What is conscience? What is freedom of conscience? Conscience - what is it and why is it necessary Differences from honor.
Throughout life, a person one way or another encounters the concepts of morality and moral choice. An important question here is: “What is conscience?” Many believe that this is a set of certain character traits that allow you to feel worthy and good. In addition, everyone knows the expression "clear conscience", and under what circumstances it arises. This article will focus on conscience as a spiritual component of success and happiness.
What is conscience?
If you turn to the explanatory dictionary, then in different publications you can read something like the following: this is the subconscious desire of a person to do good deeds. Thus, the definition of what conscience is does not quite correspond to its real meaning. It should be noted that conscience is the voice of God in the human soul, which awakens and begins to “speak” at those moments when the person needs it most.
For example, you just thought about selfish behavior, you haven’t even done anything yet, and your inner voice is already telling you that you shouldn’t do this. From the outside, it may seem that you are talking to someone else inside yourself. In part, this is true. Spiritual teachers of antiquity and modernity say that in our heart, in addition to the soul, lives a piece of the divine essence. It turns out that we were initially given a guide, a comrade-in-arms, a true friend in order to support and protect from everything bad, unkind.
Ugly act
Please remember how you feel when you have committed some kind of unkind deed? In any case, you will feel quite palpable tingling in the chest area, coming from the heart - remorse. What it is - it is better not to experience in large quantities. In fact, the feeling is a terrible state, characterized by a reduced emotional background, depression, and often a feeling of hopelessness.
Nobody lives without mistakes. It is only important to be able to correctly respond to divine lessons, draw certain conclusions for yourself and live on. It is impossible to reproach oneself all one's life for what happened long ago, just as it is impossible to completely drown out the true voice of higher justice in oneself.
Why do we cover our faces with our hands?
Perhaps you have ever noticed one amazing phenomenon: when we cry or experience a state of shame, our hands seem to reach out to our faces by themselves. At the same time, for women it does not matter at all whether they ruin their makeup or not. Psychologists define this action as a subconscious attempt to hide one's guilt, to hide from oppressive feelings. The fact is that even when we feel acute symptoms of inner pain, we are not always ready to admit it. The definition of what conscience is can be given on the basis of this characteristic alone.
If you hurt a child
It's probably the worst thing you can do. In many countries, it is considered that hurting an old man or a baby is almost the same as committing premeditated murder. In this case, your suffering will be much greater than if you had a fight with an equal. This is what the human conscience is.
If a similar situation has happened to you, immediately find a way to correct the error. It is possible that it will not be possible to make amends so easily, various obstacles may arise along the way. It is quite possible that you will be accused of hypocrisy, insincerity. Keep acting! It is only difficult to take the first step, then everything will turn out easier. Find the right time to talk to your child. Children are amazing and mysterious creatures. If you act truly sincerely, from the heart, you will be forgiven. Of course, much depends on the severity of the offense that was committed.
truthful voice
We have within ourselves a real guide to a happy and fulfilling life. Don't miss it! Use the guidance in your heart. This is the divine principle, which allows us to understand what conscience is. In the event that you notice that some situation or thought disturbs you too often, do not try to hide it deeper into the subconscious. This won't do you any good. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to face the truth. Find, feel for the origins of the problem that seems difficult to you, maybe even unsolvable. Turn to your inner God, ask him for forgiveness. You will see, it will immediately become easier for you to look at your difficulty. With a pure heart, it is much easier to find the truth.
Metaphysical level
Currently, there is more and more information that our mental state is directly related to the physical. Illnesses, any ailments arise only because we live incorrectly: we suppress our feelings, do not reveal emotions in time, we worry about situations that could happen. The personality is so arranged that it reacts to everything. A thinking person is always looking for an answer to the question of what conscience is, trying to understand the origins of the problem, to determine the starting point from which it all began. If he understands his mistake, he tries to correct it.
Experts noticed an amazing feature: the more a person suffers from guilt, the more clearly he has kidney problems. Recall that the functions of the excretory system are to cleanse the body. The kidneys are a paired organ. They work together. And if there are problems in the relationship, acute dissatisfaction with themselves or a sense of failure, they immediately react. Anyone who is constantly offended often has pyelonephritis, often chronic.
sincere remorse
This is what is needed for a person who understands the depth of his guilt, but does not yet know how to correct it. If you want to know what a clear conscience is and sleep peacefully at night, then use the following advice: find a time when no one will disturb you with calls and visits, go to church, repent of your sins.
