“Guilt drives people to be deaf, dumb, and blind to their own drives, hopes and fears and wants, bias and prejudices therein.” ~ Spirit, Dr. James Martin Peebles, from Three Principles of Angelic Wisdom by Linda Pendleton
I was speaking with a friend today about feelings and letting go of the past. You know, dumping the garbage that one can tend to hold onto. So that brought to mind the late Dr. David Viscott, Psychiatrist—his books, his radio show, and his TV show.
I very much admired him and did know him on a social level. I had read his first book, The Making of a Psychiatrist, published in 1972, and then a few years later, in the late 1970’s, I found Dr. Viscott’s book, The Language of Feelings, to be insightful and it gave me a greater understanding of the dynamics of feelings, of emotions.
“Anxiety is the fear of hurt or loss.
Hurt of loss leads to anger.
Anger held in leads to guilt.
Guilt, unrelieved, leads to depression.”
~David Viscott, M.D., The Language of Feelings
And here from my book, Three Principles of Angelic Wisdom, Chapter 12, Dumping the Garbage:
More than a hundred years ago, Dr. James Martin Peebles wrote in one of his many published books, "The oak remembers not each leaf it bore; and yet each leaf and bough and brawny limb help to make up the towering tree. Many of the acts and minor events of our lives have died out, or cease to echo in the memory chambers of our souls; still, their results live in our characters. Let then, be forgotten! It is not wise to brood over the broken rounds of the ladder our feet just pressed. The summit of the temple is to be reached. Direct the eye upward, and press forward towards the higher altitudes of heavenly truth and wisdom.
"The toiling seamstress remembers not each stitch she took in the garment; and yet, every stitch helped to make up that garment; and so each thought, word, purpose, and deed, help to make up the real life of the soul; and backward-looking memory, tracing the effects, may--ay, must construct a mirror before which we shall be necessitated to stand, face to face with ourselves...We weave the moral garments in this life that shall in quality clothe us when entering the future state of existence."
I asked Dr. Peebles about that and he told me: “Hmm, much wisdom there, indeed. I did not refer to events as lessons as I now do but I would suppose my meaning is exact. Life is an upward movement toward heavenly truths, a remembering so to speak of our spiritual nature, a fulfilling of our soul, and it is true that every thought, every movement, every action and deed, become part of our very soul, at least in a deductive sense. It is the reflection in the mirror which enables one to have new understanding of self. I still agree with all that I wrote as one has to let go of the backward-looking memories in order to continue on a smooth path toward enlightenment. There is no point in retracing or brooding over where one has walked. The movement is forward and upward. To stop on one broken round of the ladder and to not step beyond to the next, stifles. Do you understand?”
I said to him, “Perfectly. I also opened this chapter with one of your more recent heavenly quotes which I think you are familiar with.” (the quote at the top of this posting).
Dr. Peebles: “Ah, yes. When one becomes blinded to life, closed to the echoes, the beauty of life becomes absent, silent, and fear takes hold. Fear of diversity, fear of love and intimacy, and the illusion of separation becomes overwhelming. Guilt disables, lowers self esteem, reduces hopes, kills dreams, destroys creativity, alters the ego to the point that self worth suffers tremendously. So what do you do about it? You release it by realizing that you don't need it any longer. It becomes a lesson learned. When you accept that you created that place, you also realize that you can create another place, one free of guilt, full of joy, full of love.”
“When one is faced with looking at all that garbage, what many refer to as baggage, recognize that it no longer serves you. And in all probability, the person who may have been the reason for your baggage, that is, in your own mind, has probably not even given you any thought, or the event any thought, so why do you continue to carry it with you? Remember, your world is your very own perception. You have the choice to perceive it as you wish. And if you wish to be the victim, so be it. But if you wish to be the pilot of your life, the one at the wheel, so to speak, then consider that you can shift your perception, let go, forgive, and move forward.”
In this video Dr. Viscott reads from one of his excellent books, Emotional Resilience: Simple Truths for Dealing with the Unfinished Business of Your Past, published not long before his untimely death at the age of 58.
