Conscience is called a certain moral tension, a person's experience for words and deeds. At the same time, the problem of conscience can affect not only one's own actions and words, but also the actions of someone else, and the meaning of the word conscience is distorted from one individual to another.
Definition and types
Determining what conscience is is not easy at once. The thing is that the problem of conscience is centuries-old and psychologists, philosophers of each period defined this word in their own way.
What does conscience mean from a psychological point of view: this is a quality of a person that indicates that he is able to take responsibility for his actions and words. Philosophers define a sense of conscience as a moral self-consciousness that distinguishes between good and bad, and also encourages a person to do good deeds.
V. Dahl gave conscience such a definition - it is an inner consciousness, a secret corner of the soul, where lynching takes place over every action and phrase, dividing them into good and bad, as well as a feeling that can give rise to love for good and aversion to evil.
Honor and conscience are inherent in moral people who adhere to the principles of justice and life rules. If the conscience gnaws at a person, this means that he has committed an act that he himself cannot approve.
If she never torments a person, he is said to be soulless. So if it is impossible to return the spoken words and actions, why is conscience needed, and is it needed at all, or are there motives and ways to get rid of conscience?
Concept in religion
In Christian terminology given word consists of commonwealth and lead. This means what it means to live according to conscience in Christianity - to live, benefiting society, to live together with it. Deeply believing people often say that if conscience torments, it is the voice of God that reproaches us for some unseemly deeds.
Why is it different for everyone?
When conscience is tormenting, a person engages in self-digging and self-torture, reproaches and shames himself, again and again scrolling through the act in his head, as a subject of reproaches. Some people are not and never have been tormented by it, because they do not realize that they are harming someone by their actions.
In fact, to have such moral feelings is characteristic of people brought up according to a certain scheme of distinguishing between good and evil. By adulthood, a so-called measure is formed in their minds, by which they determine the coloring of their own and other people's actions. This parenting pattern is very common: we often hear young children being told that tearing leaves off trees is bad, but sharing toys is good.
But such upbringing can make a child happy in the future only if the meanings and definitions of good and evil have not been distorted by the parents. If these concepts were instilled in a distorted form or not instilled at all, it is possible that during adult life a person lives without giving an account to honor and conscience.
What does it mean to have a conscience?
To the question: “Is conscience necessary?” can only be answered in the affirmative. A man's conscience serves as a just, but also a ruthless measure of his deeds. If your conscience gnaws, it means that what you have done does not correspond to your own ideas about good or neutral deeds.
If we imagine that honor and conscience are not inherent in any person on Earth, we can safely say that chaos will begin. Everyone will do completely random things: go and kill the offender, who for others is the breadwinner of the family and an adored relative, steal money from someone, perhaps the last, destined for food or treatment. After all, making an appointment and not showing up, insulting or hitting - all this would be ubiquitous, because no one could say that these actions are disgusting and unfair to others.
Sigmund Freud briefly described this quality. He believed that it originates in infancy: the child depends on parental love and acts in accordance with their standard of good and evil, so as not to lose this love.
It follows from this that conscience appears precisely in childhood, and parents and the environment play an important role in its formation. Multiple studies have proven that a conscientious person becomes one whose parents in childhood did not beat him for misconduct, but expressed their grief at his behavior. In adulthood, this person is responsible for his every word and does everything accordingly.
Tormenting conscience
There are a lot of definitions for this word, and among these definitions there is one stable one - torturing and gnawing. What to do to a person who is tormented by conscience? First of all, be happy for yourself. This means that you clearly see the problem and know what you were doing and why you lost your peace of mind.
Sometimes frank conversations about a problem are needed. For example, parents, sisters and brothers, close friends, spouses are people who should accept you as anyone, which means they will listen if your own conscience tormented you.
If the loss of balance is caused by deeds or words that hurt another person, you need to ask his forgiveness. An accepted apology will be a real balm for a troubled soul.
Do not try to drown out such feelings or define them in a different way, attributing them to fatigue or nervousness. If you have the honor to admit what you have done to yourself, life will become much easier.
A tormenting act is not always equivalent to the sensations experienced by the perpetrator. For example, some greatly exaggerate what they have done - such a situation is well described in Anton Chekhov's short story "The Death of an Official". A person can simply bring himself to hysteria when there are no objective reasons for this.
The most effective is still a dialogue with an offended person. Remember that a frank apology is not a humiliation or an infringement of pride, but shows you as a highly moral and well-mannered person who can answer for his words and deeds.
Differences from honor
Honor, conscience, guilt, duty - this is just a short list of terms and states that are often identified. Honor and conscience are quite close concepts, but they have certain differences, and fundamental ones.
