Inappropriate, unethical, immoral behavior relies on our selective blindness to, and / or rationalizing away of, everything that tells us "DO NOT do this!" So we can go against our own values ("do wrong") YET STILL feel good about ourselves ie keep thinking that we're good, decent, honest etc. We can do wrong AND feel we've done nothing wrong.
People "caught red-handed" typically vociferously cry innocent. It usually sounds like outright lying, but I'm starting to suspect that "perps" actually believe what they're saying - believe their own lies.
The (appropriate) sense of guilt * seems to be missing, and may take a long time (if ever) to appear. But there's a lot of shame * (humiliation, loosing face) to being caught, and anger at those who do the catching.
If we allow ourselves to mature as human beings, we see reality increasingly more clearly (with less & less self-serving bias), and we're less & less able to stomach our own excuses for improper behavior. Our priorities gradually shift from self-centeredness to a wiser, bigger picture of life.
* http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/search?q=guilt
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| Randy Craig http://travel.nationalgeographic.com |
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