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Stacy, I think you bring up a very interesting idea about guilt. It presents the question: what is the human motivation for believing in a “higher power?” Certainly, many people would argue that their belief in a higher power is for religious reasons, for guidance or for assistance in answering those “difficult questions” but those may not be the only reasons. I interpreted from your post that you are suggesting that the higher power can potentially act as a scapegoat so that people who have behavioral or emotional difficulties have an outlet or a target at which they can attribute their difficulties.

The difficulty that I see with being able to place blame on some higher power is the fact that then you must question the nature of the higher power. Is this a loving higher power? Is it fair? Why would it give someone a condition such as depression/epilepsy/cancer/etc.? I feel as though these are common questions even among those who are highly religious. And true, being able to place blame may eliminate my own guilt but it doesn’t seem to eliminate frustration with the higher power in which I believe. Why would this higher power do such a thing to me and let me suffer? If I have depression, and the higher power is responsible in some way for this condition, then I am not truly in control of myself or my actions. In some ways it seems to contradict the human belief that we have free-will.

I am not sure that being able to blame a higher power for the possible guilt associated with a chemical/hormonal imbalance is actually going to resolve the issue. So then for me, I am led to question how I should generally feel about my behavioral condition and I am stuck in my Western ideals in looking for someone or something to blame.