Guilt is to the spirit like pain is to the body: It's designed as indicator of when you've done something a person isn't meant to do. Bend a finger in an unnatural way and PAIN! Bend the heart in a way it isn't meant to bend and GUILT!
Like with pain, you've got normal, healthy guilt, which is the guilt you feel when you really have been a big jerk. Then there's chronic guilt, which is caused by a screwed up guilt mechanism and not by anything you really did. And there are some people whose mechanism has gotten broken and doesn't do much of anything.
Also like with pain, you can treat your guilt by a.) fixing the problem, b.) popping some soothing pills or c.) ignoring it until you get used to it and don't notice anymore. In the case of being a big jerk, a.) would be apology and repentance, b.) would be rationalizing or doing some generic good stuff to make yourself feel better without having to repent or apologize and c.) would be continuing to be a jerk and learning to feel good about it.
Don't know what that had to do anything, but it's what fell out of my head just then, so there.
