From Conscience to Consciousness

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi:

“There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”

There is a worldwide call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the war in Ukraine. It is as if the conscience of the youth in the world has woken up. They can no longer calmly accept the continuation of the unmitigated violence being propagated in the Middle East and in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Their conscience has forced them to leave the comfort zones of their homes and flood the streets of their nations in protest to demand a stop to the violence.

The Court of Conscience

The court of human conscience exists within every one of us. Either we heed it or we choose to ignore it. To ignore the voice of conscience carries heavy consequences which exert an unseen influence on the positive unfoldment of life. If one acts against the dictates of his conscience, one is in danger of falling head first into the abyss of wrongdoing. Our conscience is an inner compass which enables us to contact our higher self. Contact with our higher self gives us an intuitive awareness of the moral code of laws which guide human life on the path of evolution. Today, the collective conscience of humanity in the world is waking up. There is a global surge of awakening crisscrossing the globe. It is emerging from an urgent desire for an end to violence! It has emerged from the inner awareness that, according to the teaching of every religion, killing is a sin.

In the words of former United States President Thomas Jefferson:

“War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.”

Only Light Can Dispel Darkness

No man is an island. Every act of violence spreads an influence of hatred, anger and intolerance into the entire atmosphere. Every individual is responsible for the animosity they create. According to cosmic law, as we sow, so shall we reap. The result of every action one performs returns to the doer. Acts of violence only engender more acts of violence. Wars don’t decrease violence. The darkness of ignorance cannot be overcome by infusing more darkness into the world. Only light can disperse darkness. Only dialogue and understanding can lead to peaceful co-existence. Only knowledge can overcome ignorance. Only the light of pure knowledge can disperse the dark clouds of despair, anguish and fear prevalent in the world today. The light of pure knowledge is the light of pure consciousness. The knowledge of pure consciousness must be shared so that every individual can experience the source of inner peace, inner bliss and inner freedom deep within themselves.

Training to Develop Consciousness

Only when coherence, orderliness and stability is created in the minds of the citizens of every nation can we hope for an end to violence. The responsibility rests within every individual to develop his consciousness so that all one’s actions are in harmony with natural law. It is the spread of negative emotions and disharmony that creates chaos and outbreaks of violence in society. When the nation becomes saturated with negative influences, the breaking point is reached and conflicts, pestilence and an increase of criminal tendencies results. The source of all such clashes in society is the rampant violation of natural law caused by the individuals in society. We must initiate a shift from conscience to the development of consciousness. The collective call for an end to violence must be heeded by all nations. Each country must pledge to train its citizens to live in harmony with natural law. Each nation must initiate programs to educate their citizens to experience the state of pure consciousness, the home of all the laws of nature within themselves. This training to develop consciousness is the urgent need of the time.

Only Peace can be Won

Wars can never be won. They can only be halted with a ceasefire. But the loss of life can never be erased from the collective memory of the world. The diplomatic solution is a solution to halt the killing but it does not solve the mental discord in the minds of the combatants which actually caused the conflict. This includes the combatants in the Middle East and in the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

In the words of Frederico Mayor, the Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and former Director of UNESCO:

“It is a good moment to repeat that a war is never won. Never mind that history books tell us the opposite. The psychological and material costs of war are so high that any triumph is a pyrrhic victory. Only peace can be won and winning peace means not only avoiding armed conflict but finding ways of eradicating the causes of individual and collective violence: injustice and oppression, ignorance and poverty, intolerance and discrimination. We must construct a new set of values and attitudes to replace the culture of war which, for centuries, has been influencing the course of civilization. Winning peace means the triumph of our pledge to establish, on a democratic basis, a new social framework of tolerance and generosity from which no one will feel excluded.”
 

The new social framework must include the knowledge and experience of pure consciousness. The citizens of every nation must be taught to experience the state of pure consciousness on a regular basis. The regular experience of pure consciousness has been shown to increase intelligence and orderliness in brain functioning and to expand the conscious capacity of the mind. The ability to expand one’s awareness is vital in today’s polarized world. Only a broad mind and a compassionate heart can ensure a unified world family built on the foundation of brotherhood, lasting peace and global goodwill to all.