Once shame is transferred to our identity, the healthy shame that taught us that we are human and capable of making mistakes and needing help becomes a harmful shame that makes us feel disgusted and ashamed of ourselves.

Harmful shame is what causes us to abandon our true selves and is the main cause of all mental illness.
Mental illnesses caused by shame each have their own type, and shame is a fundamental factor in causing neurotic personality disorders, political violence, and even war and crime.


Because humans hate their true selves, they either become something more than human, or they become corrupt beings who cannot be considered human at all.
And this attempt to become more than just a human being leads to spending one's entire life trying to cover up or hide one's true self, and these secrets and hiding become the foundation of all suffering.


Shame, as a healthy feeling, tells us that we have limitations.
It is an inevitable limitation of being human.
Humans are inherently limited beings.
Therefore, we too are inevitably limited beings.
None of us can be more than human.

When basic needs or feelings are tied to shame, it means that healthy shame has already been transformed into harmful shame and is no longer functioning.
This means that whenever you want something, you feel ashamed of that desire.
Human motivation and feelings are of fundamental importance in human life.
Therefore, to say that you are ashamed is to say that you feel ashamed from the very core of your being.

--- From the text