Lastly, we measure our own actions in relation to others. This is a kind of inner judge of all words and deeds that brought joy to someone, and grief to someone. In accordance with this, the soul becomes good and easy, otherwise the conscience torments.
Honor is the measure of behavior towards oneself. There is a stable expression: this is below my honor and dignity. This means that a person cannot act in a certain way without hurting his own feelings.
It is worth noting that honor imposes a much greater responsibility. Honor is a set of strict rules and principles in which a person is brought up from childhood. This does not mean putting yourself above others, on the contrary, it means knowing your place among people and treating yourself more strictly than others.
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What is conscience? An inner voice that dictates the right behavior, or a useless quality that prevents you from reaching new career heights? Why does a person need it? How to get rid of remorse and return to a normal lifestyle? How to be guided in order to cultivate a highly moral and ethical personality? ? Where is the invisible line between the concepts of "good" and "evil"? Why listen to the inner voice when the benefits "lie" on the surface? A set of questions that arise in people at a subconscious level. In search of answers, we often have to comprehend the unknown areas of our own soul, changing the worldview and correcting established principles.
Dealing with terminology, conscience is a "censor" psychological processes, with the help of which a person evaluates the scale of ongoing events. Guided by an inner voice, we can determine the appropriateness of our own actions, identifying the need for our help or detachment. Such a feeling becomes a kind of “stop tap” warning us of the danger of the upcoming situation. If you did wrong, then mental anguish, explained by remorse, is directed to the right path in an attempt to correct the already existing set of circumstances.
A person who has stolen someone else's thing will return the item only if he has a correctly formed conscience. Internal calls to change the state of affairs will help to change their minds, while maintaining their moral and moral character. People deprived of such a feeling will have pitch darkness in their souls, accompanied by.
Varieties of distorted sense of conscience
Conscience is not transmitted to a person on genetic level- it is acquired in childhood, based in the bowels of the soul in the process of education. If parents choose an incorrect model of behavior with their child, then the offspring automatically develops a worldview that does not correspond to generally accepted moral laws. In families where the father beats the mother, the kid in adulthood will not be tormented by the conscience associated with assault. On the subconscious of the child, an understanding will clearly form that such communication between a man and a woman is a classic format of relationships.
If you do not correct your own worldview in time, then a person becomes an immoral personality rejected by society. He will not be able to coexist harmoniously with such foundations with the outside world. It is not surprising that people brought up in dysfunctional families often have the concepts of “good” and “evil” shifted. There is only one explanation for such consequences - the moral and moral laws by which society lives were not instilled in children. Over time, a person whose subconscious mind has formed an incorrect model of society develops serious mental disorders, accompanied by. In the 21st century, there are four types of distorted conscience:
Misformed.
Such feelings are the objective result of an incorrect behavior model instilled in a child in childhood. For example, previously slave-owning relations between people were considered normal, so the rights to a person belonged to a high-ranking official or king. This format of communication in society was the standard, so boys and young girls were brought up based on this “pattern”. It is not surprising that the offspring soaked up their rank with their mother's milk, knowing their privileges and responsibilities. At the moment, the situation has changed dramatically, therefore, such a model of behavior is a manifestation of immoral qualities that do not comply with the laws of society.
Unfounded guilt.
An oppressive form of conscience, accompanied by internal spiritual tortures. There is such a feeling in the process of formation of a personal conflict, in which the generally accepted foundations and social laws do not correspond to the worldview of a person. For example, parents for a long time brought up in a child a model of relationships in which a man should build a family with a woman. The grown-up offspring realizes that he is sexually attracted to the same sex. Satisfying his own desires, he has to go against the opinion of mom and dad, violating established social "laws". It is not surprising that the result of such an act is the appearance of the baseless.
conservative conscience.
Unquestioning adherence to generally accepted laws is an inappropriate decision inherent in especially executive or responsible people. Rushing to a business meeting, they may not pay attention to a person who needs help. What to do in this situation? What principles to follow? A conservative conscience will insist on personal gain, explained by the importance of the upcoming interview. Based on moral and moral foundations, you need to stop and forget about your affairs if you are convinced of the need for your help.
Ignored or justified.
Remorse of conscience makes a person experience spiritual torment, during which the inner voice points out to him the wrongness of the act done. Such a state is invariably accompanied by a variety of forms of pessimistic thinking. Trying to hide from oppressive feeling guilt, people come up with ways to satisfy the "hunger" of their own conscience. Justifying your actions effective method allowing you to return to your normal life for a while. Ignoring the internal "call" of justice is another popular option that mentally ill people enjoy using. Violating the harmonious ratio of “good” and “evil” at his subconscious level, a person loses his moral and ethical qualities.
