What to do if your conscience torments you? Every person has asked this question at least once in their life. The concept of the torment caused by conscience is different for everyone. Some refer to this as guilt, others as shame.
The reasons that awaken remorse are also different. Some people are worried about their actions, others are ashamed of their own feelings, personality traits or character. There are also many who are tormented by pangs of conscience due to the fact that they did not do something, showed indecision or weakness, cowardice.
There are many manifestations of pangs of conscience, they are different, however, as well as the reasons that awaken them. Therefore, before thinking about what to do if your conscience torments you, you need to understand what it is.
What is this? Definition
According to the definition, conscience is a special quality, a skill of a person that allows him to independently navigate in matters of moralityand morality, exercise control over oneself and evaluate actions, intentions, actions.
Thus, conscience is the internal censor for every person. It manifests itself in the form of awareness of the compliance of committed or planned actions, thoughts or feelings with the norms of morality and ethics, both personal and accepted in society.
What is conscience?
Most often, conscience is understood as the following:
- the ability to evaluate one's own actions or plans, thoughts;
- the ability to control one's desires and impulses that run counter to the accepted principles of morality and ethics;
- awareness of responsibility for decisions and actions;
- having strict internal rules and following them.
Accordingly, the question of what to do if conscience torments arises among people who have transgressed through their own internal ideas of decency. If a person violates the moral foundations of society, which do not correspond to his personal inner qualification, then, as a rule, he does not suffer from remorse.
Which people are said to be conscientious?
A conscientious person has certain character traits, personality traits that are manifested daily in his behavior, actions, attitude towards other people.
Such a person never puts his own interests, feelings or desires above the needs of others. This does not mean at all that he forgets about himself for the sake of other people's feelings, goals or desires. Conscience - at allnot synonymous with altruism. A person with this quality simply takes into account not only his own interests, but also the people around him.
Such an individual does not commit rash acts that go against his inner principles and beliefs. If a responsible decision is to be made, then he invariably considers it based on moral and ethical ideas.
As a rule, such a person does not ask himself what to do if his conscience torments him. All the actions that he performs in life correspond to his ideas about decency, morality, duty and honor. At the same time, the actions of a person with such a character trait do not change depending on whether they learn about his actions or not. Even in solitude, he still acts in accordance with his conscience. In other words, the inalienable qualities of such people are sincerity, honesty, decency and lack of hypocrisy.
What kind of people have no conscience?
People, about whom the people say: "No shame, no conscience", have a certain list of personal qualities that are manifested in their actions and in relation to others.
People without conscience have the following personality traits:
- self-centeredness, extreme selfishness;
- cunning, the desire to benefit personally from everything around;
- tendency to manipulate others;
- ambition;
- hypocrisy or duplicity;
- lack of principles and beliefs.
The list goes on. Unscrupulous people never care about anyone but themselves. They do not take into account the needs and wants, desires and interests of others. In any of their decisions and actions, such people are guided only by personal goals, interests and desires. They are completely devoid of internal principles, beliefs and have no idea of moral values.
However, such people skillfully disguise themselves. They are quite capable of coming across as nice, kind, helpful and decent, if necessary to achieve any goals.
Why do people have consciences?
Why does a person have a conscience? This question was of interest to ancient philosophers, and today psychologists are actively looking for answers to it.
The most common version of why people begin to be tormented by conscience is the explanation of this feeling by the awareness of the wrongness of their own actions or intentions. In other words, people experience inner spiritual discomfort, they are deprived of peace due to the fact that they experience feelings of guilt and shame for actions taken or planned, for decisions made, hurtful words spoken to someone in a rush, and for much more.
Awareness of one's own immorality and immorality comes, as a rule, suddenly. Quite rarely, people who are prone to experiencing pangs of conscience deliberately transgress through their own life principles and beliefs. For example, if a person’s conscience “gnaws” because of a momentary manifestation of weakness or cowardice, thenthe immoral act was usually driven by strong and uncontrollable emotions such as panic or fear.
Often a feeling of guilt arises even before a decision or action, if necessary, to do something that goes against one’s own beliefs and ideas, but is correct from a social point of view or dictated by “higher goals”. For example, a manager decides to reduce the number of employees. This is a necessity, moreover, the only possible rational way out of a particular situation. But this decision goes against internal beliefs, principles and ideas. As a result, a dilemma arises - to go broke or to reduce the staff, that is, to act against one's conscience. Of course, any responsible leader in such circumstances dismisses some of the workers, because if the enterprise ceases to exist, then absolutely everyone will be on the street. That is, by sacrificing a part, a person saves the whole. But understanding this nuance only leads to the right deed, it does not relieve the pangs of conscience and feelings, the feeling of betrayal and irresponsibility.
How to deal with conscience?
How to make your conscience not torment? First you need to understand for what reasons it does not give a person peace of mind. And having understood why this is happening, try to correct your mistakes and mistakes.
Unfortunately, "correcting mistakes" in life is often impossible. If what has been done is not corrected, then such actions should continue to be avoided, and for those already committed, ask for forgiveness. If there is no one to forgive, you canapologize "to nowhere" or talk to someone about your feelings.
Believing people are much easier to deal with mental anguish than atheists. In every religion there is such a thing as repentance. If the pangs of conscience are unbearable and nothing relieves them, you need to go to the temple. Those who for some reason do not want to do this should seek help from a psychotherapist.
The only thing you should not do is try to forget yourself, drown out your inner voice. Remorse of conscience will not go anywhere and will not go away on its own. They are a symptom of a mental crisis, they indicate an intrapersonal conflict. Attempts to ignore such a condition only exacerbate it.
