How to Get a Conscience
Use reason as your conscience if you don’t feel an immediate gut reaction., Think about the values and behaviour of people you do and don’t respect., Educate yourself by reading about people who lived conscience-guided lives., Study some unexpected...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Use reason as your conscience if you don’t feel an immediate gut reaction.
You can get a quick bearing if something is right or wrong by asking: "How would that make me feel?" Treating others as you would like to be treated is the golden rule of humanity.
It is shared by religions, philosophers, humanists and atheists alike and has been expressed by every culture in history:
Buddhism: “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Hinduism: “Do not do to others what would cause pain to you.” Ancient Greece (Aristotle): “Conduct ourselves towards others as we would have them act toward us.” Applying this rule triggers your conscience to consider if you could be more helpful, listen to others and treat people with more respect.
Read up on ways that you can live the golden rule. -
Step 2: Think about the values and behaviour of people you do and don’t respect.
Focus on how they treat others and if their words (what they say) and actions (what they do) match up to one another.
This will sharpen up your knowledge of right and wrong and provide positive and negative role models to learn from.
Some positive role models might be people who always keep their word, go out of their way to help, stand up for what is right, or are patient and kind.
Some negative role models might be people who lie, are unkind to others, or feel no remorse or concern when they hurt or upset others.
Be wary of people who show by their words or actions that they lack a conscience.
They are termed sociopaths and can be manipulative and dangerous.
If you know someone like this you can protect yourself by limiting your contact with them.
You can learn how to spot a sociopath here:, You can learn from famous examples such as Gandhi and also from daily news stories of ordinary people living in line with their conscience.
Gandhi famously called his conscience his “little voice within.” It enabled him to oppose injustice in the face of huge difficulty.The Abolitionists are another example of how a strong moral conscience can create change and right injustice.
They relied on their moral conscience to successfully end slavery.
Conscientious objectors oppose war due their religious, moral or ethical conscience.
At times of war they are in a tiny minority and their strong conscience is what enables them to maintain their beliefs in the face of huge opposition.
Reading about the atrocities and moral failings of the Holocaust shows how vital keeping a conscience is to protect people from harm. , Three such sources are fiction, films and reality television.
They are great practice at tuning up your conscience.
Each time you watch a storyline develop or see a character make a difficult choice you are getting a free lesson in how a person's conscience directs their actions. -
Step 3: Educate yourself by reading about people who lived conscience-guided lives.
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Step 4: Study some unexpected sources of inspiration.
Detailed Guide
You can get a quick bearing if something is right or wrong by asking: "How would that make me feel?" Treating others as you would like to be treated is the golden rule of humanity.
It is shared by religions, philosophers, humanists and atheists alike and has been expressed by every culture in history:
Buddhism: “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Hinduism: “Do not do to others what would cause pain to you.” Ancient Greece (Aristotle): “Conduct ourselves towards others as we would have them act toward us.” Applying this rule triggers your conscience to consider if you could be more helpful, listen to others and treat people with more respect.
Read up on ways that you can live the golden rule.
Focus on how they treat others and if their words (what they say) and actions (what they do) match up to one another.
This will sharpen up your knowledge of right and wrong and provide positive and negative role models to learn from.
Some positive role models might be people who always keep their word, go out of their way to help, stand up for what is right, or are patient and kind.
Some negative role models might be people who lie, are unkind to others, or feel no remorse or concern when they hurt or upset others.
Be wary of people who show by their words or actions that they lack a conscience.
They are termed sociopaths and can be manipulative and dangerous.
If you know someone like this you can protect yourself by limiting your contact with them.
You can learn how to spot a sociopath here:, You can learn from famous examples such as Gandhi and also from daily news stories of ordinary people living in line with their conscience.
Gandhi famously called his conscience his “little voice within.” It enabled him to oppose injustice in the face of huge difficulty.The Abolitionists are another example of how a strong moral conscience can create change and right injustice.
They relied on their moral conscience to successfully end slavery.
Conscientious objectors oppose war due their religious, moral or ethical conscience.
At times of war they are in a tiny minority and their strong conscience is what enables them to maintain their beliefs in the face of huge opposition.
Reading about the atrocities and moral failings of the Holocaust shows how vital keeping a conscience is to protect people from harm. , Three such sources are fiction, films and reality television.
They are great practice at tuning up your conscience.
Each time you watch a storyline develop or see a character make a difficult choice you are getting a free lesson in how a person's conscience directs their actions.
About the Author
Mark Freeman
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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