On Guilt for the Mess Around Us

When Adonis, the beloved of Venus, was killed while hunting, the goddess mourned him bitterly. She felt guilty: she had wanted to talk him out of going, but could not hold him back. Where her tears fell, flowers sprang up — poppies or pheasant’s eyes; on this point the experts disagree. This one I brought back from the steppes of Kazakhstan.

For a person with moral values, guilt is very easy to catch — even when they know perfectly well that they themselves are doing nothing wrong. What torments them is the mere awareness that there is injustice in the world, and people who suffer from it. Empathy is natural, but in excess it threatens to drown you. And since our tears do not make poppies grow (I have checked), that energy needs another outlet.

There is one: make your empathy constructive. Practise mindfulness. Build up your resolve. Catch hold of motivation. Acquire the right habits. With us in that shape, the world becomes a good deal better.

I wrote this for everyone, but I have a feeling I wrote it for myself. So as not to forget.