Then find a reason to meet with the person you once offended, talk heart to heart with him, ask for forgiveness. You will see, you will get better. True repentance lies not in momentarily throwing off the burden of your experiences, but in being able to purify your soul through the recognition of your wrongness and the desire to change.
What is freedom of conscience?
Each of us has a choice in how to act. Nobody will ever take that away. One person, finding himself in a rather difficult situation, will strive to act for the benefit of others, the other, even realizing that he is wrong, will not budge. Much depends on the character, on the true intention of the soul. If possible, it is better not to try to joke with fate and correct mistakes in time. Sometimes we can't even imagine how short life is, and you just don't have time to give your loved ones the love and care they need so much.
Thus, conscience is a person's inner guide to the world, his protection and support. If all people truly listened to this quiet voice before making any act or transaction, then there would certainly be less deceit, upset marriages, and generally unhappy people. Take care of each other and be happy!
“You have no conscience!”, “I would have had a conscience!”, “Conscience is the best controller.” "Remorse of conscience". We have heard these and many others more than once or twice in our lives. So what is conscience? Why do we need it? How do we know if we have it or not, and how not to lose it?
Conscience is a kind of regulator of our relations with other people. At the same time, this regulator is different for everyone. The conscience of a person is a purely individual concept, there is no standard in it, it is impossible to measure it and say: "My conscience is greater than yours." It all depends on how able a person is to regulate his moral and ethical behavior, the norms of which are different for everyone and depend on the environment, personal qualities, and life experience. At the level of feelings, conscience helps us evaluate the fallacy or correctness of actions or deeds.
Conscience: conscience in life examples
Conscience has a strong influence on our lives and can lead to serious moral suffering (especially for emotional and sensitive individuals) as a result of committing a bad or even simply wrong act in relation to someone. For example, we can be rude to a passenger in transport due to our irritation or lack of education. The so-called "conscientious" person will immediately apologize for his inappropriate behavior or will experience "pangs of conscience" for a long time, and for the "unscrupulous" rudeness is the norm, nothing can be done about it. We can be rude to our parents, who do not get tired of teaching us about life, but then we realize that we were wrong, because from childhood we were taught that being rude to our elders is bad. In many situations in which we become participants every day, conscience protects, warns us against committing actions that we will later regret, as if giving an alarm signal about the fallacy, incorrectness or inappropriateness of this or that act.
What is conscience: sources of conscience
The foundations of conscience are laid by parents in us at an early age (at 3-5 years old), and the process of its formation is called education. At the same time, the most important role here is played by no means by verbal stories about what is bad and what is good, but by the visual behavior of the parents and their reaction to the actions and actions of the baby. To bring up a conscience in a child, you need to work hard. So, if you say that lying is bad, and then you yourself tell a lie, what to expect from a child who believes that all the actions of his parents are the norm of behavior for him too? If you teach a child to respect the adult generation, and then break down on each other or on others, will the rudiments of conscience bear good fruit? If the kid did something wrong, you don’t need to immediately shout: “You can’t do this!” and punish him for his wrongdoing. Explain clearly why it is impossible, what negative consequences it can turn into (“If you touch the hot surface of the iron, you will burn your fingers, it will be very painful, you will not be able to play toys, draw”, “If you do not pick up toys from the floor and if you don’t put it in place, someone will step on them and they will break”, etc.).
Shame, shame and conscience
When we condemn someone, we can say that we shame the person, we try to awaken his conscience. Shame is an indicator of moral behavior. It is believed that he has such a synonym as shame. This is not entirely true. Shame is actually a certain state of our soul, self-condemnation. Shame is a state of mind imposed on us, one might say, a provocation. Someone insulted us, told an unpleasant story about us, and we took it upon ourselves, we feel disgraced (and it doesn’t matter if they told the truth or invented it). And here it becomes already that a person gnaws at us more deeply than conscience.
What is conscience: varieties and forms of conscience
The science of morality, in particular conscience, is called ethics. Ethics classifies conscience according to:
2. The form of manifestation (individual, collective).
3. Intensity of manifestation (suffering, muffled, active).
The forms of conscience are also represented by a fairly wide range of manifestations: this is doubt, and painful hesitation, and reproach, and confession, and shame, and self-irony, etc.
