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Today's
quotation:
To me,
the essence of keeping the soul nourished is obedience to
one's conscience. I don't think that the soul can
be nourished unless people have a strong sense of
conscience that they have educated and developed and
soaked in the universal and timeless principles of
integrity and service. This way, the individual's
soul becomes part of the universal soul of service,
contribution, and making a difference.
Stephen
R. Covey
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Today's
Meditation:
What
is my conscience? Some call it the "still,
small voice within." Others say that it's the
voice of God inside of us, that's supposed to keep us on
track. Some say that we all have a conscience, while
others say that some of us may not have them, which might
explain deviant criminal behavior. I know that I
have one, though I couldn't explain to you exactly what it
is.
What
I like most about Covey's passage is the focus on the idea that
people can educate and develop their consciences.
That's something that I'd truly like to do, for I know
that my conscience lets me down sometimes--or rather, that
I don't listen to my conscience at times. I don't
know why I ignore it--perhaps I don't trust it
completely? Perhaps I'm afraid that if I follow my
conscience, I'm going to miss out on something important
and/or enjoyable.
Maybe
the question that I have to explore is how to educate and
train my conscious mind to trust the conscience, no matter
what. Maybe the best thing that I can do for myself
is to learn to keep in mind the fact that my conscience truly
is an important part of who I am, and that I should do my
best always to listen to it and trust it, rather than
rationalizing and coming up with reasons not to heed what
it's telling me. After all, it is a part of who I
am, and not paying heed to my conscience is, in theory,
not paying attention to a higher part of myself, even if I
don't understand exactly what it is.
I
do need to train my conscience, and I need to make sure
that it doesn't hold on to thoughts and ideas that are
based on ways that I used to think, and things that I used
to believe. But I also need to be sure that my
conscience isn't just a lonely voice in the wilderness of
my mind, but a wise friend who is an important part of who
I am.
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