Morality & the Conscience.

The accumulation of our conscious thoughts and actions may influence who we become in the near to far future. It may even influence our offspring, and therefor future generations, contributing to the collective well-being and/or collapse of humanity itself. In this piece, I will argue that the morality of an individual has a tendency to exponentially grow or decay, depending on what micro and macro choices they make in their lives. I will also argue that the conscience is something we can choose to listen to or ignore. If we choose to listen to it, it remains pure and loud within the mind, and if we choose to ignore it, it will gradually disappear to the point where we can longer hear it, and therefor no longer can be guided by it. It may be true that morality has a level of subjectivity to it, but it is far more objective than we may like to believe. But whether we turn against a subjective moral or an objective one, the consequence is essentially the same, with our moral framework breaking down gradually, and sometimes instantly, where a “psychological hell” may be a well-suited metaphor for where we end up.

For a moment, let’s conceptualise the conscience as the part of the mind or soul that governs all compassion, empathy and love. It is the part of our consciousness that is responsible for genuinely caring about the well-being of others. It is the small voice inside us that we consult either consciously or subconsciously before we make any decision. While a strong conscience may have a substantial influence of our behaviour, we can indeed, and do, go against it at times. It is in these moments that we may experience guilt, which can serve as a response from the conscience to let us know that we have strayed from what is right, even by our own definition of right. While guilt may be an unpleasant emotion, it is a sign that the conscience is alive and well, and that our moral framework is still intact, even though we have done something immoral. To feel guilt is still far better than the alternative, which is to feel nothing at all when go against our conscience.

There is a certain amount of genetic influence when it comes to qualities such as fairness, compassion, loyalty and cooperation. Some people may be born with certain predispositions which may lead them to become a charity worker, while others may have predispositions that may contribute to them becoming sociopathic as they develop. I am no expert in the field of genetics or epigenetics, but I want to argue that these predispositions can be outweighed by an individual’s freewill and environment, and that our conscience and our ability to feel guilt can be weakened by our choices. For example, imagine a morally sound person one day chooses to steal something, even something small like a pen. They spend some time contemplating whether to steal it or not, and then they decide that they will steal it. Assuming they get away with it, they then at some point or another experience guilt as a consequence, however, they have taken a small step in decaying their conscience and therefor made it easier for themselves to steal again in the future. This process can soon spiral out of control, until they find themselves stealing things of higher value, more often. Little by little, they learn to ignore their conscience, ignore the guilt response and eventually they lose touch with their own morality. Poetically speaking, they harden their own heart, gradually through their own actions. Fortunately, the opposite can be achieved, where our conscience is strengthened through listening to it and acting in accordance with it. The point is, if we follow our conscience we will keep it, and if we don’t follow it, we will lose it.

I would like to use the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel as a biblical reference for the perspective I am trying to communicate. Adam and Eve are made by God, pure and free from sin. That is until they choose to eat the forbidden fruit, which introduces sin to the world, and more specifically, within them. Eve then gives birth to Cain and Abel. Cain eventually decides to kill Abel, which in my view, is an echo of the original sin made by Adam and Eve. Whether or not the ability to sin (or go against the conscience, or act immorally) is something that can be passed on genetically is not clear. However, that is not exactly the point I am making here. The stories can act as metaphors for how one immoral action leads to another, even through the generations. Rather than immorality being passed on specifically through genetics, I am arguing that it spreads through environmental factors, beginning with an individual’s freewill (although I am not ruling out the possibility of immorality being passed on genetically). Selfish parents may raise selfish children, which will grow up to raise their own selfish children, and so on. However, while the domino effect here may be strong, I do believe it can be broken at any point by an individual simply choosing to do the right thing, consistently and purposefully, irrespective of their environment, upbringing and external influences. It is up to each of to follow our conscience and bring goodness into the world. We must let our conscience be our guiding light if we are to maintain and develop sufficient moral frameworks for humanity to flourish now and in the future.