Regret has direction, too. The self is, in terms of direction, always a going back, a being, a going around, and a going forward.

There is motive in regret, and there can be purpose. When we go back in our minds to the past, the past as a thing one is going back to is like the future, for it is later than the present. A person, for instance, can say: “I will think of what happened yesterday, tomorrow.”

Criticism of a self by that self implies a looking at the past of that self as an immediate whole. If a self approves of what it is, it is approving of the past; however, if the past is seen as good by a self, the future is also considered good. If a self disapproves of what it is, the past is seen as bad; and while the past remains a thing disapproved of, the future is also not liked. Criticism of a person by a person is always an interaction of past and future, retrospect and possibility.

Regret is criticism. It is punishment and hope; for if hope were not around at all, there would be no reason for regret. Regret, like all other states of mind, or emotions, aims to be efficient. We have a motive in regretting. We may be ashamed of what we may have done; but we are proud that we can be ashamed. Regret is the association of incompleteness or ugliness or disproportion of self, with pain; so that the incompleteness may be justly and usefully attacked. This is when regret is honest.