Regret is often felt in regard to outcome or shame.
In my search for the most revealing questions, i.e., the ones that, when pursued, lead to a greater understanding of ourselves, I have often had conversations with myself and projected images of others that I imagine experiencing some sort of problem and play a game of asking certain questions. Firstly, yes, I know this sounds like I'm insane, and my defense is only that I am the best kind of insane. Secondly, I find it odd that when I play this game, those projected others I am "conversing" within my mind have their own set of answers that they provide me. A term like honest doesn't really mean anything in regard to what answers they provide because they are all, in essence, just aspects of myself.
(You there, yes you, reading this now with some voice in your head. Do you hear yourself read?)
What is meaningful about this, though, is that I can distinguish and recognize an "other" who is playing the game against "me" who is asking the questions. I can also recognize that the way in which this "other" responds, as a fragment of me (my mind), does not answer in a way I necessarily would answer. This suggests one of two things: I am either truly on my way down the rabbit hole of madness, or these projections are aspects of others that I have genuinely integrated enough into myself that I am able to understand how and why another person may truly feel the way they do.
So, regret. Yes, I almost forgot. Good thing I wrote that as the title. This all leads me to regret. This is my latest revealing question. Can you distinguish between the things you regret for the sake of failing yourself versus the things that brought you an outcome you didn't want? I believe that knowing the difference in these is knowing the distance between the depths of your soul and the shallowness of your self-pity.
It is the mark of a sovereign soul to accept the consequences of the actions they know they must take. You can be proud of a decision, even if knowing it did not yield what you or many others might consider the best outcome. In the wrestle between righteousness and victory, we may only pray they are one and the same. But it is often they are not, and you must choose between what will win you the day and keep you safe and what is right and might sow further discord. And this isn't just the choice of kings and political figures; it is a game we play every day with ourselves. We guide the actions of our body, commanding it to persist in a world that drives everything toward entropic ruin. We can command it to consume the nutritious meat of other animals and the ripe flesh of the land, or we can command it to eat cake. The command, like a general of an army, carries onward the consequences of your decisions. But you already know this of your free will, of choice and consequence. Should you choose the cake though, do you regret the forsaking of your body or the consequence of weight gain more? Do you feel you failed yourself, or are you merely sad you're gonna be a little heavier? And what does that difference say about who you are?
I hope this little perspective helps in a grand way. Consider staying subscribed and tuned in for more to come. I'm glad you're here.
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