Conscience

We see a progression from conscience to morals to written laws. As we become more specific about the act, we become vague about the conditions. This makes it necessary to possess good judgment. A person of good character will be apt to apply good judgment when details present themselves. This is because the person is given to obeying his conscience. Right and wrong are found there but it becomes elusive to those who violate their conscience. We will go in detail about this later, but the point is that those we put in office or any leadership position must have good character to deal with particulars properly as they present themselves. Even among our associations we find that those who rely on preconceived notions and are self-righteous will also possess poor judgment. It brings inner peace to us when we have the ability to be just with our actions. That is where laws and morals fall short. They are based on violations and avoiding them has no value when it comes to being a good person. Goodness, peace and contentment come from within and not from obeying agreed upon standards. It is better to know what one is doing than to have the appearance of it.

Right and wrong do exist, but they exist in the arena of our conscience. Only we know the particulars such as our motives and intentions. When we hurt someone, we try to get the person to understand that part instead of the act alone. Those who are good at understanding each other in this way will have deeper relationships. This principle works in a community sense; as we understand, we can deal with people effectively and get along with each other. That is the meaning of grace: Making an effort to know what is really happening while keeping in sight of the goodness in others. 

We will find that there are people who defiantly disobey their conscience and those who want to obey it but are weak. The reasons for this vary and we will be getting into the subject a little at a time. First we will finish the section on justice in the book of Ethics. This has been a rabbit trail but I thought it important to explain why this study is valuable.