God Doesn’t Need Your Guilt

In a weird way, the god of my childhood ran on guilt: guilt at not doing something right, guilt at wanting to ask questions, guilt at not knowing I should be doing something, guilt at my attitude or any frustration or resentment. I was constantly awash in guilt.

It was as if god needed food, and guilt was his favorite meal.

A lot of it became self-inflicted pretty quickly. If I wanted to avoid being beaten, or social punishments, or the looming threat of going to hell, I had to be good. I wanted to avoid all these things, so learned to have a tiny policeman in my head who constantly hated everything I did. I thought if I just practiced enough self-control, if I just felt guilty enough and avoiding doing enough stuff, then I would eventually be okay.

In vodou, that’s not on god. That’s on you and the people around you, and the mind at work. Generally, if god is obsessed with everything you do and punishing you, you aren’t encountering god. God has better things to do than follow you around, and god does not punish.

You punish. People punish each other.

Divinity, of which you are an unconscious part, sees everything—couldn’t be divinity otherwise—but does not judge. Why would the divine need to judge?

What could you do that the divine would need to judge?

If you’re feeling like an engine for guilt, shame, and fear, just know that it is not the divine that wants this for you.

All actions have consequences, but god does not want you to feel any particular way about it. I’ve had the ability to say this to a few people now, many of whom are truly trying to be good people and do right, but feel powerless: god does not need, nor does god care, about your guilt.

God does not need.