Conscience

In my studies, I am learning about various ways of thinking. The question was posed to me "do all people have a conscience" and "where does a conscience come from?".

I think people are all born with a conscience and some people ignore their inner voice so much that they can no longer hear it. I have always heard friends and family advise me to "follow my gut" or "listen to your instincts". In the text I am reading, the author Vincent Ruggiero says, "conscience is the most important single guide to right and wrong an individual can have."

Of course, there have been many times that I simply chose not to listen. When that happens, I can usually feel it in the pit of my stomach. As children, we are so sensitive to love and pain and the world around us and we do not wish any harm on anyone. There is a feeling of distinct rightness and wrongness. It is very clear. Ruggiero tells us to "follow our conscience, but not blindly." It is important to examine our own conscience for "moral growth".

As we grow older, make mistakes and get battered through life, it sometimes becomes harder to see what is distinctly right or wrong. Many people cannot tell the difference anymore and simply rely on the government of others to create laws as a substitute or the media's sensationalism to dictate what is morally right or wrong. There is a disconnect between their own sense of right and wrong and what the world dictates. There becomes moral shades of gray as opposed to of black and white.