To everyone a gift is given, an inner voice, a guide. It often goes unnoticed and often pushed aside. It is that small echo in the back of one’s mind, the tiny pull on the heart-strings, that gentle but persistent feeling.  It is what many refer to as the conscience. “…It is the moral law within” (Stephen Covey).

It is God’s voice echoing through our spirits

The Guiding light

Being guided by one’s  conscience leads one to do the right thing,  rather than his or her own thing. It is the voice of reason and wisdom. It is the source of compassion, empathy, and goodness. Conscience is what drives one to do good, and be his or her best self.

Conscience can be over-ridden

The still quiet voice can be, and is often disquieted, at which point self becomes the primary focus, this is what one refers to as a hostile takeover, the ascent of the ego.

The Takeover

 ” Conscience is the still, small voice within. It is quiet. It is peaceful. Ego is tyrannical, despotic and dictatorial.” ( Stephen Covey).

 

When the ego takes over pain and chaos, ensue. There is a hefty price to be paid to be a slave to one’s ego.

The price of a disquieted conscience is a hard heart.

Consistent failure to heed to that small still voice lends to a hardness of heart, a malady difficult to cure and the ultimate precursor to one’s destruction. A person in possession of such a heart closes himself off to all those things that bring about abundance. He or she becomes ruled by the ego.

“Ego can’t sleep. It micromanages. It dis-empowers. It reduces one’s capacity. It excels in control. Conscience deeply reveres people and sees their potential for self-control. Conscience empowers. It reflects the worth and value of all people and affirms their power and freedom to choose” (Stephen Covey) .

The result of such is the loss of the human spirit, that which maketh alive.

  It is not hard to recognize one who has lost the ability to hear the conscience. The symptoms of such are

• bitterness
• greed
• avarice
• hatefulness
• spite
• callousness
• selfishness
• lewdness
• lasciviousness
• Addictions

Such are those without an inner guide or voice. Such run head first into destructive action and deprive themselves of true happiness and any long-term success.

“People who do not live by their conscience will not experience this internal integrity and peace of mind. They will find their ego attempting to control relationships. Even though they might pretend or feign kindness and empathy from time to time, they will use subtle forms of manipulation and will even go so far as to engage in kind but dictatorial behavior” (Stephen Covey).

To free oneself an open oneself up to all of the blessings that life has to offer he or she must be guided by wisdom, an inner light that turns one away from practices and behaviors that destroy.   He or she must be willing to listen to that still small voice and do what is right.

“Conscience often provides the why, vision identifies what you’re trying to accomplish, discipline represents how you’re going to accomplish it, and passion represents the strength of feelings behind the why, the what, and the how” (Stephen Covey)   Always let your conscience be your guide

Covey, S. (2004). The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. New York: NY, Simon, and Schuster.