How to Suppress Your Conscience: Common Mistakes
The formation of a child's conscience directly depends on the upbringing of the parents and the immediate environment of the offspring - school friends or comrades in a sports club. Correcting a distorted behavior pattern, getting rid of mental anguish, is possible only with the help of the professional help of a practicing psychologist who will deal with the patient's internal ups and downs. However, it is never too late to start changing your own worldview on your own. In order to develop such a feeling in oneself, one must first of all abandon the typical excuses and excuses of unscrupulous people. Exclude from your personality the following common factors inherent in immoral and weak-willed characters:
Initially, change your social circle by ceasing to maintain relationships with unscrupulous comrades. The influence of friends greatly affects the formation of a personal image, so this procedure cannot be neglected. Regularly being in the company of immoral friends, you risk adopting a complex of immoral qualities. In this situation, it is important to rationally approach the solution of the problem, giving an objective description of each friend.
Stop making excuses for yourself historical events. People who imprinted their names on world events were invariably distinguished by a set of others. personal qualities. Napoleon, who declared war on his father-in-law, was made a great but bloody emperor not by this act, but by his ingenuity and developed strategic thinking. Aristotle, who betrayed his teacher Plato, was helped to make discoveries not by this immoral act, but by a flexible mind and quick wit. Don't look up to historical figures who lacked a conscience is an inappropriate solution.
Stop covering up your own misdeeds with alternatives recognized by society in other countries of the world. A husband who has cheated on his chosen one should not explain himself to his wife, guided by the privileges of polygamy in Islam. When deceiving a friend or comrade, do not refer to the Buddhists, who place the personal desires and requirements of a person at the center of religion. It is important to realize that you are in a society with well-established laws, so the moral and moral character must meet precisely such standards.
Do not justify your inaction or shameless behavior, hiding behind good intentions. You can't help the kids in the orphanage by buying toys with the money you stole from pensioners' savings books. Women will not be able to build a full-fledged relationship by taking a man away from a family where the child is bored without the attention of his father. Pure thoughts are distinguished by the transparency of actions, under which there should be no unpleasant background.
Stop abusing drugs and tobacco products, drowning out the feeling of guilt in a glass of alcohol. Such drugs and substances help to satisfy the "hunger" of conscience only for a while. As a result, you will either have to sleep or learn to deal with emerging remorse. You cannot get rid of the internal conflict with the help of external factors - only the recognition of your own will help correct the current situation.
Stop self-flagellation, trying to make amends for your misdeeds before society. If you are sincerely aware of the scale of guilt, then you will prefer one action to a thousand words. Help the children in the orphanage by spending your own savings on toys and warm clothes. An unpleasant situation can only be redeemed by positive deeds and good deeds.
Conscience is a kind of thing that helps to cope with negative energy and bad thoughts. In important periods of life, highly moral and moral people can count on the support and useful recommendations of their inner voice, guided by their own desires within socially acceptable boundaries. The main thing is to learn how to manage your thoughts in order to eliminate the risk of unpleasant situations. If a person can control his emotional condition, keeping calm even in stressful cases, then there are significantly more options for a positive outcome of events.
The presence of a conscience that helps in difficult moments of life to choose the right path is a way to get rid of negative emotions and self-torture, finding peace. Coexisting in harmony with your thoughts, you will be able to rationally assess the events taking place in the world around you, choosing the optimal model of behavior. If you do not think about your moral and moral character in time, then you can significantly spoil relations with loved ones, being in conflict with generally accepted foundations and social standards.
March 23, 2014, 04:44 PMEven 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 laws natural selection and the struggle for existence, acting, according to Charles Darwin, in nature, extend to human society): "I free a person from a degrading chimera, which is called conscience." And 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 the Almighty, Who knows exactly the essence of spiritual phenomena, can reveal it to people. The following is a Jewish view of what is called "conscience." This view is based on the Tradition that Moshe Rabbeinu received from the Lord of the World at Mount Sinai.
The word matspun ("conscience") in "modern" Hebrew and in ancient Hebrew
In modern Hebrew, conscience is called matspun - from the word tsafun - "hidden", because the voice of conscience is internal, hidden deep in the mind of a person. In addition, the word matspun is associated with the word matspen (“compass”), because, like a compass, conscience shows a person the direction in which he should go.
But in ancient Hebrew, conscience is called musar klayot, literally "torment of the kidneys."
In the article “What does Judaism say about the “heart”? We wrote that each organ of the body, in addition to the physiological one, has a spiritual function. The Talmud (Tractate Berakhot 61a) says that the spiritual function of the kidneys is to show (“advise”) a person on a straight path. So it is said in Gmara: "The kidneys advise."
