CONSCIENCE.
Each person sits with it. Alone.
It is a witness and an accuser.
It is a voice, a call.
Origen believed it is the “chamber of justice.”
Karl Barth thought it is the “perfect interpreter of life.”
In Hamlet, Shakespeare warns that
“conscience makes a coward of us all.”
Gandhi wrote that “there is a higher court than the courts of justice
and it is the court of conscience.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. preached that “cowardice asks the question:
Is it safe?
Expedience asks the question: is it politic?
Vanity asks the question: is it popular?
Conscience can keep you awake, introducing you
to a “dark night of the soul,”
demanding an honest search for the truth.
Conscience asks the question: is it right?”
Conscience is a struggle and can bring inner peace and serenity—
the thoughtful solution to a dilemma.
You pray: ‘What should I do?
You meditate.
You seek direction from a community you trust.
But ultimately . . . most importantly . . . you answer alone.
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