Sunday, October 26, 2008

Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

There actually was a time when Hollywood was interested in bringing societal messages of good and kindness to their audience through their primary mediums of television programming and motion pictures. It wasn't like today, where drugs, killing, crime, profanity, and social deviation are almost always being presented as the norms for society.

Silly as some progressives of our society might think, there was a near-philosophical statement in a Disney movie, Pinocchio, that to me, actually speaks to the existence of God. Even sillier to some, it was presented by a cartoon character, Jiminy Cricket. That philosophical statement was simply: "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide."

If you really think about it ,we are all born with a conscience to keep us on the straight and narrow. It tells us when we are doing something wrong. Even if that something that we are doing is clearly out of the sight of others, that "voice" tells us that it is wrong. At the same time, we know when we are doing something extremely good for others because, often, in doing so, we experience an extremely profound feeling of joy that is, many times, accompanied with tears of happiness. These aren't trained responses. They are innate...and maybe...just maybe, they have been given to all of us by a higher power.

I have always thought of conscience as a possible proof of God. Others could certainly disagree. I also know that over time, we can "deprogram" our conscience. We can become hardened so that we ignore what it is saying. Those we know, such as family members and friends, can do that if they have already gone through the process of deprogramming. Society can do the same. The sad thing is that conscience can spiral out of existence if generation after generation of humans keeps putting it aside, and sadly, I don't know if society can ever reclaim it once it has been totally lost.

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