Thanks, I like the original post quite a bit.

However, I might take issue with the simple way that guilt and shame are explained. While the explanation is specific ot Westerners and helpful to many, there are 2 points about it.

One is that I don't know that guilt and shame are 2 distinct and separate things, but rather 2 ends of a spectrum with many degrees of negatively thinking of oneself on it. that one can move through.

The other point comes from being Buddhist and living in south Asia. In Buddhism, shame, as the emotion is translated into English, is not a bad thing, but a good one. Perhaps a more accurate translation would be embarrassment, but nonetheless it serves to motivate us not to perform acts that are unacceptable and could---and often do in Indian, Tibetan and Nepali society---lead to ostracism, things such as sharp dealing in business, gratuitous unkindness, and so on. Of course this works more efficaciously in cultures that are closer knit than in the US and much of the rest of the West, but there you have it.