In the Disney classic, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket is given the job of directing the young puppet in the right paths. Here is his first lesson:
"Now you see the world is full of temptations."
"Temptations?"
"Yep Temptations. They’re the wrong things that seem right at
the time. But uh, even though the right things may seem wrong sometimes,
sometimes the wrong things may be right at the wrong time. Or uh, visa versa.
Understand"
"No, But I’m going to do right."
" 'Adda boy Pinoch. And I’m gonna help you."
If Pinocchio was confused about right and wrong, who can
blame him? Even with the help of a
fairy-given conscience/cricket, he was still confused about how to be a good
boy. Looking inside ourselves we see
that determining the right and actually doing it are sometimes very
difficult. Jiminy Cricket has no small
task of helping the puppet to becoming fully human from the practice of good
decisions.
Catholic moral theology has good news for all of us. Every human is aided in the pursuit of good
by a God-given conscience. However you
conceptualize your conscience, from a cricket, to a little angel on your
shoulder, you are hopefully familiar with that small voice or inclination or
feeling inside you that helps you to determine right from wrong. So listen to your conscience and the moral
life is a walk in the park. End Post.
Just kidding. If only
it were that simple! For one thing the
motivation of my conscience is sometimes suspect. It’s a gift from God, but that doesn’t mean it always gives me the best advice.
For example the other day I thought I’d be helpful at work by replacing
a light bulb. My conscience which urged
me toward helping others failed to consider the labor union and job descriptions
and restrictions not to mention the dangers of hanging over a ramp to replace
the bulb. My conscience had nothing to
say when I was scolded for “not doing my own job.” So it’s from God, but not always
correct. It’s also deeply rooted in me,
a human. As the example above
illustrates it sometimes makes mistakes, and can be motivated by some selfish
desires. Conscience is neither fully
Divine nor fully human. It is somewhere in
the middle.
Unlike Pinocchio, humans usually
obey conscience, even a selfish, mistaken conscience. Think for a moment about the last time you
did something that in retrospect you know was a bad decision. Few of us know with certainty what is bad
and decide to do it anyway. Most of the
time our conscience is simply confused. Timothy
O’Connell, whose book we read for my ethics class brought up the example of Nazi
Germany. “Were they sinners, refusing to
do what they knew to be right? By no means. What must be said (and it is a
universal, often tragic human weakness) is that, by and large, the people of
Germany were guilty of a moral blind spot, of an inability to see and
appreciate the evil of their situation.”[1] We humans want to do what is good, but often
what is good gets muddied and confused.
Thus O’Connell describes three dimensions of conscience which helps
illuminate the complexity.
Conscience/1, he says, is that basic human desire to do good
and avoid evil. This is why we almost
always obey our conscience, because we really want to do what is good. This desire for the good is universal, but
what is defined as good is of course not universal. Take for example the hot button issue of
abortion. Pro-Life and Pro-Choice people
both think that we should do what is good.
But they both hold up two different banners about what is right. “All humans at all stages of development have
the right to life.” “All women have the
right to make decisions about their own bodies and reproductive health.” With the many disagreements between the two
camps they would both agree, “Humans have the responsibility to do what is
right!” Which is why we need
conscience/2.
Conscience/2 is the process that we all undergo in
determining what is right. It is the
process of consulting moral guidelines, societal stigmas, family values,
personal experience, our favorite song lyrics, and any number of sources of “moral
wisdom.” You will notice that there is
nothing universal about this process and people will disagree. What this means is that conscience/2 can be
formed differently for different people.
But what is certain is that every person will form her conscience. The question is, “How well will it be formed?”
and “How do we form it well?”
Lastly there is conscience/3. Conscience/3 is an event or a particular
judgment of conscience upon an act. We
would do well to listen to that judgment and do it. For the reality is that in all cases, the
human person must do what he believes is right.
What does it say about a person who believes that an act is evil, but
does it anyhow, or the person who believes an act is good, but avoids doing
it? We must do only what we believe is
right. Hopefully you’ve engaged in a
process of conscience formation so that what you believe is right is actually
right! Just like Pinocchio, the better
your conscience is formed, and you learn to listen to it, the more fully human
you will become.
[1] O’Connell,
Timothy. Principles for a Catholic
Morality. New York: HarpersSanFrancisco, 1990. P 111.
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