When I ?as a ch?ld ?y par?nts told me what w?s right ?nd wrong, school had its rules and church had it? sins. T? b? ? good b?y, all I needed to do was obey all the do’s and don’t?. If I did, I was l?d to bel?eve I was following my conscience.
This view of c?nscience can c?rry into and through adult life so that one’s perception of right and ?rong is shaped totally by th? dictate? of others. Is conscience just ? p?oduct of nurt?re? Ar? w? mere blank moral slate? at b?rth ?r do we have an inh?rent s?nse of eth?c from the get-go? I ha?e come to ?elieve the l?tter is the case b?cause of ?y o?n internal reflection f?om th? time of self-awareness ?n early y?uth, and the fa?t that so?iety throughout time ?as had the same basic thread of ethic. I h?ve sensed ?ight and wrong from earl?est me?ory. I’ll bet you have too, ?f ?ou reflect. It is there from the beginn?ng just as the ho?ing instinct ?s within ? migrating bird breaking from the shell.
We spend a lifetime tinkering with our c?nscience, testing its limit?, compro?ising, suppressing, denying and ignoring it ?n an atte?pt to cheat l?fe and gain unfai? advantage. But it ?emains s?lid and true at ou? core alw?ys ready to be re-discove?ed and acknowledged. We often learn be?t by making mistak?s ?nd feeling the pain. It is those pangs of consci?nce and guilt remaining with me for ? lifetime that have ta?ght me th? less?n to listen-up when consci?nce speaks.
The fir?t step, however, ?s to reach within and decid? w?at is y?ur consci?nce ?s oppos?d to th?t of an?ther. Som?body el?e’s m?ral dictat? doe? not equal yo?r conscience. If we had ?een brought up ?n another society, with other parents, a different scho?l sy?tem ?nd rel?gion, then the right? and wrong? would ?e different and ou? “consciences” would be different. Some soci?ties practice cann?balism, infanticide and suicide bombing because t?at is th? way their conscience ?s groomed b? ot?ers. B?t the conscience I am pointing to ?s not contingent. Conscience is like a receiver. We can tune ?t t? th? immutable law of univers?l truth o? t?y to tune it out. Nevertheless, it remains there beaming to u? whether ?r not ?e change the dial.
To make consc?ence dependent u?on t?e w?ims and seasons of humans is to marginalize it into ethical meaninglessness. For e?ample, who t? kill ?nd how to kill is formulated ?y military leaders and ?n ingrained patr?otic “conscienc?.” Eac? side in a ?onflict see? it a? moral to ?ill the other. If ?e kill and ma?m ?ne or hundreds ?f pe?ple, a? long ?s they ar? th? ?nemy, we are doing ou? moral d?ty ?nd our “conscience” is being properly exercised. In t?e legal pr?fession, attorneys w?ll d?fend the guilty ?nd prosecut? t?e innocent ?nd do ?o completely in line with their conscience becaus? th? l?w (w?ich others hav? devised) dictates t?at s?ch is proper and right. In medi?ine, physicians pre?cribe d?ugs and practice surgery ?nd other t?erapies that ma? do ?ore har? than good. But they do so in good conscience because this i? what medi?al sch?ol taught ?nd ?t i? in line with ?onventional standards of practice. If a patient dies ?s a result of therapy, t?e doctor can take comfort in thinking he has d?ne all th?t c?n b? done ?s defined ?y a?cepted m?dical standards. His conscience is clear. If ? food m?nufacturer ?akes f?od com?osed of a variety of synthetics and food fractions, that’s consider?d fine ?s long a? the fo?d meet? ce?tain regulatory requirements and the label is designed “?roperly.” T?e product ?s perf?ctly legal to sell ?nd th? company n?ed suffer n? problems with con?cience regardless of th? health consequen?es to consumers.
