http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/nothing-is-illegal-until-you-get-caught
The T-shirt slogan on a college student who was caught cheating in exam read “NOTHING IS ILLEGAL UNTIL YOU GET CAUGHT.” I wondered if the student had not been caught cheating in the examination hall, and had secured distinction marks was it legal as his T-shirt slogan proclaimed.
I do not understand why our youngsters do not realise that there is Conscience in everyone which is always aware of what they are doing. Whether got caught or not an illegal act is still illegal. Knowing this is like having a clear conscience. Even though being aware of conscience does not prevent an individual from committing an unacceptable blunders out of impulse, conscience will reprimand the act and may prevent him from doing it again. Instead of looking at an illegal act through the eye of conscience, the society today is inclined towards the thought that criminals are only those who get caught doing illegal act. If so then there are many people in the world with criminal tendencies, but they don't get caught and so they are not criminals?
The illegal activity in a person would have sprouted with petty acts like there are some who might have started by stealing some things from some person under some circumstances while it would have encouraged him to steal anything from anybody if they start to feel they can get away with it. In contrast if they give heed to the thought flashing in them that what they have done is wrong then they would not do it again.
I do read a lot of books on Mind and its activities and am personally interested in knowing about the element of guilt that an individual feel when he is aware that he has done something wrong. There are many questions that surface in me like; do conscience produce guilt feel? Is the conscience inbuilt in all humans? Does guilt feel provide some type of accountability, or does it simply tell about the consequences that unfolds? If it does provide accountability, to whom is it submitting it? If guilt feel is objective is it answering to the subjective Conscience? I know these are a lot of questions but then I am interested in getting to know the answers because in the core it is the debate between atheists and theists on the part of human conscience which ultimately leads to morality. I know that both sides seem to make good points, but with all due respect to either side, most theists look at it from philosophical view while other find it as a psychological occurring. I wish to take the philosophical angle to get the answers to my questions because I feel that conscience is a cultured set of rules and ideals that are laid for every individual to follow. It is taught to a child by rewarding it for doing a good act and warning it when doing an unwanted act. I guess when the rules are broken then the unpleasant though of guilt creeps in because everyone over the time has associated themselves to punishment when breaking the rule. Conscience and guilt feel surely is not present in every individual but mostly who are taught to differentiate between good and bad do have. Amazingly a psycho-criminal may not possess this because if we conclude conscience is learned process then it can be unlearned too. But most of the individuals who would want their life to be harmonious with the fellow beings seldom forget the lessons of conscience that they are taught and hence rarely they lose it.
At the end all I can say is that I know that there is Conscience in me even though I have not put it to test. Many would agree with me I suppose……………????
The T-shirt slogan on a college student who was caught cheating in exam read “NOTHING IS ILLEGAL UNTIL YOU GET CAUGHT.” I wondered if the student had not been caught cheating in the examination hall, and had secured distinction marks was it legal as his T-shirt slogan proclaimed.
I do not understand why our youngsters do not realise that there is Conscience in everyone which is always aware of what they are doing. Whether got caught or not an illegal act is still illegal. Knowing this is like having a clear conscience. Even though being aware of conscience does not prevent an individual from committing an unacceptable blunders out of impulse, conscience will reprimand the act and may prevent him from doing it again. Instead of looking at an illegal act through the eye of conscience, the society today is inclined towards the thought that criminals are only those who get caught doing illegal act. If so then there are many people in the world with criminal tendencies, but they don't get caught and so they are not criminals?
The illegal activity in a person would have sprouted with petty acts like there are some who might have started by stealing some things from some person under some circumstances while it would have encouraged him to steal anything from anybody if they start to feel they can get away with it. In contrast if they give heed to the thought flashing in them that what they have done is wrong then they would not do it again.
I do read a lot of books on Mind and its activities and am personally interested in knowing about the element of guilt that an individual feel when he is aware that he has done something wrong. There are many questions that surface in me like; do conscience produce guilt feel? Is the conscience inbuilt in all humans? Does guilt feel provide some type of accountability, or does it simply tell about the consequences that unfolds? If it does provide accountability, to whom is it submitting it? If guilt feel is objective is it answering to the subjective Conscience? I know these are a lot of questions but then I am interested in getting to know the answers because in the core it is the debate between atheists and theists on the part of human conscience which ultimately leads to morality. I know that both sides seem to make good points, but with all due respect to either side, most theists look at it from philosophical view while other find it as a psychological occurring. I wish to take the philosophical angle to get the answers to my questions because I feel that conscience is a cultured set of rules and ideals that are laid for every individual to follow. It is taught to a child by rewarding it for doing a good act and warning it when doing an unwanted act. I guess when the rules are broken then the unpleasant though of guilt creeps in because everyone over the time has associated themselves to punishment when breaking the rule. Conscience and guilt feel surely is not present in every individual but mostly who are taught to differentiate between good and bad do have. Amazingly a psycho-criminal may not possess this because if we conclude conscience is learned process then it can be unlearned too. But most of the individuals who would want their life to be harmonious with the fellow beings seldom forget the lessons of conscience that they are taught and hence rarely they lose it.
At the end all I can say is that I know that there is Conscience in me even though I have not put it to test. Many would agree with me I suppose……………????
it is not that everyone feels guilty while doing wrong things.Mind is such it gives self support.Only some humans feel after the deed is done.if a little Grace is there one will try to feel to regret and try to correct one s self.Whether one feel or not it is wrong and has to pay for it later.This is what we are told by our scriptures.
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