Reply To: Let's talk about shame

[Pine]

That’s a good point, @Rondo. Shame is an inherent law enforcement in the human apparatus. It serves the collective of humanity when formal systems fail.
From my perspective, those deeply disturbingly behaving police officers are unconscious of how all things are connected. DPD experienced themselves as separate from that schizophrenic man. They were so grossly disconnected from that man’s state of being, they were able to mindlessly kill him. If disconnection is the primary cause of bad impact, should we really treat them with shame, which essentially is an intra- and interpersonal phenomenon of disconnection?

I believe shame should be directed at behaviors rather than individuals, so that the individual can correct the behavior without feeling ashamed of their entire person.

Ah, yes. Though I was thinking that the very definition of shame includes a rejection of some fabric within the individual.
Shame, guilt and embarrassment are easily mixed up, so I’ll summarize each phenomenon:
When one feels shame, one pushes oneself away in response to being pushed away by someone else.
When one feels guilt, one has overdrawn one’s moral boundaries concerning someone else’s interests.
When one feels embarrassment, one detects social disapproval and fears the consequences.