:: "guilty dog" compilation ::
Comment by Kirby Urner yesterday on QuakerQuaker, one typo fixed, links added:- I suppose a starting point is to what extent do we think guilt is built-in chemically, like a hormone, versus cultivated as an institution, a complex social practice, like a game. I know people like to post Youtubes of "dogs looking guilty" however I sense some projection. I'd say the basis for guilt is in mammal behavior but full-blown guilt is reserved for those with significant linguistic abilities.
In Nietzsche's code of ethics, any grudge-keeping, ax-grinding or resentment of any kind within oneself, is a troubling sign of mental weakness, a loss in personal power, a kind of retardation. So in Will to Power and other works, the aphorisms and meditations are geared towards stamping out such things, as too base for a true Übermensch or whatever.
This code of ethics later surfaces in the San Francisco-based "est Training" wherein trainees were sternly warned against any "putting up with" or "trying to change". Guilt came in for a drubbing as something slavers used to deter our exercise of true freedoms -- something like that (I went through a few of these est Trainings in the late 70s, early 80s, including with overseer responsibilities as a Centers Network volunteer -- like with Quakers! -- but each one was different; it's called The Forum today (Landmark Corporation)).
