The Call Of The Conscience

I am not perfect. I am complicated. My heroes are not perfect. We are all broken in one way or another and that is exactly why we need each other. My weakness is someone else’s strength.

Yet, we are too often our own worst enemy. We have a peculiar tendency to judge everyone and especially our leaders, to say and to act according to what our conscience is screaming, but without the contemplation that could bring the roar to the measured whisper it needs to be. We are not perfect, and we are not entirely evil. We are human.

And our leaders, to hold on to their power, too often forget to admit their own limitations, that the world is less than complicated, that we all see feebly and that we need each other. Do we even permit our leaders to admit their own limitations?  Or is genuine humility something that disqualifies a leader today?

We must all die to ourselves to live. Before the leaves uncoil under the sun, before the life-giving roots are spun in darkness, the seed must be buried in the soil and die. There is life and light that comes only through loss. The seed’s renewing death is something we must accept to live as individuals and as a society.

I would like to believe that we more often than not do what we think is best for ‘others’.  Even though humanity is facing threats more severe than ever before, there are abundant examples of people who at great personal risk inspire hope, solutions, sanity. They demonstrate by both their lives and their words the existence of love and generosity.

In India today I have been encouraged by and have participated in the revolutionary swell of people protesting the abuse of women’s rights, personal safety and dignity.  Men and women alike are more aware than ever before of these issues and it is heartening to see such resounding support, albeit following a demented murder too horrible to describe here.

Nevertheless, as outraged as we all are, we need to keep from simplistically dividing the world between the oppressed and the oppressors, the good and the evil, good and bad police, a government that is irredeemably corrupt or a government without blame.

The world is complicated.

We all have our list of failures and achievements. We try to balance out our lives accordingly. Even when a good leader of a cause arises, the personal flaws are there on full display. But a leader is hardly ever allowed a second chance. We want our leaders to be perfect.

source: isomsymbolicart.blogspot.comThe need of the hour is to realize that within each person there is a world of darkness, fear and hate. But there is the other side as well — the sunny, truthful, life-giving side.

We need to indeed fight and condemn evil. If we do not fight that dark side which resides within each of us, there arises a need to fight it outside, to self-righteously blame, and to find scapegoats.

Staying conscious is the trick. We can’t divide the world into black and white and live. The world will be a better place to live if we all try to stand united with a conscious soul that will help us radiate truth and inner freedom.

We should listen to an informed call of the conscience that will help us work together towards justice and peace in the world.

About these ads

176 thoughts on “The Call Of The Conscience”

  1. Lovely post! A very real response to the issue of evil prevalent in society. Still hopeful, and very enchouraging. Thanks!

    In South Africa we are all too familiar with both extremely corrupt leaders and horrific violence against women and children.

    So thanks again!

    Reply

  2. You are totally amazing..one of the most relevant blog entries I have read in a LONG time. This line will stay with me for LONG while –> “The world will be a better place to live if we all try to stand united with a conscious soul that will help us radiate truth and inner freedom.”

    Reply

  6. Indeed protection and rights of women should be at the forefront of every country’s tasks, especially countries such as India. People also do have to realize that the leaders they pick may not be perfect. However, as long as they choose the one that they believe has these egalitarian principles at heart, they probably have picked the right one. Never give up the fight for what you believe in!

    Reply

  10. Thanks again, for coming by. It’s been a hard day. “I’ve been ‘buked and I’ve been scorned” for expressing strong views calling for an end to gun violence here in America. But I’m in good company, and my conscience is clear and my heart is at peace.

    Reply

    • I am so glad. It is ironical that I was reading “shall we tell the president” but Jefferey Archer which was all about the gun violence act.

      If you are clear in your intentions, God will always be with you and bless you silently. I hope everything falls in place for you :)

      Reply

      • The difficulty is being torn between respect for others whose opinions are shaped so differently, on the hand, and the speaking my own conscience, on the other. My heroes are the people who stood up to be counted: the Hebrew prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, Jeremiah; Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified; Jan Hus who was burned at the stake; Sojourner Truth who tore open her blouse to ask “Ain’t I a woman?” in the face of what hate; Gandhi who led India out of colonial occupation without “arms”;Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. When violence swirls around us and hysteria shrieks and calls for guns, I have no power at all to convene a meeting of the minds. I can only speak my own with prayer that I speak the truth, and that if I speak some other word, that I be corrected.

        Reply

  12. There is Sunshine after the Rain. You are who You who think You are.
    No matter what, keep Positive Thinking and Life must goes on.
    如果你總在乎別人怎麼想，那你就別活了！
    great share!

    Reply

  14. An eternal war – rages silently within and makes headlines without. What we see outside are the symptoms – I reckon.

    Your post needs to be read by all, Tanushree.

    Peace, Eric

    Reply

  17. Pingback: johndwmacdonald

  22. Wonderful thoughts! It made me think of a handout I share with the clients I see in therapy. I just wanted to share a bit of that handout here, so here it is:

    I accept myself just the way I am today. Although there are things about myself that I want to change, I am okay just the way I am right now. I don’t need to be perfect to be okay. I observe myself with compassion and forgiveness. I recognize that no one is free of flaws or problems. I’m doing the best I can to deal with the problems I have. As I accept myself, flaws and all, I will begin to move forward. As I accept myself I will begin to change.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! Celeste honkifyourevegan.com

    Reply

  26. One thing I have learned in my time, is that our leaders and mentors and spiritual advisers are human. That is to say they are all fallible and no greater than each of us can be…
    So yes it’s time for us join together, to work together as one and cure the ills and bridge the divides that government will not. If we all started doing the right thing, as with the fall of Berlin Wall, who could stop us?

    e

    Reply

  31. I’m speechless!! You Are The Truth!!! Thank You For liking my poem, Enchanted. Thank you for allowing me to the opportunity to get acquainted with your work. :)

    Reply

  33. Absolutely beautiful post.
    You’ve got a great message that really resonates with me. It’s time to think as a global family.

    Thank you for the like and the opportunity to connect with you. I look forward to reading more.

    Reply

Please share your thoughts with us.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s