Existential Guilt

I am personally a pretty big fan of existential psychology. I don’t necessarily think it is the best form of therapy for everyone or that it “trumps” any of the other schools of psychology, I just find it extremely interesting and beneficial, particularly in my personal life.

One of the aspects I find most intruiging is the idea of existential guilt. The following is a brief quote about Heidegger’s view of guilt: “Heidegger believed that if we do not exercise our personal freedom, we experience guilt. Because most people do not fully exercise their freedom to choose, they experience at least some guilt. All humans can do to minimize guilt is try to live an authentic life–that is, to recognize and live in accordance with their ability to choose their own existence.”

I think this is a fairly legit way to describe why we experience guilt. I tend to lean towards the position that humans have a least some kind of free will to makes choices in their life, and therefore, I know that when I personally fail to make the “right” decisions about something, I am often left with a strong sense of guilt. For example, when I used to lie to my parents about something that happened at school, I became so full of guilt that I would eventually have to go running back to them to appologize and tell them how I lied. Overall, I think that this existential view of guilt rings true, and the best way to limit the amount of guilt in one’s life is to live an authentic life.