General Discussions

I think everyone over uses it at one point or another.

How many times have you said or thought you were sorry?  Of course, it’s often in the context of believing that you somehow failed or disappointed yourself or another.  It’s the basic belief that what happened could and should have happened differently with a more desirable outcome.  We believe that we failed in some way that we could have avoided; that things could have been better if only we had been more attentive and responsible, if we had been better or different than we were.  Our world could be a little better than it is now, but it’s not, because of our personal deficiency and failings.  Such is the basic stuff of guilt.  There is often no easy way to dispute this kind of thinking.  It also seems a bit preposterous and useless to continue in this manner.  If a different and better outcome was really available, then it likely would have happened - but it didn’t.  Even if we can accept that understanding of reality, still the “what if” inevitably arises, compelling us to imagine a more preferential outcome.  This grasping and regretting process is just our human brain and ego naturally trying to run the show, or at least shifting things a bit in our favor.  We may even realize that events happen because they have been configured by all of preceding history to happen in that moment, in just that particular way.  Still, it doesn’t matter, for we will continue to regret various outcomes, believing that we could and should have done things better.

Discuss.