I DIDN'T REALIZE PUBLIC MASTURBATION WAS WRONG! GREAT, NOW I FEEL GUILTY.

The other day I was talking to a friend about how guilty I feel sometimes even when I haven't really done anything wrong. Guilt is something I get often and certainly something that keeps me "in check" at times. The person I was speaking with asked, "are you Catholic"?

I've received this response before from people when I have spoken of guilt. So the question I have is - is guilt a natural emotion or an emotion created through social conditioning?

Now, I'm a big fan of social conditioning, I certainly believe it exists. But I also believe there are natural emotions that we have within us regardless of a social structure - for example, love. Maybe an example more pertinent to this conversation would be jealousy. I believe jealousy to be a natural emotion as well, although I've debated this with others on several occasions.

So which one does guilt derive from? You can't have guilt without knowing something is wrong, right? And how do we know something we do is wrong? From our parents and society of course. Are there things that we would naturally feel guilt over if society hadn't "taught" us to? Lets say a child was locked in a closet for twenty years receiving nothing more than food and water. One day this twenty year old is released, given a gun and instructed to shoot the first person that speaks to him/her. After the twenty year old does the deed, is there guilt? For some reason I think their may be. If I had to give an answer to this question I would say that guilt is a natural emotion strengthened through social conditioning.

What do you think?

Here is another topic on the subject. Sometimes I realize I have guilt over something I can't describe. What I mean is, I feel guilty but I'm not sure what for. It's just there. As if I feel guilty over the state of the world - which is a tough guilt for one person to have...I may have done some bad things in my life but I hardly think I should feel responsible for something so large! Or maybe I feel guilty about something in my past that I'm repressing. That's a sad thought. In any case, it's there.

Maybe I should just blame my second grade teacher - she was a Catholic nun. But she was nice. I'd feel incredibly guilty blaming her...