In our constantly changing world, there are fundamental concepts, to lose which means to lose yourself ... One of these eternal and unchanging concepts is our conscience.
What kind of quality of the soul is this, deep, pure, eternal, called conscience? Wikipedia says that this concept denotes a person's ability to moral self-control; an inner voice that dictates to a person how to and what not to do. This spiritual quality helps to connect the mind and emotions together, and is expressed in the form of emotional experience.
What is conscience? The definition found in the official literature is somewhat dry for such a deep moral phenomenon, isn't it?
From the point of view of psychology
Many well-known psychologists in their works have repeatedly addressed the topic of morality. So, Eric Berne believed that there are three ego-states of a person:
- Adult.
- Parent.
- Child.
The adult is responsible for logical thinking and reason; The child is for interest, research and entertainment, but the Parent ... The Parent is the voice of conscience, the moral principle of a person.
Some psychologists call the feeling of guilt innate in a person, some believe that morality is part of the mind, and someone considers it a derivative of the development of civilization.
So this is a fundamental concept, interesting and complex. This is a sense of moral responsibility for one's own behavior and everything that happens in the human world.
The meaning of the word "conscience", which various official sources offer us, is a boring thing. And how to clarify the definition of this abstract psychological term in simple terms?
The version of a cheerful ten-year-old girl who recently read Pinocchio is very interesting. In her opinion, conscience is Jimmy's cricket, which you accidentally swallowed, so it got stuck in your head ... As you can see, there are many versions, there are even quite funny ones, but only the person himself can answer what morality and morality mean specifically for him. ..
Related concepts and phrases
Do not confuse remorse and shame. They have the following important differences:
- Shame is a public phenomenon, while guilt is deeply personal.
- Remorse of conscience appears as a result of developed moral responsibility, and shame is the result of the influence of society.
- Guilt is a condemnation of one's act, and shame is a condemnation of one's personality.
And what then is called "clear conscience"? According to psychologists, a feeling of a clear conscience arises when a person is confident in his complete and unconditional sinlessness. It is here that such a problem as the relativity of moral concepts appears. What is normal for one person may not let another sleep well at night. Indeed, morality is a more than complicated thing ...
And how is it - to live according to conscience, so that the soul is always pure? The answer is simple. You should try to follow the moral code recognized in the place where you live. Sounds cynical? Alas. As already mentioned, morality is a very relative thing ...
To live according to conscience means to observe the internal laws of honor, a code that is terrible to break, otherwise the moral support under your feet will disappear and you will fall into lawlessness and emptiness ...
In this case, there is only one advice: listen to your heart and hope that it will help you make the right choice. Author: Irina Shumilova
Often, when committing not quite worthy deeds, a person feels negative emotions inside. There is a certain discomfort, sometimes quite strong, which does not allow you to continue to calmly exist. This feeling is called conscience. This internal controller gnaws after negative actions, words or thoughts and brings satisfaction with the opposite behavior. Although almost everyone knows about its existence, few people can tell with certainty what conscience is, where it comes from and why it evokes certain emotions and feelings. This should be dealt with in order.
What is conscience: a popular definition
There are many interpretations of the nature of this phenomenon, explanations of what it is. A significant number of them are associated with various religious movements, where usually the specified term is understood as a certain feeling of guilt before higher powers (God) for violating the commandments given by them. Often an explanation is given about the "light of truth" that prevents doing bad things. The popular definition that such a sense of conscience, not associated with religion, implies in this case certain personality traits. Each mentally healthy and fully developed person develops an internal self-regulatory mechanism that helps to formulate standards of morality for the subsequent measurement of everything said and done, the evaluation of words and deeds according to their own scale of worthy / unworthy.
What is shame and conscience: inborn or acquired
Those who are trying to define this inner “cop” break spears mainly as to whether such a feeling is given a priori from birth or develops already in the course of growing up, based on social influences experienced by a person, moral attitudes inspired by him, accepted in a particular family, or society as such. While such a question remains open, due to the lack of evidence from both sides. They agree on one thing: conscience is an internal framework formed by the person himself based on the moral principles adopted by him. Violation of such boundaries causes discomfort of varying intensity, and preservation, especially in a situation of difficult moral choice, improves self-esteem. The personality realizes that it has retained its identity, has not allowed circumstances to trample it.
