We are all born with the Light of Christ and that provides the foundation for one’s conscience. The scriptures tell us that among many other things the Light of Christ is also; “the light that quickeneth” man’s understanding.” (D&C 88:6–13, 41)and in this manner it “is related to man’s conscience and tells him right from wrong.” (Moroni 7:12–19) It is stated a little different in the New Testament (not mentioning the Light of Christ though yet referring to it, thus), “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law…Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts…(conscience or the Light of Christ).”(Romans 2:14–15)
The framework of our conscience, I believe, is added to that foundation, the Light of Christ. The framework is the personal commitment to a set of ideals that are usually embedded in one’s heart and mind by our association with our parents and/or other influential people in our lives. Carl Schurz said that, “Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and by following them you will reach your destiny.” The foundation (Light of Christ) with the added framework (Ideals) together is what, I believe, represents our conscience.
Those ideals that we are raised with often come with warnings. The warnings tell us that to violate those ideals is tantamount to criminal behavior. We may later subscribe to a different set of ideals or framework, such as our being converted to a stricter or different code of conduct. That new set of ideals may then represent the framework of our conscience that will help guide our behavior in the future.
In converse, like Pinocchio, we may discard, at least for a time, our conscience and follow a path without ideals, a path that overrides our conscience, allowing us to do as we please. For example in the story of Pinocchio, “The Blue Fairy, left a set of ideals just before she magically drifted out the window and into the stars, she smiles at Jiminy Cricket and then gives a word of advice to the little puppet saying; “Now, remember, Pinocchio: be a good boy. And always let your conscience be your guide.” We all know the rest of the story; Pinocchio took the other path, as many of our young people do, and ended up in dire straights. Like Pinocchio, many of them who temporarily cast aside their conscience also end up in difficulty, if not dire straights. Though they were persuaded to leave their conscience to follow their worldly appetites, many are fortunate to survive their trek off the ‘trail of right’ and are able to later live normal and productive lives. Others never do recover from their initial stray and remain on the trail of tears, not only their own, but the tears of all those who love and have hope for them. Unfortunately, not all come back home, as did Pinocchio and the Prodigal son. Some are too addicted to the wayward life and all the things that attracted them to it in the first place.
I remember as a youth of eleven years of age being encouraged to smoke with my older brother. My father smoked and we would get the longest cigarette buts out of his ash tray and go out behind the house and smoke them, and thus we became addicted. In those days and in the location I grew up, a large majority of adults smoked, so the assumption was that ‘we were just starting a little early.’ Smoking that early tended to put me in with a group of friends that were considered roughnecks. From that kind of a start I may have graduated to worse things, but fortunately for me I was able to reject the ‘next steps.’ When I was nineteen I realized that smoking was having a negative effect on me physically, and after many tries, I was able to quit. At twenty, I was introduced to the Book of Mormon and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I then had a better, I believe, set of ideals than I had previously ascribed to, and that then became the framework of my conscience. The foundation, or Light of Christ was always there and an even stronger addition to our conscience can be had from time to time, if we live worthy, and that is by the Holy Ghost.
There are just as many variables to the idea of, and the ideals associated with conscience, as there are people who subscribe to them. We may each have various aspects of our ideals in which we have no temptation to violate. Than there may be a few aspects of our ideals that we struggle with on a daily basis. We struggle with them even though we agree that they are just and fair and are ideals that should be followed. They represent the chinks in our armor, or our weaknesses, and I believe that chinks are universally common among all men. A weakness for one may not be the same weakness for another and so on. As Carl Schurz said above, “Ideals are like stars…you choose them as your guides, and by following them you will reach your destiny.” He never said that you would never stray off course from time to time. When we do we then have to rechart our course based on those same guiding stars or ideals. Probably the most important thing for all of us to remember is that the stars will always be there. If we can remember to ‘look up’ for guidance and make corrections to our course, by and by, we will reach our destiny just as mariners who were guided by the stars have done for centuries.