My big question has to do with guilt and the way people deal with it, more specifically self sacrifice, or letting go of something that is a part of us in order to achieve something else.

So my question is:

Is it our actual actions of self sacrifice that make us feel as though we are a better person, or is simply what one could say a "placebo affect," and we feel better about ourselves because we feel like now we've done something to punish ourselves for our own mistakes?Oedipus reacts to the truth about his mother by gouging out his eyes...an extreme, for sure, and it makes me wonder what does he gain by doing this? Is he better off blind and enlightened, or would be be better off enlightened but still able to see?