This function is similar to the physiological function of the kidneys - to separate the useful from the harmful, to remove the harmful (primarily the excretion of urine). So their spiritual function is to separate the good path from the bad.
Source of expression musar klayot
This expression goes back to the words of King David in the book Tehilim (16, 7): “I will bless the Lord, Who advised me, and at night my kidneys instructed (tormented) me.” “My kidneys instructed (tormented) me” - yisruni hilyotai. Malbim explains this verse as follows: although every person is endowed with freedom of choice and is free to do good or evil, the Almighty does not leave a person completely during the exercise of freedom of choice. Out of love for His creatures, He helps them to be saved from sin. This help is provided in two ways: 1) the Almighty gave the Torah, in which we find advice on how to overcome a bad desire and be saved from it; 2) the Almighty put into the human soul a moral feeling called “conscience”; it torments a person when he goes the wrong way, and keeps from sin.
For this help, King David blesses the Almighty, saying: “I will bless the Lord Who advised me ...” - The Almighty gave us His Torah, which “advises” us how to be saved from evil striving. Then King David continues: “... and at night my kidneys instructed (tormented) me” - the Almighty placed kidneys (conscience) inside a person, which torment him and keep him from doing bad deeds.
This is also mentioned in the book of Job (33, 15-16): “In a dream at night, when sleep falls on people, during slumber on a bed. Then He opens the ear of the people and seals His admonitions (mozaram)."
Malbim explains: in a dream and in a vision, the Almighty “opens the ear of people”, informing them of the decree of Heaven, “and seals His edifications (mozaram)”, i.e. the moral (musari) force imprinted in the soul (conscience) prompts a person to listen to sleep and evaluate his actions.
Conscience as a Path to Repentance
Rav Kook in his book Orot HaTeshuvah lists three main paths to repentance. One of these paths he calls Musar Qlayot (i.e., conscience, as we saw above).
Rav Kook writes: “More internal is natural repentance, mental and spiritual, what is called musar klayot. The nature of the human soul is to follow the straight path. And when [a person] goes astray and falls into sin, if his soul has not yet been completely corrupted, this feeling of [lost] straightness saddens his heart, and it languishes and hurts, and the person hurries to correct what he has corrupted until he feels that his sin is blotted out. This path of repentance is much more complicated, it depends on many conditions, internal and external, and several possible mistakes lie in wait on it, which should be guarded against. But in any case, this is one of the foundations on which repentance rests. (On possible errors, see below "The ability to ignore the voice of conscience").
Source of the voice of conscience
As we wrote, the source of the voice of conscience is the initially good nature of man (as it is said in Kohelet 7, 29: “... created Gd of man direct"). When a person deviates from direct way, in the depths of his heart he feels this and suffers, regrets that he did this. This feeling of suffering is called "pangs of conscience."
Pangs of conscience mentioned in the Tanakh
The book of the prophet Samuel tells of two cases when King David experienced pangs of conscience. In both cases, these torments are called “pain (beating!) of the heart” - hakaat a-lev, because remorse is perceived by a person as pain in the heart.
Pangs of conscience mentioned in the Talmud
The treatise Gitin (57b) speaks of Nevuzaradan, the commander of Nebuchadnetzar: when he captured Jerusalem, he saw blood on one of the streets of Jerusalem, which did not stop boiling. It was the blood of the prophet Zharya, whom the Jews killed because he denounced them. His blood boiled for many years and could not "calm down".
Nevuzaradan decided to "calm down" the blood. To do this, he brought members of the Sanhedrin there and slaughtered them - in the hope that now the blood of the prophet would stop boiling. This, however, did not happen. Nevuzaradan brought young men, girls and small children, executed them too, but the blood did not stop boiling. Nevuzaradan said: “Zkharya, Zkharya, I killed the best of your people, do you want me to kill them all?” After these words, the blood of the prophet stopped boiling.
The Talmud tells that at that moment Nevuzaradan experienced pangs of conscience. He thought: “Well, if for one soul (of the prophet Zkharya) this is so (such a punishment is due - the death of so many Jews), then I, who killed all these souls (all these people), how many times more punishment is due? He repented of what he had done, left the army and accepted the Jews.
The need to listen to the voice of conscience
King Solomon says in the book of Mishlei: “Deep waters are advice in the heart of a man, but a wise man will draw it out” (20, 5). The author Hovot HaLevavot explains: “Wisdom is hidden in the history of a person’s life, in his nature, in the power of his knowledge, like water is hidden in the bowels of the earth. And a reasonable, understanding one will try to find those particles of wisdom that are hidden in him, in order to open it, see it and draw it from his heart, as one draws water from the depths of the earth ”(Preface).
