may be will sometimes experience a feeling of guilt. This feeling is the result of a "still, small voice" speaking to you. And your conscience is that "still, small voice."
Now think for a moment: What would happen if one did not feel a sense of guilt after doing wrong? For the person who does not have a feeling of guilt for doing a specific wrong act is often unable to distinguish between right and wrong ? or hasn't been trained to know the difference between right and wrong as regards that act. Or he may not be sane.
For many feelings of guilt are inherited. And others are acquired.
We know a mental conflict often will develop when inherited emotions and passions are bridled by the society in which one lives; and people in one environment may have an entirely different code of ethics that is opposed to the code of those in another. Yet in each instance where the individual has been taught a specific, ethical standard and violates it, he develops a feeling of guilt.
In some instances, however, the violation of a moral standard of society is good because the standard itself may be bad.
And we reiterate: a feeling of guilt is good: It even motivates persons of the highest moral standards to worthwhile thought and action.
For there was a righteous man who hated and unrelentingly persecuted people of a religious minority. But he developed a feeling of guilt. And the world knows he righted his wrong when his feelings of guilt motivated him to desirable action. For he became a great evangelist. And his thoughts, words, and actions have changed the history of the world during the past two thousand years. Saul of Tarsus was his name.
And then there was a man whose feeling of guilt for what he believed to be the misdeeds of his life made him so remorseful that he, too, was motivated to desirable action. In prison he spent his days writing a book. And his book is a classic reference for teaching nobility of character and beauty of life. John Bunyan was his name.
And then there was also the sinner we discussed in Chapter Fifteen who donated a half million dollars to the Chicago Boys Clubs and who also donated a million dollars to his church. Now he did this to atone in part for his guilt. For he provided money to prevent boys and girls from falling into the traps and snares of life that he had experienced.
Even a benefactor to mankind like Dr. Albert Schweitzer was motivated by the sense of guilt. For he felt guilty that he had fallen short of his responsibilities to his fellowmen. And because he could, but was not, doing something worthwhile, his sense of guilt prompted him to start his great mission.
Now do you see that a feeling of guilt with PMA is good? But then there is a feeling of guilt with NMA. And that is bad.
For not every guilt feeling brings about beneficial remits. Now when the individual has a guilt feeling and does not get rid of that guilt feeling with PMA, the results are often most harmful.
And the great psychologist Sigmund Freud says: "The further our work proceeds and the deeper our knowledge of the mental life of neurotics penetrates, the more clearly two new factors force themselves upon our notice which demand the closest attention as sources of resistance... They can both be included under the one description of 'need to be ill' or 'need to suffer.'... The first of these two factors is the sense of guilt or consciousness of guilt..."
And Sigmund Freud is right. For feelings of guilt have motivated men to destroy their lives, mutilate their bodies, or injure themselves in other ways to atone for their wrongdoing. Now today, fortunately, such methods are seldom practiced. And they are not permitted in civilized countries. Yet their counterpart can be found. For the conscious mind may not feel guilty but the subconscious mind does.
And the subconscious mind never forgets.
And it uses its powers as effectively as the conscious mind. For it fulfills the need of the individual who doesn't rid himself of the feeling of guilt with PMA. It makes him ill. It makes him suffer.
A guilt feeling can teach yon consideration for others.
