Week 6 (Oct. 12-Oct. 18): Chapter 5 -Reawakening our Conscience

[Dcn Peter]

I'd like us to discuss the main point of this chapter, or lecture - the need for us as Christians to heed the dictate of the conscience. Also, what are the author's views on the idea of moral progress and regress? How does this relate to your own worldview?

[Gregory]

I have to agree that, in general, the concept of the conscience is mostly lost on contemporary society. It has changed into a catch phrase we pull out on occasion to show we have supposedly not lost our humanity. Conscience has given way to the general decree that we need to do what 'feels right' rather than what is right. And, when these actions go against what was once considered normal or moral, we as a society justify the wrong by sliding he scales of 'truth', not wanting to ostracize or condemn anyone. By making everything relative, there is nothing to fear or feel bad about – we assuage our guilt with good intentions for all.

I apologize for ranting. Valdyka's assertion that the conscience comes from God (“the voice of God in the souls of men”) makes it all the more disturbing because then, having observed the general tenor of those around us, it seems to make it clear that contemporary people have turned their back on God and are trying to drown him out as much as possible.

As for moral progress or regress, anything that looks good on the surface but is not firmly rooted in a love of God could, and should, be considered troublesome. Despite any good outcomes from such morality, the energies of it were born from self-advancement, self-will, and the fruits of that poisonous state of mind and heart. My fear is that if people were to suddenly become aware of their conscience in a Godly manner, and practiced repentance, the fruits of this awakening would be, unfortunately, their explusion from those around them, because the love which starts first with love of God does not manifest itself in the 'feel-good-pat-on-the-back' mannerisms society has come to know and prefer. People of conscience are rejected by society, it would seem.

The early Church Fathers spoke often of protecting the unity of the Church, and I would imagine that includes people being of a like mind and heart. Thus, people who are Christocentric in their actions would be able to exist with each other. The communities would have a oneness of mind which would allow the conscience to exist and work toward bringing people closer to God.

If the present world is a construct of smoke and mirrors meant to satisfy our earthly desires (good paycheck, nice cars, big house, social status), then the conscience at some point would and should become the hammer that smashes this illusion, so the soul cannot focus on untruth as a distraction. Again, obeying the conscience goes against everything we've (well, myself) been taught (not within the Church, of course) that consists of a good and productive life. Then, once down the slippery slope, those things identified as sin become nothing more than 'minor indiscretions', eventually morphing into 'lifestyle choices'.

I do agree with Vladyka that, those who find their conscience late in their life are more tortured by it, having the weight of truth facing them now, with the time for repentance so short.

I am going to stop there and re-read the chapter – I fear I got a bit worked up. I find the chapter hits home for me, in that as we struggle to try to and live the best we can according to God's will and our conscience, the world will have none of it. We are essentially strangers in a strange land, which can feel very desperate at times.

[Mary]

(I'm going to post my thoughts before reading Gregory's, as is suggested. Will then go back and read.)

I found myself struggling again a bit in this chapter. I agree with the author that our "modern" world largely veers away from notions like conscience and sin, considering them antiquated terms. However, I had some difficulty looking at conscience in the manner that he did.

Vl. Averky described the conscience as "the voice of God within the souls of men" (p.65). He also wrote, citing the Holy Fathers, that if we pay close attention to our conscience, "it will reliably and precisely show us the clear and direct will of God" (p. 68). He condemns scientific approaches to understanding conscience - though my impression is that he is limiting his view to Darwinism.

If I knew that my conscience was always and only the voice of God and that it unfailingly showed me the precise will of God if but I paid attention, of course I would advocate doing nothing but paying very close attention to it.

As a psychologist, I am unable to view conscience that way - or at least "conscience" as I have always known the term to be used. Simply stated, there are disorders of conscience that are not based on a person's self-asserting pride. The most obvious example is when brain damage (often prefrontal cortex) negatively impacts moral judgment. Also there are some conditions, thought to be largely biologically based, that can impact conscience, leading it to be excessive (as in obsessive compulsive disorder) or insufficient (as in antisocial personality).

We also know quite a bit about moral development in children and how that develops (and THAT it develops). While an individual's conscience is certainly not defined by his/her childhood environment, neither can development of a sense of right/wrong be viewed independently of such factors.

