saidsimply

Zombies ignore their conscience, and never ask questions. This produces a dead brain, that merely becomes the reflection of desire instead of conformity to truth. What I see in society, is people have forgotten how to ask. How do you ask a genuine question? Simple questions that pierce the depth of life often come through ones conscience (in my experience.) But, it can be easy to put off, or ignore these thoughts, which is why we see more zombies then questioners.

We react to something in our life, a belief, an emotionally charged event, or a disagreement, and often we react by trying to cover it up with our words or story-telling. In this moment however, an inner voice brings a challenge: “Do you really know that?” or, “You don’t fully believe that.” This commentary, when opened and brought to the fore, produces division internally, often revealing some inner tension or confusion. The tension, when pressed further, is the material for an question, one which when asked ‘hangs in the air’ so to speak, until the answer is later found.

The process of turning the question into a coherent answer, is also a challenging road, some answers beg for acceptance, but the conscience often responds to them “That isn’t a real answer” or, “That doesn’t deal with the heart of it”. Like tossing your trash under your bed, sometimes easy answers make a temporary solution, but eventually everything has to come out and reality can only bend so far. The entire process from start to finish teaches us to have integrity and authenticity in our quest, or the process is just dampened and suppressed long enough for it to fade away.

Another question is where the inner voice comes from, if there are different competing inner voices, and what their motives are. Since this is a matter of spiritual discernment, it’s not something I can speak to a lot. The world-view I have faith in however, has taught me to have dispassion toward voices, and not jump to conclusions about their source, and often, to simply assume they are flukes, or even subtle lies. Replacing these voices with prayer seems to quiet the mind and create more clarity overtime.

However, the voice of conscience seems to have a distinctive quality, some kind of ‘ring of truth’ or ‘quality of love’. It’s not manipulative or coercive in tone, but it’s like the ‘still small voice’. And while we shouldn’t assume it’s God’s voice, in order to not self-aggrandize, it might bear the signature of our guardian angel, or the part of ourselves with a true desire for goodness. Honestly, I don’t know.

It’s a question I’ll have to think about.