Thursday, September 07, 2006
Three Dimensions of Conscience
- Conscience as capacity - also known as the antecedent conscience. This shows our general hunger for the good—our capacity to recognise the good. Thus it is the state of our moral selves before we confront a problem.
- Conscience as process - also known as actual conscience. This is the actual process of moral reasoning when confronted with a problem. It shows that conscience is a search for what is right through accurate perception, a process of reflection, and analysis. This is achieved through the following steps.
- Gather relevant information - who is involved in the decision? who should be involved? what are the relevant circumstances? Are there any options? What are its short-term consequences? Long term?
- Identify the moral choice to make - What are the actual issues involved?
- Seek Counsel - Consult the "experts" or those who have gone through similar circumstances. Likewise, one should look at scripture and tradition.
- Reflect and Pray - Jesus himself reflected and prayed when he had to make big decisions. If conscience is a sanctuary then if we truly want to meet God, it is through prayer that we find out what His will is.
- Evaluate alternatives - Using the information gathered, the consequences of each option are weighed. Which is the most loving way?
- Conscience as judgment - also known as command conscience. This follows the search when one actually decides to act. It is a concrete judgment of what one must do in the situation. This makes the decision my own. We must obey our conscience then above all other voices in order to be true to myself. Our judgments thus help form (or deform) our antecedent conscience.
- We are thus obliged to follow our conscience. If conscience is our search what is right, not following your conscience is tantamout to choose to do wrong.
- Our judgments are good as the ground it was built on. Good judgments assume a well-formed antecedent conscience.
- It always a fruit of hard labour. Judgments should not be haphazard, but the result of prayer and discernment.