I was speaking with a friend today about feelings and letting go of the past. You know, dumping the garbage that one can tend to hold onto. So that brought to mind the late Dr. David Viscott, Psychiatrist—his books, his radio show, and his TV show.
I very much admired him and did know him on a social level. I had read his first book, The Making of a Psychiatrist, published in 1972, and then a few years later, in the late 1970’s, I found Dr. Viscott’s book, The Language of Feelings, to be insightful and it gave me a greater understanding of the dynamics of feelings, of emotions.
“Anxiety is the fear of hurt or loss.
Hurt of loss leads to anger.
Anger held in leads to guilt.
Guilt, unrelieved, leads to depression.”
~David Viscott, M.D., The Language of Feelings
And here from my book, Three Principles of Angelic Wisdom, Chapter 12, Dumping the Garbage:
More than a hundred years ago, Dr. James Martin Peebles wrote in one of his many published books, "The oak remembers not each leaf it bore; and yet each leaf and bough and brawny limb help to make up the towering tree. Many of the acts and minor events of our lives have died out, or cease to echo in the memory chambers of our souls; still, their results live in our characters. Let then, be forgotten! It is not wise to brood over the broken rounds of the ladder our feet just pressed. The summit of the temple is to be reached. Direct the eye upward, and press forward towards the higher altitudes of heavenly truth and wisdom.
"The toiling seamstress remembers not each stitch she took in the garment; and yet, every stitch helped to make up that garment; and so each thought, word, purpose, and deed, help to make up the real life of the soul; and backward-looking memory, tracing the effects, may--ay, must construct a mirror before which we shall be necessitated to stand, face to face with ourselves...We weave the moral garments in this life that shall in quality clothe us when entering the future state of existence."
I asked Dr. Peebles about that and he told me: “Hmm, much wisdom there, indeed. I did not refer to events as lessons as I now do but I would suppose my meaning is exact. Life is an upward movement toward heavenly truths, a remembering so to speak of our spiritual nature, a fulfilling of our soul, and it is true that every thought, every movement, every action and deed, become part of our very soul, at least in a deductive sense. It is the reflection in the mirror which enables one to have new understanding of self. I still agree with all that I wrote as one has to let go of the backward-looking memories in order to continue on a smooth path toward enlightenment. There is no point in retracing or brooding over where one has walked. The movement is forward and upward. To stop on one broken round of the ladder and to not step beyond to the next, stifles. Do you understand?”
I said to him, “Perfectly. I also opened this chapter with one of your more recent heavenly quotes which I think you are familiar with.” (the quote at the top of this posting).
Dr. Peebles: “Ah, yes. When one becomes blinded to life, closed to the echoes, the beauty of life becomes absent, silent, and fear takes hold. Fear of diversity, fear of love and intimacy, and the illusion of separation becomes overwhelming. Guilt disables, lowers self esteem, reduces hopes, kills dreams, destroys creativity, alters the ego to the point that self worth suffers tremendously. So what do you do about it? You release it by realizing that you don't need it any longer. It becomes a lesson learned. When you accept that you created that place, you also realize that you can create another place, one free of guilt, full of joy, full of love.”
“When one is faced with looking at all that garbage, what many refer to as baggage, recognize that it no longer serves you. And in all probability, the person who may have been the reason for your baggage, that is, in your own mind, has probably not even given you any thought, or the event any thought, so why do you continue to carry it with you? Remember, your world is your very own perception. You have the choice to perceive it as you wish. And if you wish to be the victim, so be it. But if you wish to be the pilot of your life, the one at the wheel, so to speak, then consider that you can shift your perception, let go, forgive, and move forward.”
In this video Dr. Viscott reads from one of his excellent books, Emotional Resilience: Simple Truths for Dealing with the Unfinished Business of Your Past, published not long before his untimely death at the age of 58.
~Linda
1 comment:
Thanks, Linda, there were a few reminders that I needed to hear today.
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