How to explain to a child what conscience is
Parents of a growing baby and teachers who have to deal with him in educational institutions face a similar need. Explanations should be given taking into account the degree of understanding of a particular crumb, its age characteristics. When communicating with preschoolers, it is worth using specifics, giving examples available to them. One of the options: conscience is when parents forbid taking off their hats in the cold, and the child realizes that disobeying elders is bad. Therefore, when he takes off his hat, thereby violating his mother's and father's ban, he knows very well that he is doing bad things, which is why his soul hurts. It is necessary to let the baby understand: this feeling is a helper, because it prevents you from misbehaving, and you need to listen to it.
What is "conscience gnaws"
Under this expression lies the very gamut of feelings that is provoked by an act that does not correspond to the moral principles of the person himself. Its manifestations are associated with a sharp decrease in self-esteem. This appears due to the realization of the betrayal of oneself, one's own inner convictions. Usually the strength of such mental anguish is proportional to the severity of the offense. The scatter is great - from light "tingling" to real fire, which brings pain, prevents you from fully living on, especially if there is no possibility of correcting what you have done. Many people who turned into traitors or committed other heinous acts, often because of the inability to endure internal torment, dared to commit suicide.
What is remorse: a turn in a constructive direction
It should not be assumed that the understanding of what a person's conscience is, and its very action, are destructive. Here much depends on the angle from which such moral problems are considered. Attempts to fight the manifestations of conscience, to drown it out by influencing the body with psychotropic compounds, alcoholic libations, give only a temporary illusion of calm. Misdemeanors do not go away - a person only briefly runs away from them, so that later, as he sobers up, he will feel a range of even more intensified negative emotions. It is undesirable to perceive this feeling as an enemy. A wise person will turn its manifestations to the benefit of self-development. It makes sense to use the tips of your spiritual moral regulator to prevent unwanted actions, to avoid behavior that can destroy life. Such an approach will bring personal happiness, career growth, due to the respect of others around.
Even in ancient times, philosophers and sages thought about this voice: where does it come from and what is its nature? Various assumptions and theories have been put forward. The presence of this voice created special problems for the philosophers and scientists of the "modern time", who see in man only a material being and deny the existence of the soul.
There were Darwinists who argued that conscience is an extra feeling that should be got rid of. It is interesting to cite the words of Hitler, who, as is known, was one of the thinkers of social Darwinism (the doctrine according to which the laws of natural selection and the struggle for existence, which, according to Charles Darwin, operate in nature, apply to human society): "I free a person from a humiliating chimera called conscience". Hitler also said: "Conscience is an invention of the Jews."
It is clear that it is impossible to achieve a clear understanding of spiritual phenomena with the help of mere assumptions. Only God, who knows exactly the essence of spiritual phenomena, can reveal it to people.
Each person is familiar with his inner voice, called conscience. So where does it come from?
The source of the voice of conscience is the initially good nature (soul) of man.God already at the very creation of man inscribed in the depths of his soul His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, conscience is called the voice of God in man. Being a moral law written directly on the heart of a person, it operates in all people, regardless of their age, race, upbringing and level of development. At the same time, conscience is inherent only to the “human level”, animals are subject only to their instinct.
Our personal experience also convinces us that this inner voice, called conscience, is beyond our control and expresses itself directly, apart from our desire. Just as we cannot convince ourselves that we are full when we are hungry, or that we are rested when we are tired, so we cannot convince ourselves that we have done well when our conscience tells us that we have done Badly.
Conscience is a person's ability to distinguish between good and evil, the basis of universal morality.
Degradation of conscience
The human conscience did not initially act alone. In man, before the fall, she acted together with God Himself, who dwells in the human soul by His grace. Through the conscience the human soul received the message from God, therefore the conscience is called the voice of God or the voice of the human spirit enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. The correct action of conscience is possible only in close interaction with the divine grace of the Holy Spirit. Such was the human conscience before the fall.
However after the fall conscience was influenced by passions, and its voice began to subside due to the diminishing effect of Divine grace. Gradually, this led to hypocrisy, to the justification of human sins.
If man had not been corrupted by sin, he would not need a written law. Conscience could correctly guide all his actions. The need for a written law arose after the fall, when a person, darkened by passions, no longer clearly hears the voice of his conscience.
The restoration of the correct action of conscience is possible only under the guidance of the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit, is achievable only through a living union with God, opening faith in the God-man Jesus Christ.
