By: Priyanka Saurabh
Moral compass is a term used to describe our internal sense of right and wrong that provides a framework to guide our actions. Conscience is the inner moral feeling of a person which guides him to regulate his behavior. The voice of conscience corresponds to an inner voice that judges your behavior. Conscience is the source of moral decision-making for many people.
Conscience can be defined as something within each of us that tells us what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, if one uses his discretion while taking a decision, he will be guided by what is right and what is wrong to do. The traditional test is to apply ethical decision-making methods such as the principle of the right that obliges us to respect the rights of others and fulfill our obligations to them. Another approach is to evaluate the potential benefits and harms of alternative courses of action on stakeholders who may be affected by our potential actions and choose the one that maximizes net benefit.
Our conscience is our inner guide and it helps us figure out how to make good choices. As we grow up, we learn right from wrong. Our conscience is the thoughts and feelings we have that tell us whether doing or saying something is right or wrong. Thus the voice of conscience is a constant guide for making ethical decisions. One can prepare oneself to listen to one’s conscience by pausing and thinking about the dimensions of the issue. A human being always faces ethical dilemmas in the process of decision-making. The voice of reason serves as a guide to making the right decision when we have to choose between competing sets of principles in a given, usually undesirable or perplexing situation. Example: Helping an accident victim while going for an interview. A person’s conscience helps to analyze the situation from different points of view and take the right decision.
The voice of conscience helps in avoiding conflict of interest for better decision-making. It can help in deciding between personal gain and public welfare. The voice of conscience is our ability to make practical decisions in the light of moral values and principles. Conscience is the moral compass of a person’s consciousness of right and wrong as well as his actions. Expressions such as ‘gut feeling’ and ‘guilt’ are often used in conjunction with a conscience. The voice of conscience may suggest different principles and different practices in different circumstances. But it helps not for a moment to misjudge the individual based on universal values.
Acting purely out of self-interest, at best, keeps us parallel to the original position and can turn our course south if our actions harm others. By living a life of integrity, we avoid going in that direction. We also need to understand and appreciate why we must consider the needs of others before we act. We can only go back to the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like them to treat you. None of us, possibly, want disrespect so we should treat others with respect.
The conscience represents the truth by nature and therefore in itself shows the right direction. The conscience is our natural and healthy state, but we often ignore it because of the influence of various thoughts, feelings, and senses in our minds. When we calm our minds and increase our awareness, we connect with our inner self and hear its voice. Therefore, the inner voice never shows the wrong direction. It always tries to take us in the right direction and continuously inspires us for our progress and happiness. However, being controlled by our mind, we fail to listen to our inner voice and get separated from it.
