Page 52 - WhoAreWe...

The Importance of Conscience

When I was a child I watched, as most everyone did, the
famous Disney movie Pinocchio. A featured character,
Jiminy Cricket, was supposed to be a living, talking
metaphor for the human conscience — the "little voice that
tells us right from wrong". I remember thinking to myself,
even at that age, what a wonderful way to popularly
promote active awareness of the importance of listening to
that little voice!

But as the years passed, this sort of thing was sadly not
repeated much in popular culture. The concept did not seem
to "catch on", and people still struggle with hearing their
little voice, many seemingly to either not hear theirs very
well, or are just simply ignoring it because listening to it
will cause work that needs to be done. I cannot even be
sure that everyone has one, but I'd to think they do, even if
it is buried by layers of negativity.

Regardless, it is a fact that all of us need to seek a closer
relationship with our conscience, for it is the only authority
that we can truly trust. If we can define it as an automatic
early warning system for when you are about to hurt
another person, or even yourself, then I think that is
something we have to learn to readily acknowledge and be
in close contact with. If having a conscience is knowing
right from wrong, and right is when we are good to
ourselves and others, and wrong is when we aren't, it will
detect when we are about to stray and it is working. Much
like the relationship between Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket,
your conscience as your best friend and must be actively
consulted and listened to on regular basis. I can promise
you that if you do the hard work to consult and listen to
your conscience, your efforts will reward greatly.

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