When does a person hear the voice of conscience?
As follows from the verses of the Tanakh given above, the conscience begins its work, mainly after the action has already been completed, and not during the action itself, because. during the performance of an action, a person is too busy to listen to her voice.
And in the story of Nevuzaradan we see: he did not feel remorse before the blood of the prophet ceased to boil. Before that, he simply had not had time to think about what was happening. All the time he tried to "calm" the blood of the prophet, he could not hear the voices of his conscience.
From the Teilim verse (16, 7) “... and my kidneys instructed (tormented) me at night” follows: pangs of conscience usually come at night. For the same reason: at this time a person is not busy, he has time to listen to the voice of conscience.
Taking time to “listen” to the voice of conscience
Since a person is able to listen to the voice of conscience when he is not busy, it is very important to take some time during each day to evaluate your actions and listen to the voice of conscience. The need to allocate special time for this is described in detail in the book of Ramchal Mesilat Yesharim (parts 4, 5).
Conscience points the right way
As we have seen, the inner voice warns us against bad deeds and makes us repent when we have already committed them. In addition, one who knows how to listen to him can find out which path is the right one. In Midrash Bereishit Rabbah (95, 3), the sages conclude: the forefather Abraham kept all the commandments of the Torah before it was given on Mount Sinai. The Midrash asks: "Where did Abraham learn the Torah?" And he answers: “His kidneys (meaning conscience, see above) were the source of his knowledge.”
But over the centuries, only a few have been able to listen to their inner voice enough to understand what the right path is. In Rejoice of Youth (Part 2), Rav Avigdor Miller writes: “Man's mind was more reliable when the world was young. The impressive mass of false views that exist in the world today did not exist then. Then people were more able to find the truth on their own, with the help of their own reflections. Their own consciousness could tell them what was true and what was false. Therefore, the generations that lived before the giving of the Torah are considered responsible for actions that were not yet prohibited by the Almighty (Rav Nissim Gaon in the preface to the treatise Brachot). Today, false views are so established that they can suppress the voice of reason.
Opportunity to ignore the voice of conscience
There is no person who does not have and never had a conscience. Everyone is born with some measure of conscience. However, conscience can be killed. Rav Chaim Friedlander writes in the book of Siftei Chaim:
“Man is created with inner feelings called conscience, and he performs his actions in accordance with conscience. And when he fails in committing a sin, his conscience cries out from within to make amends, repent and bring his actions in line with his own. inner world. But, of course, you need an ear that can hear the cry of conscience. A person can also ignore or muffle this cry, but, in any case, when he commits a sin for the first time, his conscience screams and torments him, and demands to repent. But if a person ignores her cry, he will no longer feel how his conscience torments him and prompts him to repent. And if he repeats his sin, then this time the sin will kill his conscience. From this moment on, conscience does not scream and does not prompt. Conscience no longer requires anything from him, it is already dead.
It is said in the Talmud (Kiddushin 20a): "If a person does not listen to the voice of conscience, G-d punishes him with torment." Rav Chaim explains this saying in this way: “While the conscience is still alive in a person, there is hope that correction will come from within: the ear will be able to hear, and then the person will wake up and repent, bring his deeds in line with his inner world. In this case, hope is not lost. But if a person continues to sin and a second disaster comes to him - he repeats the same sin - then this sin already appears to him as a permitted action. From now on, he will no longer be able to hear the cry of his conscience. The only possibility is “until he receives another calamity”, i.e. it may happen that the events of the outer world - calamities and torments - will prompt him to repentance, and he will repent because of calamities and torments that will shock him and make him think about what he is doing.
Usually, a person’s conscience torments when he feels that he has committed some act that does not suit him. That is why the wise men said (Pirkei Avot 12:13): "Do not be a sinner in your own eyes." Rambam explains: if a person values himself low, he will not be afraid to commit meanness.
And in another situation, a person does not feel remorse for committing a sin. This happens when he is completely unaware that his actions are bad. For example, there are people for whom gossiping about someone does not seem to be a sin at all. But the Torah refers to slander as one of the most serious sins, which, in a certain sense, is equated with murder, adultery and idolatry.
The yetzer ha-ra (bad inclination) has a very formidable weapon in the war with conscience. This weapon is called "separation". It works like this: usually people are afraid to steal, but sometimes they allow themselves to ride a bus like a hare, convincing themselves that this is not theft at all. Yetzer ha-ra often convinces a person that what he wants to do is not at all the immoral act that he is so afraid to commit.
