To quote our Bengali saint, Sri Ramakrishna, if you go on saying you are a sinner, you become a sinner. There are people who suffer so much from a guilt complex that it hampers their spiritual progress. This is one of the cleverest aces the mind can play. "You, you are no good. You, what can you say for yourself?" This dismal refrain can be a serious obstacle to meditation, which is why the mind does it. To get angry with oneself and reject oneself is not helpful and is not what the Buddha teaches. The best thing is not to say either "I'm all good" or "I'm worthless; I'm no good." The best thing is not to think about oneself, not talk about oneself, not dwell upon oneself at all—to be neither overconfident nor self-deprecating.
~Eknath Easwaran, in Essence of the Dhammapada
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