Sorry. Didn't mean to launch into Psychology 101. I think where I am going with this is that, indeed, God's voice can speak within us, through our conscience - if we have a healthy and well-formed conscience. It is our responsibility to work toward having that healthy conscience within whatever limits we experience in our bio-psycho-social history, ever seeking God's healing for what is broken in us.

Through prayer, repentance, the sacraments and so on, we need to be attentively listening for God's voice and quieting the din of noise that threatens to drown it out.

While evil certainly can come from ignoring one's conscience, I also believe that much evil emerges in more complex ways. To say that a "constant willfully sinful life" (p. 67) makes a harmful impression on the conscience doesn't make a lot of sense to me...a healthy conscience would not allow constant willful sinning, would it? But I see it this way because I do not see the conscience as something divinely implanted and thus innately and equally present in all from birth.

Forgive my ramblings. I cannot say that I am particularly satisfied with what I have written, though I have been reflecting on it during the week. I'll take some time now to see what Gregory wrote. :-)

[Mary]

Gregory -

Some great comments - it is getting late so I will only respond a little now.

I was particularly struck by your words: "we as a society justify the wrong by sliding the scales of 'truth', not wanting to ostracize or condemn anyone."

This is such a tricky area. It is one of the things I have been challenged by - and learned from - Fr. Stephen's blog. Our society has become so politically correct that it almost seems that we feel guilty for saying that someone's behavior or belief is wrong, no matter how respectfully we say it. I like that Fr. Stephen is not afraid to write the truth as he knows it.

(Of course the opposite element exists in our culture as well - those who have no problem condemning others in vicious ways. However, I am not tempted to join their ranks. I am often tempted to always be "nice" though, perhaps to the point of not challenging what should be challenged.)

I suspect it takes considerable spiritual maturity (more than I have) to be able to speak the Truth to one who does not believe or live it, while at the same time treating that person with the utmost love and compassion. How to compromise neither nor the Truth nor the Love. So basic to the Gospel but not so easily done in our roles and relationships in society.

[Mary]

Once again, I am a bit hard on our author. Regarding the question of moral progress or regress in the world, I was taken aback by his example of regress, i.e. that people used to stop bombing each other for great feasts like Pascha and even exchanged gifts and now they just keep bombing through the feast days. That we bomb each other at all is the evil (to simply pause for Pascha and resume bombing suggests to me that we don't understand Pascha at all). But I have not lived his life and this obviously carried great import for him.

I don't feel in a position to judge the moral progress or regress of humanity. There is great evil in our world and there is great holiness. I cannot see, from my tiny place in history, if the proportions are any different or how they have changed. I trust that God has it under control - but we certainly must work and pray for the side of holiness.

Gregory -
To me, it doesn't seem so bad to be a stranger in a strange land - as long as one has Christ. Of course, I am spoiled by having having fellow believers close at hand, living in a country that gives me the freedom to live my faith (no one is arresting or torturing me). I am not saying, of course, that there is no struggle or temptation. I probably succumb to many without even realizing it. But Christ is always with us, light in our darkness, loving companion at our side.

[Gregory]

A great point I had not considered - the conscience being harmed by physical or psychological issues and problems. I am grateful you brought this up.

I also was happy for your comments regarding bombing during Pascha. Your overall observation is spot on, and I think Vladyka speaks from his personal experience as you said (I recall seeing a show on WWI in which troops left the trenches on a feast to greet each other.). It makes me reflect on there present state of the world, where we see Christians bombing each other's churches in the Ukraine, and here in our relatively calm nation we find ourselves rushing for Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving day, trampling people for a television set. Perhaps the world is becoming desensitized to the Divine, and love for God and our neighbor is smothered, and to top it all off, our conscience doesn't scream at the top of its lungs to stop this madness? All we can hope and pray for is that pure non judgmental love St. Seraphim had, and that it spreads to those around us - maybe this will rekindle the conscience in others?

I will try to comment more later when I have my laptop - very tough to think & type on these pads!

Thanks for some wonderful thoughts Mary!

[Gregory]

Ahhh, hello trusty laptop, and my friend, Diet Coke. I can finally respond properly... :)

Mary, I had some thoughts I wanted to share on your comments:

We also know quite a bit about moral development in children and how that develops (and THAT it develops). While an individual's conscience is certainly not defined by his/her childhood environment, neither can development of a sense of right/wrong be viewed independently of such factors.

