Of all negative sentiments, guilt is perhaps the only one to be actively encouraged by customary education. Thousands of children everyday are forced to beat their chests and whisper:
Through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault.
César Vallejo, in Los heraldos negros, describes the man riddled by tragedy as one who's eyes betray his entire life as un charco de culpa (a puddle of guilt). Everybody knows of Judas' faith, who cried: I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood, and hanged himself. Dante, shortly after entering the fourth circle, asks horrified: Why do we let our guilt consume us so? And everybody knows the story of Oedipus, who blinded himself out of guilt.
It seems indisputable to me that guilt induces no positive effect in the world. The victim of a wrongdoing is in no way benefited if the author of it feels guilty, nor the latter incurs in any reparation by drowning in remorse. We should strive to amend the mistakes we can amend and forget those we cannot. This was perhaps what Borges meant when saying
El olvido es la única venganza y el único perdón
Assuming whatever harm we do can be repaired, or at least alleviated, without need for guilt, it is evident that a guiltless world is preferable than its alternative. The question then becomes to what extent guilt is the precursor of reparation; in other words, to what extent forgiveness and reparation are sought to alleviate the pain we have caused versus as opposed to the remorse we feel. Guilt itself could, at least in principle, be justified by the effects it brings about.
However, I am not convinced that guilt is necessary for a person to wish to make amends. In fact, in many cases it has a paralyzing effect, and it is not uncommon to become stagnated by its weight, too ashamed to seek forgiveness. Plauto wrote: Nihil est miserius quam animus hominis conscius. [Nothing is more miserable than the soul of a man conscious of guilt.] If we were to change miserable into impotent, the truth value of the sentence would be preserved.
One might believe that, insofar as guilt is inevitable, it makes no sense to protest against its pointlessness. This is only partially true. It is perhaps impossible (and inhumane) to rid ourselves from all guilt. However, we can certainly learn to handle it more properly, both individually and culturally. It is my believe that a reasonable first step in that direction is to acknowledge it for what it is, rather than sanctifying it, and take for a sign of virtue what is a burden of the mind.