From what has been said above, it follows that it is not enough to be guided by the voice of conscience in all matters, because it is so easy to kill or deceive. A person who wants to follow the straight path must listen to the voice of the Creator, Who tells him which actions are good and which are evil. And you can hear it only through the study of the Torah.
Without fear of Heaven, conscience is not strong enough
The weekly chapter of Vayer (Bereishit 20) says: when the forefather Abraham was in Grar, he did not want to reveal to the inhabitants there that Sarah was his wife. He was afraid that one of them would want to take her as his wife and for this they would kill him. That's why he said that Sarah is his sister. Abimelech, seeing the beauty of Sarah, wished to take her as his wife and ordered the servants to deliver her to the palace. But at night in a dream, the Almighty revealed to Abimelech that Sarah was the wife of Abraham, and warned him: if he touches Sarah, he will die. Early in the morning, Abimelech called Abraham and asked him, “What did you mean (literally, what did you see?) when you did this deed?” (verse 10). Malbim clarifies Abimelech's question: why were you afraid that you would be killed in order to take Sarah? “Have you seen that the people of my kingdom shed blood or take wives from their husbands?” We are a cultural state, we have many philosophers, enlightened people, we all have a conscience. Why are you afraid that someone will treat you so disgustingly?
Abraham answers this (verse 11): "Because I thought that there was no fear of God at all in this place, and they would kill me because of my wife." Malbim explains: “[Abraham] said to him: even if a person or a people looks like a great philosopher, and established direct customs for himself, and accustomed himself to good qualities according to his own understanding, and does justice and mercy - all according to his own understanding. With all this, we cannot rely that at the moment when this person or people are tempted by his desire to do an evil deed, his mind will be stronger than his desire. On the contrary: when the fire of lust for a beautiful woman or the wealth of his neighbor lights up in him, and there is no prying eyes around him, then his mind will succumb to deception and [justify] murder, and debauchery, and any other evil. There is only one power in a person’s soul that can be relied upon in such a case: it is the fear of the Almighty, rooted in the soul ... Because when a person’s soul is filled with fear of the Almighty, Who sees everything open and hidden in him and watches all his deeds, then even if the evil inclination prevails in him, he will be afraid and ashamed of the Great King, Who sees everything that he does. Then he will beware of doing evil ... And this is what Abraham answered him: “Since I thought - although I saw that your people have good properties, do justice and mercy, and did not see any vice in them, except for one - that there is no fear of the Almighty in this place. [Fear of Heaven can only be in people if they believe that the Almighty is watching everyone, sees, knows and watches everything that happens. There can be no fear of God for those who believe that the world has always existed and is governed by the laws of nature]. And they will kill me because of my wife. I cannot rely on them at the moment when they see a beautiful woman and the fire of lust burns in them. Then they will not be able to overcome their evil inclination and will kill me, because they are not afraid of the Almighty, and only reason (i.e., human conscience) and reasonable customs will not resist the power of lust.”
Indeed, everyone can recall examples: many people who are considered great philosophers, despite all the beautiful speeches, treat others badly, especially when something prevents the fulfillment of their desires.
They talk about the great Aristotle. He was somehow caught committing an unseemly act and asked: how can it be that a person of his level acted in such a way? The philosopher replied: "Now I am not Aristotle."
Fear of Heaven helps a person always listen to the voice of conscience
In contrast, a person who has a fear of Heaven most often listens to the voice of conscience and does not lower the level, because. always remembers that the Almighty - "the whole earth is full of His Glory!" (Yeshaya 6, 3) - sees all his deeds. Rav Dov Yafe writes in his book Levadha be-Emet: “I have been honored many times to visit the great Rav Yitzhak Hunter, blessed is the memory of the righteous. And I can testify that he was always the great Rav Yitzhak Hunter, always with the same wisdom and dignity and with the same absolute self-control.
Conclusion
Conscience is an inner voice that the Almighty "embedded" in a person so that he can correct his actions. But a person does not always listen to this voice. Whoever wants to be guided by his conscience must follow three rules:
Then the paths of man will be straight.
Most people have some kind of internal censor that helps them distinguish between the positive and negative aspects of life. It is important to learn to listen to the voice within yourself and follow its advice, and then it will serve as a guide to a happy future.
What does conscience mean?
There are several definitions of this concept: for example, conscience is considered the ability to independently identify their own duties of self-control and evaluate committed actions. Psychologists, explaining what conscience is in their own words, give the following definition: it is an internal quality that gives a chance to understand how well a person is aware of his own responsibility for a committed act.
