Conference paper
Education of the conscience - education for a new age
Slavko Pavin
; Filozofsko-teološki institut Družbe Isusove, Zagreb
Abstract
The conscience is »the place« of the most intimate dialogue between God and man. It is, therefore, the source and the beginning of every dialogue between people. Education of the conscience means purification of this source, providing it with objectivity and benevolence. Jesus Christ does not employ the word »conscience«. He uses the word »heart« instead, thus encompassing man as a whole. The heart is »man's most mysterious nucleus and sanctuary where he is alone with God, whose voice echoes through his own intimate worlds (GS, No. 16). One can have an uneducated, malformed conscience, but it is not necessarily a bad one.
Education of the conscience is founded, first of all, on our acknowledgment and acceptance of the will of God during every moment and in every situation of our life, and our making it the measure of our thoughts and acts. In the attempt to educate the conscience, two essential elements must be taken into account: acceptance of changing our thoughts and attitudes; there must be clear light, clear perception, clear principles according to which our attitudes are to be changed.
In our country: religious ignorance influencing practical attitudes in the process of renewal of the motherland; irresponsibility in the preparedness to serve others; »lackey mentality« which sees only the negative; relets of communist mentality: »Take as much as possible, give as little as possible!« In the world: moral principles are weak; human will is incapable of choosing the true and the good, instead of the agréable and the useful; desire of the stronger for domination over the weaker; in principle, a negative attitude towards everything catholic.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
51923
URI
Publication date:
20.12.1993.
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