What has happened to conscience?
Conscience atrophies when people confuse following rules with following "inner lights of God." Our educational and political systems have broken many hearts, minds, and spirits. Let the healing begin.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
conscience, a personal sense of the moral content of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character with regard to a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. Conscience, usually informed by acculturation and instruction, is thus generally understood to give intuitively authoritative judgments regarding the moral quality of single actions.
Historically, almost every culture has recognized the existence of such a faculty. Ancient Egyptians, for example, were urged not to transgress against the dictates of the heart, for one “must stand in fear of departing from its guidance.” In some belief systems, conscience is regarded as the voice of God and therefore a completely reliable guide of conduct: among the Hindus it is considered “the invisible God who dwells within us.” Among Western religious groups, the Society of Friends (or Quakers) places particular emphasis on the role of conscience in apprehending and responding through conduct to the “Inner Light” of God.
Sharing these pieces, from a kindred spirit . . .
PART ONE
PART TWO
This is The Work of Happiness!
Kindred spirits, please share this far and wide.
Excellent question, TWOH, and I fear the excruciating emphasis placed on the external, superficial, and ephemeral will produce future generations with neither character, conscience, nor an interior life, thus creating a slave mentality that makes them all the easier to puppeteer.