What if we start with the acknowledgement that the conscience comes from God, and like all aspects of our growth and maturity, there will need to be a learning curve involved for us to fully appreciate and use this gift. Just pondering my life, I would think the best guide for developing the proper ear for the conscience would be being raised in the Faith and fed in the Holy Tradition of the Church.

I guess I would have to read and ponder this more, but I wonder – do we grow and mature insomuch as we learn to properly hear our conscience correctly or do we in fact develop it? Such as when you said:

Through prayer, repentance, the sacraments and so on, we need to be attentively listening for God's voice and quieting the din of noise that threatens to drown it out.

I believe this can truly be the case – that this is something we need to work and struggle toward.

I am intrigued by your comments on constant willful sinfulness and its effect on the conscience. If what Vl. Averky says is true, we can condition ourselves to ignore it, smother it, and I wonder, from a psychology standpoint, could someone be 'reprogrammed' to incorrectly perceive evil as good, and vice versa? If so, that is truly horrifying.

I suspect it takes considerable spiritual maturity (more than I have) to be able to speak the Truth to one who does not believe or live it, while at the same time treating that person with the utmost love and compassion.

I feel like I am in that boat. When I enconter someone who does not believe, I find it hard to engage them, and I simply clam up and share nothing at all. I have always been more comfortable if someone approaches me with questions – at least then I can discuss things with them, always referring back to my priest, or some other spiritual writing.

I feel like I'm beginning to ramble a bit and lose focus, so I'm going to stop there for now.

[Mary]

Thank you, Gregory, for your thoughts on conscience. Quite helpful. I was interpreting the author's words to suggest that everyone was given a conscience that enabled them to know right and wrong from the onset. It is not hard to see that children need to be taught right from wrong - it is not inherent.

However, the way you re-stated it causes me to reflect more on what he may have meant. As an analogy, we are all given (assuming no brain damage or defect) the capacity to develop language. That capacity is innate but actually being able to speak is something that develops. The language(s) we end up speaking and how well we speak is determined by our environment early in life and then built upon by our efforts later in life.

And so it may be with the conscience. Assuming no brain damage/defect, the capacity for conscience is given to all, with environment (family, Church, culture) influencing its early development and effort (repentance, prayer, etc.) impacting its further development and use later in life.

You wrote, "I wonder, from a psychology standpoint, could someone be 'reprogrammed' to incorrectly perceive evil as good, and vice versa? If so, that is truly horrifying."

I think that is precisely what happens in many cases, not just to individuals but to whole societies. Or perhaps another way of putting it is that our opponent is very skilled at making evil appear to be good (you won't die when you eat that apple; you will be like gods...)

In small ways, this happens when sin is rationalized by the programming of modern societal values that "everyone does it" and "it doesn't really hurt anyone", etc. In monstrously large scale ways, societies can believe it to be good to discriminate against or even exterminate "inferior" races, while still considering themselves Christians. Relatively few people set out with conscious intent to do evil. Most of us have convinced ourselves that what we are doing is harmless or even good.

Amazing. I think I have just talked myself into agreeing with the author! I had thought he was being rather simplistic by suggesting that evil comes from ignoring one's conscience. Yet such re-programming often happens in small steps, in which we gradually do not maintain our consciences and thus find it easier to not hear its Voice.

It seems to me that our post-childhood "efforts" with our consciences need to have at least two components: (1) we need to engage in "spiritual training" (see introduction and definition of asceticism) to make and/or keep our consciences strong - otherwise they become lazy and are "lulled to sleep" (p.67), and (2) we need then listen to the voice of God which will surely speak through the conscience that has kept itself strong through training.

While I agree with you, Gregory, that the way we can be "reprogrammed" is indeed horrifying, it seems as though asceticism, our spiritual training, has been given to us to protect ourselves from this. I did not make that connection until this moment. Thank you for this fruitful discussion.

[Gregory]

Mary wrote: "(2) we need then listen to the voice of God which will surely speak through the conscience that has kept itself strong through training. "

That is a good insight. People are always asking if they are doing God's will. Perhaps a well trained conscience is a key to hearing what God is telling us?

Thanks!

[Dcn Peter]

I apologize from my absence from this week's discussion. It seems that there is not much I could have added. Thank you for the deep and engaging posts!

Prompts for week 7 are now up in a new thread!