Awareness of self means: the ability to form an identity and then attach a value to it. In other words, you have the capacity to define who you are and then decide if you like that identity or not. A human being is more than a body. He has a mind and conscience too. Both the psychic and the bodily components constitute a person. Many people think of conscience as the still voice within. Yes, it is still voice within us. It is a voice of our inner-self. The origin of conscience is reason which is imprinted in every human being. Reason, which is endowed by nature to human being, has an inbuilt law that distinguishes right from wrong. Conscience, exactly, is reason applying the natural law and other universal accepted principles to a concrete situation. It promotes awareness of self which is one of the main factors differentiating humans from other animals.
Conscience formation is a life long task. We may realize that reason in us does not work in isolation. It is the whole person who makes the judgment. In the person- thinking, willing remembering, imagining, perceiving and feeling- all these processes are in dynamic interaction. Therefore, the judgment of reason is under the influence of our feelings, emotions, fears, desires, needs, memories, etc. Hence, if we decide what is right or wrong only by what we think, our thinking may not be correct. It may be vitiated by strong emotions, prejudices, selfishness, etc. We rule our behavior by our own conviction but our convictions are to be formed in accordance with objective truth, i.e., in agreement with the correct understanding. The great challenge of life is to see that our subjective thinking agrees with objective reality, or with the truth. Let us listen to the law of nature written in our hearts and obey it. Conscience reveals the law of nature. In making our decision, let us not go only by pure personal advantages.
In psychoanalytic terms, Freud considers the super-ego as a sector of the psyche, which consists of two sub-systems: ego-ideal and conscience. Ego- ideal is an image of the best possible self. Throughout life the superego compares the person's wishes, impulses, fantasies and behaviors with those included in his ego-ideal. Superego motivates the behavior of individuals. Conscience essentially acts through reason. In using his conscience, man acts with full knowledge, full deliberation and full consent. If a person acts against his conscience, he feels guilty.
Having developed his reasoning power and acquired more knowledge, the adolescent questions some of the things he was told by his parents, and may discard some of their commands. The process of forming one's conscience reaches its peak at the adult stage. We adults with our well-informed reason realize the reasonableness of our parents' instructions. Largely, we behave according to them, but for a different motivation, e.g. not because our parents told us, but because we are convinced that this is the right thing to do. Thus, we develop a well formed conscience. Remember, the brain is not conscience; it is an instrument of consciousness. When consciousness is changed, there will naturally be correlated changes in brain biochemistry and behavior. But by changing the biochemistry of the brain, we can't change consciousness itself.
Everybody has his own Paradigm. It is the way we see the world- not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding, and interpreting. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitude and behaviors grow out of those assumptions. The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act. Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. But the paradigm of person should be based on true principles. The reality of such principles which came into existence during the course of development of civilization and natural laws becomes obvious to anyone who thinks deeply and examines the cycles of social history. These principles surface time and again, and the degree to which people in a society recognize and live in harmony with them moves them toward survival, stability and human growth. These are not esoteric, mysterious, or religious ideas. They are self-evident and can easily be validated by any individual. It is almost as if these principles and natural laws are part of the human condition, part of the human conscience. They seem to exist in all human beings, regardless of social conditioning and loyalty to them, e.g. principles of fairness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty, trust, human dignity, service, equality, growth, patience, truth, brotherhood, nurturance, encouragement, striving for perfection, empathy, open-mindedness, faithfulness, gentleness, tolerance, generosity, unselfishness, love, team spirit, reasonableness, etc.
While practices are situation ally specific, principles are deep, fundamental truths that have universal application. They apply to individuals, to families, to private and public organizations of every kind. When these truths are internalized into habits, they empower people to create a wide variety of practices to deal with different situations. A gang of thieves can share values, but they are in violation of the fundamental principles we are taking about. When we value correct principles, we have truth- knowledge of things as they are. Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value. They are fundamental. They are essentially unarguable because they are self-evident.
The more closely our maps or paradigms are aligned with these principles and natural law, the more accurate and functional they will be. Correct maps will infinitely impact our personal and interpersonal effectiveness far more than any amount of effort expended on changing our attitudes and behaviors.
The strength of correct mapping reflects from our character. Our character, basically, is composite of our habits. "Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. So we have to sow right thoughts and thereafter act rightly to exhibit our good character. We have to break the deeply imbedded bad habitual tendencies-impatience, criticalness, selfishness, unfairness, inequality, injustice, biasness, favoritism, hatred, lie, deceit, etc. that violate basic principles of human effectiveness. Social, genetic and environmental factors contribute to one's habits. It requires more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. Habits are intersection of knowledge, skill and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm; what to do and the why. Skill is the how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. Life is by nature, highly interdependent. Interdependence is a far more mature, more advanced concept.
If a person wants to get peace and joy in life, he should maintain his self-esteem. He should also self-actualize himself. Self-actualization implies that one lives in the present and is primarily inner-directed. The self-actualized person has formed correctly his own convictions and has a clear idea of his ultimate goal.
To be self-actualized person, know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and accept yourself as you are; try seriously to develop your strengths and minimize your weaknesses; be honest with yourself and with others; be responsible and reliable; control yourself and be generous with others.
If you are afraid of taking steps in right direction because of some fear and do not strive for perfection, you will remain with your fear and you will never grow. Therefore, you should be courageous in going ahead and developing a well formed conscience by imbibing in yourself the fundamental and universally accepted principles of equity, justice, fairness, truth, reasonableness, human brotherhood, etc. When you violate these inner rules, life becomes chaotic and you lose your sense of worth. Without imbedding right principles in yourself, the conscience will tend to be heavy. Mind it; you can't achieve happiness if you go through life carrying a heavy conscience.
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Dr. Pramod Kumar
Dated 9th March, 2004
Email: drpk1956@gmail.com
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