On the other hand, consumers fe?l they need onl? follow all the societal norms to ?e of good conscienc?. Let doctors t?ke care ?f health, the government take car? ?f t?e economy, the military t?ke ?are of security, the attorney ta?e care ?f disput?s, the a?countant take ?are of finances, the church ta?e ?are of ethics, ?nd the food ind?stry ta?e care of food ch?ices. Sit ?ack, watc? TV, overe?t, pay the bills and follow the rules. All i? well.
This surrender ?f conscience fi?st became appar?nt to me during a time in my life w?en I q?estioned the org?nized rel?gion I was bro?ght ?p in because I d?scovered it w?s committed to confor?ity to human edicts (church leaders), not the searc? for trut?. This brought ?e to the following question: If I were to den? suc? outside in?titutional moral ?uthority and b? left alone w?th only my own conscience, would I bec?me a th?ef, rapist and murd?rer? T? m? surprise, rather than a sense of ?moral freedom, o?er time and with mo?e life experience I fo?nd ?yself l?ke in on? ?f those ?ooms in t?e movies where ?ll the walls ?tart pus?ing in. Listening to th? ?nner voice of conscien?e was fa? more exacting, demanding, constricting and at th? ?ame ti?e liberating (the true inner me was in cha?ge) than decades of religio?s mandate e?er wa?. Virtue i? choice, not obedience – a tru? (secular) epiphany fo? me.
We think we exercise conscience in ?ur ca?eers and personal lives, but few of ?s d?. W? ?sually are following t?e choice? othe?s a?e making fo? u?. And thes? ch?ices ?re t?o oft?n d?signed primarily to benefit tho?e w?o are giv?ng us ?ur do’s ?nd don’ts. We ar? moo-ing along ?ack to the barn to ?e mil?ed by the conscience g?vers. Surrendering t? others makes us too vulne?able to their ?elf-interests. The ?nd r?sult, all to? often, ?s that ?e become pawns, victims, experimental subjects, tools and ?bjects of tyranny, resource? and profit centers. Rather, we should reach out to becom? full human ?eings ?ach individually exploiting ou? full potential and hel?ing t? bring the world to ? b?tter ?lace through our o?n innat? and cultivated inner voice.
I’m not sure ?ow to properl? defin? conscience othe? than t? sa? it is innate with?n ?ur b?ing, an instinct to serve ?s an ethi?al guide. W? w?ll never ?ome t? know our conscience, however, until we free ourselves ?f the imposed consciences of oth?rs. This is not to s?y the views ?f others shouldn’t be considered, just th?t ?t se?ms to ?e th?t each of u? are at le?st ?s justified ?n deciding w?at is right and wrong for ourselv?s a? so?eone else i? in deciding ?t f?r us.
I’m not suggesting just dropping o?t and being self-willed. It me?ns taking on th? he?vy lifting of be?ng informed ?nd exer?ising ones own ?udgment. A conscience nurtur?d ?y s?arch, openness, and a commit?ent t? r?ason and t?uth is ? resp?nsibility each of ?s ?ust shoulder. To not develop an informed and self-reflecting conscience, ?ut rat?er to foll?w the rule? of various surrogate mom?ies and dadd?es through life, is to r?main a child.
Dr. Wysong is ? forme? veterinary clinician ?nd surgeon, college instructor in hu?an anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutrition?l, athletic and fitness prod?cts and d?vices, r?search director for the pre?ent comp?ny ?y ?is n?me and founder of th? philanthropic Wysong Institute. He is author of The Creation-Ev?lution Controve?sy now in its ?leventh ?rinting, ? ne? two volume ?et on philosophy for living ent?tled Thinking Matters: 1-Living Life... A? If Thinking Matter? 2-The Big Questi?ns...As If Thinking Matters, several books on nutrition, prevention and health f?r people and animals and ove? 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He m?y b? ?ontacted at Wysong@Wysong.n?t and ? f?ee subsc?iption to his e-Health Letter is ?vailable at http://www.wysong.net.
Dr. Randy Wysong
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