Remorse
When a person listens to the voice of his conscience, he sees that this conscience speaks in him, first of all, as a judge, strict and incorruptible, evaluating all the actions and experiences of a person. And it often happens that some act is beneficial to a person, or has evoked approval from other people, and in the depths of his soul this person hears the voice of conscience: "this is not good, this is a sin ...". Those. a person in the depths of his soul feels this and suffers, regrets that he did this. This feeling of suffering is called "remorse."
When we do well, we experience peace and tranquility in the soul, and vice versa, after committing a sin, we experience reproaches of conscience. These reproaches of conscience sometimes turn into terrible torments and torments, and can bring a person to despair or to loss of peace of mind if he does not restore peace and tranquility in conscience through deep and sincere repentance...
Evil deeds cause shame, fear, grief, guilt and even despair in a person. So, for example, Adam and Eve, having tasted the forbidden fruit, felt ashamed and hid, with the intention of hiding from God (Genesis 3:7-10). Cain, having killed his younger brother Abel out of envy, began to fear that any passer-by would not kill him (Genesis 4:14). King Saul, who was persecuting the innocent David, wept with shame when he learned that David, instead of avenging him for the evil, spared his life (1 Sam. 26 ch.).
There is an opinion that separation from the Creator is the root of all suffering in the world, therefore conscience is the most nightmarish and painful experience of a person.
But conscience does not infringe on the free will of a person. It only indicates what is good and what is evil, and the business of a person is to incline his will to the first or second, having received from the conscience the information necessary for this. Man is responsible for this moral choice.
If a person does not follow his conscience and does not listen to it, then gradually "his conscience is covered with a layer of scale, and he becomes insensible." He sins, and at the same time, nothing special seems to happen to him. A person who has lulled his conscience, drowned out its voice with lies and the darkness of stubborn sin, is often called shameless. The Word of God calls such stubborn sinners people with a burnt conscience; their state of mind is extremely dangerous, and can be disastrous for the soul.
Freedom of conscience- this is the freedom of a person's moral and ethical views (i.e. what is considered good and evil, virtue or meanness, a good or bad deed, honest or dishonest behavior, etc.).
In France, the principle of freedom of conscience was first proclaimed in Article 10 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), which formed the basis of the legislation of the French state in the era of bourgeois revolutions. Freedom of conscience, among other human freedoms, was proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966. In 1981, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief. As a constitutional freedom, freedom of conscience is enshrined in Art. 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The understanding (and demand) of freedom in the aspect of religious relations in different historical situations was filled with different content. Freedom of conscience begins with the recognition of the right to "internal convictions". Here there is a substitution of concepts - freedom of conscience is replaced by freedom of belief. Legally, freedom of conscience is understood as the right of citizens to profess any religion or not to profess any religion.
However, many are sickened by the concept of "freedom of conscience." To formally designate the possibility of a person to have any conviction, the term “freedom of belief” should serve, and to designate the ability to profess any religion, the term “freedom of religion” should serve. The concept of "freedom of conscience" discredits conscience as a moral category, because it gives it the character of optionality and moral irresponsibility.
Conscience is the universal moral law
Conscience is the inner moral law of every person. There is no doubt that the moral law is embedded in the very nature of man. This is evidenced by the undoubted universality in humanity of the concepts of morality. Through this law, God directs all human life and activities.
Scholars (anthropologists) who study the manners and customs of backward tribes and peoples testify that so far not a single tribe, even the most savage, has been found that would be alien to one or another concept of morally good and evil.
Thus, every person, whoever he may be, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim or a pagan, feels peace, joy and satisfaction when he does good, and, on the contrary, feels anxiety, sorrow and oppression when he does evil.
At the coming terrible judgment, God will judge people not only according to their faith, but also according to the testimony of their conscience. Therefore, as the Apostle Paul teaches, even the Gentiles can be saved if their conscience testifies before God of their virtuous life. In general, sinners, both believers and non-believers, subconsciously feel responsible for their actions. Thus, according to the prophetic words of Christ, sinners before the end of the world, seeing the approach of the righteous judgment of God, will ask the earth to swallow them up, and the mountains to cover them (Lk. 23:30, Rev. 6:16). A criminal may escape another human judgment, but he will never escape the judgment of his own conscience. That is why the Last Judgment frightens us, because our conscience, which knows all our deeds, will act as our accuser and accuser.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK
Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, Moscow