To define what conscience is, it is necessary to note the fact that it is divided into two kinds. The first includes actions that a person performs, having a certain moral background. The second type implies the emotions that an individual experiences as a result of certain actions, for example,. There are people who, even after doing bad things, do not worry at all and in such a situation they say that the inner voice is sleeping.
What is conscience according to Freud?
A well-known psychologist believes that every person has a superego, which consists of conscience and an ego-ideal. The first develops as a result of parental education and the use of various punishments. According to Freud, conscience includes the ability to self-criticism, the presence of certain moral prohibitions and the appearance of guilt. As for the second leaving - the ego-ideal, it arises as a result of the approval and positive evaluation of actions. Freud believes that the superego was fully developed when parental control gave way to self-control.
Types of conscience
This fact may surprise many, but there are several types of this inner quality. The first type is personal conscience, which is narrowly focused. With its help, a person determines what is good and what is bad. The next concept of collective conscience covers the interests and actions of those who are not affected by the personal type. It has limitations because it concerns only people belonging to a particular group. The third type - spiritual conscience does not take into account the limitations of the above types.
What is conscience for?
Many at least once in their lives asked this question, and so, if there were no inner voice, then a person would not distinguish which actions are good and which are bad. Without internal control, for a correct life, one would have to have an assistant who would guide, give advice and help to draw the right conclusions. Another important point regarding why conscience is needed is that it helps a person to understand life, get the right guideline and realize himself. It is worth saying that it cannot be separated from morality and morality.
What does it mean to live according to conscience?
Unfortunately, not all people can boast that they live by the rules, forgetting about this quality and thereby betraying themselves. Thanks to this inner quality, a person performs certain actions, understanding what is good and what is bad, and also knows such concepts as justice and morality. A person who lives according to the convictions of conscience is able to live in truth and in love. For him, qualities such as deceit, betrayal, insincerity, and so on are unacceptable.
If you live by the rules, then you need to listen to your own soul, which will allow you to choose the right direction in life. In this case, a person will not commit actions for which he will later feel shame and guilt. To understand what a clear conscience is, it is worth noting that in modern world finding people with this trait is not easy, because in life there are many situations and temptations when you just cross the line. The formation of this quality is directly influenced by the upbringing of parents and the close environment from which the child can take an example.
Why do people act out of conscience?
name modern life simple, it is impossible, because almost every day a person encounters various temptations and problems. Although many people know how to act according to their conscience, sometimes people cross the line. The reason why the conscience disappeared is of a cause-and-effect nature. In most cases, a person transcends his own beliefs in order to satisfy his ambitions. Selfish goals, the desire not to stand out from the crowd, to protect themselves from the attacks of others, and so on, can also push for this.
What is a calm conscience?
When a person lives according to the rules, realizes the righteousness of fulfilling his own duties and does not harm anyone with his actions, then they talk about such a thing as a “calm” or “pure” conscience. In this case, the individual does not feel or does not know for himself any bad deeds. If a person chooses to live according to conscience, then he must always take into account not only his own situation, but also the opinion and condition of others. Psychologists believe that confidence in the purity of one's conscience is hypocrisy or indicates blindness in relation to one's own mistakes.
What is a bad conscience?
The exact opposite of the previous definition, since an unclean conscience is an unpleasant feeling that arose as a result of committing a bad deed, which causes a bad mood and feelings. An unclean conscience is very close to such a concept as guilt, and a person feels it at the level of emotions, for example, in the form of fear, anxiety and other discomfort. As a result, a person worries and suffers from various issues within himself, and by listening to the inner voice, the negative consequences are compensated.
What is pangs of conscience?
By doing bad deeds, a person begins to worry about the fact that he has harmed others. Pangs of conscience - a feeling of discomfort that appears due to the fact that people often make excessive demands on themselves that do not correspond to their essence. The right inner qualities are brought up in childhood, when parents praise for the good, and scold for the bad. As a result, a certain fear of being punished for committed unclean deeds remains in a person for life, and in such a situation they say that the conscience is tormented.
There is another version, according to which conscience is a kind of tool that measures the true measure of things. For the right decisions, a person receives satisfaction, and for bad ones he is tormented by guilt. It is believed that if people do not experience such discomfort at all, then this. Scientists have not yet been able to determine why there may be no feeling of shame and guilt, so there is an opinion that everything is to blame wrong upbringing or biological factors.
What to do if your conscience hurts?
It is difficult to meet a person who could confirm that he never did bad deeds contrary to his beliefs. Guilt can spoil the mood, prevent you from enjoying life, developing, and so on. There are cases when an adult has become more principled in the case of morality, and then the mistakes of the past begin to emerge in memory, and then problems with one’s own soul cannot be avoided. There are some tips on what to do if your conscience is tormented.
