Our new car has one feature I find a tad annoying. Occasionally a quiet voice imperiously announces ‘you are over the speed limit’. My immediate response is to shout back ‘I am not!’ But then a glance at the speedo shows that I have indeed begun to drive too fast. Not very much too fast mind you, because the voice is really like an early warning system which only allows a slight overuse of the accelerator.
My initial inclination was to turn off the irritating and slightly whiny voice and drive in peace, relying on my own judgement and vigilance. But once I thought about it I realised that it is quite useful to have a backup to nudge me in the right direction and keep me to a safe speed which is less likely to do damage to me, my valuable car, or someone else. Actually, it’s quite a clever system really, because it is linked to the GPS and automatically knows what the appropriate speed limit is in any given location, which can be handy if I’ve missed seeing a sign along the way.
I guess the little inner voice of our conscience is like that too. It gently nudges us in the direction of behaviour that is most appropriate, useful, responsible, safe and good; the one that will help us avoid damaging ourselves, others, or valuable property. It isn’t really a killjoy which tries to stop us having fun; it’s more like a guidance system that helps us to choose the right kind of actions in any situation. Our conscience is built on our own instinctive sense of good and bad / right and wrong. Added to that is the example and teaching provided by our family, peers, schooling, religion, laws, our community and our society.
Do you see your conscience as a useful inner guidance system?
How has listening to that quiet voice proved useful to you?
