A Culture of Guilt, Shame and Blame that Strains Disharmony, Dishonesty and Hypocrisy!

"Living in a culture that strains dishonesty and hypocrisy, we live in the west our first years of life dumping our hearts with guilt, shame and blame; we then spend the next period of life breeding anger, fear and anxieties, ending up turning our hearts into a junkyard stuffed with grudge, alienation, dishonesty and frustration. Having achieved nothing, we sink furthermore into self deception running away from truth and realty into materialistic delusions by overworking, over shopping, over consuming and over committing ourselves in an endless rat race, where no results lead us time and again to the same starting point of feeling ourselves even more inadequate, ashamed, guilty and blameworthy"

As every human being undergoes occasionally some periods of shame, guilt and blame in his life, the whole essence of our false western identity is built and stained by the feelings of guilt, shame and blame. They are no more just unpleasant and temporary feelings for us, but one of the most striking features in our emotional life, which from our early childhood have tainted and poisoned our psyche. Dwelling in that smelly swamp of shame, guilt and blame emanated from the western puritan Judeo-Christian heritage and overwhelming even the secular society and mindset, we've become alienated and separated through hypocrisy and dishonesty not only from our fellow human beings, but even from the very core of ourselves and our true nature. Then, instead of standing firm in what we are and by applying wrong strategies and false coping methods trying to present ourselves and to be someone different from whom we really are, we've ended up dumping our hearts with grudge, fears, anger and anxieties imprisoning our heart behind the bars of separation, alienation, segregation, isolation as well as emotional coldness and distance. However, behind all those events, there is a mighty driving force, whose striking point is that of the original "sin" or "fall". This driving force is the story of the Garden of Eden. Its message is unambiguous: we are evil and hopeless by nature, we do not deserve to be loved and to live at ease, we are always guilty and blameworthy, thus we always have to be ashamed; ashamed of (the allegedly) God, ashamed of ourselves, ashamed of our beloved ones, ashamed of our friends and fellow human beings; ashamed of everything and everyone; ashamed in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. This is the basic story that spoils our psyche and poisons our

emotions. However, as standing diametrically opposed to this agonizing message of the west and even if being though and challenging at the beginning, Buddhism opens for us a new horizon. It makes us familiar with our true nature - with our innate wisdom, love, compassion and awareness. It makes us familiar with our Buddha Nature and everyone has Buddha Nature. It is in other words, our essential goodness that is hidden behind veils and curtains of ignorance and delusion as presented by the different traditions of the west, may they be religious or secular as derivative of the specific religious tradition. Anyway, living in a culture that strains disharmony, dishonesty and hypocrisy, we live here in the west our first years of life dumping our hearts with guilt, shame and blame as well as thoughts of insufficiency and that something is basically flawed and wrong with our nature; we then spend the next period of life breeding anger, fear and anxieties of all form and types, ending up turning our hearts into a junkyard and a garbage pile stuffed with grudge, alienation, dishonesty, hypocrisy, bitterness and frustration. Now, instead of dealing with our pain, grief and suffering, we prefer to withdraw into further suppression, self denial and delusion truly believing to be outlaws. We think that if we want to be back in the garden, we must first redeem our sinful nature and pay the price for the fall. The obvious result is that we want always to please others by controlling our mind, emotions and bodies. We want to control everyone and everything so that we can desperately win the love we so miss. What we really miss is to see that we are trying to get from others what we do not even believe to be able to give ourselves (and thus to others), while the others think the same about us and them self. Having achieved nothing, we sink furthermore into self deception running away from truth and realty into materialistic delusions by overworking, over shopping, over consuming and over committing ourselves in an endless rat race, where no results lead us time and again to the same starting point of feeling ourselves even more inadequate, ashamed, guilty and blameworthy!