How to develop conscience in a person?
Parents should certainly think about how to educate good man who will know what conscience is and how to use it correctly. There are many styles of parenting, and if we talk about extremes, then this is rigidity and complete permissiveness. The process of forming important internal qualities is based on complete trust in parents. Great importance has an explanation stage, when adults convey to the child why something can be done, but something cannot.
If adults are interested in how to develop conscience, then here the principle of action is slightly different. First you need to think and analyze which decisions are good and which are bad. It is worth determining their cause and effect. In order to understand what conscience is and how to develop this quality in oneself, psychologists recommend doing at least one positive act every day, for which it is important to praise yourself.
Make a rule for yourself - before making a promise, think carefully about whether it will be possible to fulfill it. In order not to be tormented by guilt, it is important to keep this word. Experts advise learning to refuse people who offer to do something contrary to existing beliefs. Acting according to conscience does not mean doing everything only for others, forgetting about your own life principles and priorities. By acting in truth, one can count on obtaining a result that will satisfy all participants.
"Do you have a conscience or not?" - Angry mothers shout to children. It turns out that science has long found the answer to this question. Psychologists not only found out at what age this quality arises in a person, but also determined when a personality begins to form.
In the genre of children's photography, there is no acting, only sincere emotions. The result is determined not by the professionalism of the model, but by the trust won by the photographer. Portrait of a girl made by Anna Azbel
When does something appear in a person that distinguishes him from animals and from other people? It was possible to find out this in the 1970s in the USSR in the course of very simple experiments. A room, in the middle of the room there is a chair, on it, dangling its legs, sits a baby of three years old and carefully looks at the candy, which lies at a decent distance from him. A tall, thin brunette explains to the kid that his task is to get a candy without getting up from his chair. The child nods his head, begins to fidget and stretch out his arms, trying to grab the "prey", but the chair is obviously too far away. The man follows the baby's efforts for some time, and then leaves the room, allegedly on business. Left alone, the boy immediately jumps off the chair and takes the candy. The returned experimenter - and we are watching one of the classic psychological experiments - praises the child and gives him a second candy, which immediately goes into his mouth, and the happy baby goes home.
The next to sit on the chair is a boy of five years old. The scientist gives him the same task and goes out into the corridor. Like the three-year-old, the older subject jumps up from the chair and takes the candy. But then something strange happens. When the experimenter praises him, the boy looks away, and refuses the second candy offered as a reward for the completed test. The man insists, and eventually the child begins to sob, as if a sweet candy has suddenly become bitter.
A tall man who subjected children to irresistible temptations is the outstanding Soviet psychologist Alexei Leontiev. And his experiments with sweets are a clear demonstration of the birth of conscience and personality as a whole. A three-year-old kid obeys only biological motives: he sees a delicious candy, wants to eat it and does everything possible for this. The five-year-old also wants to eat candy and, following the biological call, breaks the rules, that is, the social motive to obey the adult. It is the subordination of biological motives to social ones and the conflict caused by this, according to Leontiev, that is main feature personality formation. How older child, the stronger the “vertical of power” of social motives over biological ones. For example, already seven-year-old children most often do not violate the instructions and patiently sit on a chair until the experimenter returns.
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PARADOX Conscience in exchange for freedom In many situations, it is more profitable to betray than to act honestly. For example, in the prisoner's dilemma, beloved by researchers. Its essence is this: you and your accomplice decided to rob a bank and got caught. The police have seated you in different cells and offer a deal: if your accomplice is silent, and you testify against him, then you will be released, and he will receive 10 years in prison. If an accomplice also testifies against you, both of you will go to jail for two years. If you and your accomplice refuse to testify against each other, the police will let you both go after 6 months. Most rationally choose the option "betray" - and end up in a worse position than if they acted in good conscience. The prisoner's dilemma is realized in real world: it is on it that the arms race or the unwillingness of countries to reduce CO 2 emissions is based, although they all agree that the increase in its concentration in the atmosphere threatens with catastrophic consequences for the planet. |
That is, conscience is an alarm that turns on when biological motives take over. It would seem that small indulgences will not bring harm, but in fact they are fraught with a revolution in the hierarchy of motives, which in the end will destroy the personality. By forcing us to experience physical suffering, conscience saves the personality from collapse.
But conscience alone and the ability to subordinate biological motives to social ones are not enough for a person to be considered complete. Leontiev believed that it is finally formed in adolescence, when a person not only obeys social and moral motives, but also realizes his own motives and independently builds their hierarchy.
Photo: Anna Azbel
Illustrations: Vladimir Kapustin
