A Guilty Conscience Needs No Accuser;

Everyone under the spell of the mode of ignorance becomes mad, and a madman cannot understand what is what. Instead of making advancement, one becomes degraded. I cant believe all that is happening in our society today. It seems that every week a new mass murderer goes on a rampage, killing the innocent. To make matters worse, before we can find out what his motives are, before we can question him so that we can prevent others from doing the same thing in the future, he kills himself as well. This is just terrible. We obviously need more laws on the books. We need stronger restrictions on purchasing weapons and we also need to increase the punishment associated with such crimes. Otherwise nothing will change. It is the natural reaction to look for increased legislation to prevent tragedies which just occurred. But if one is more honest in their assessment, theyll realize that it is the conscience of the individual which is more of a factor when it comes to preventing violent outbursts. We can make all the laws that we want, but ultimately it is someones own sense of decency which prevents them from doing something harmful to someone else. Fortunately, in the ultimate discipline to guide all the decision-making in life, the conscience is protected, nurtured, and strengthened rather than slowly killed. What do we mean by this? First, lets look at an example of where the conscience helps us to avoid doing something bad. Someone has dropped some money on the ground. They were just walking in front of us, so we saw the cash fall out of their pocket. When we are sober, when we have our wits about us, we know that the money doesnt belong to us. After all, we just saw it fall from another persons pocket. This means that just a few seconds before, the money was in their possession. The right thing to do, which we dont need explained to us, is to return the money to the owner. Just pick up the cash, go up to them and say, Excuse me, you dropped this. Our conscience speak s to us when we do something like this, but in any other course of action, we ignore the conscience. If we pick up the money and use it to purchase a gift for someone else, any gratitude we receive in return is tainted. Oh, thank you so much. You are such a sweetheart. You bought me this gift for no reason at all. You are so thoughtful. If there were only more kind people like you in this world, we wouldnt have as many problems as we do. If our conscience were still active, these words of praise would st ab at us like a knife. I dont deserve any of this. I used someone elses money to buy those gifts, so Im not worthy of any praise. In fact, I should be called out for my cowardly act. I hate myself for doing this. As they say, a guilty conscience needs no accuser, in this case if my conscience were active Id eventually fess up and try to make things right. I would somehow get the money back to the person who lost it. No laws would have to be in play here. No legislation or guidance from a higher authority is required. Just my own conscience and its influence would do the trick. The same conscience guides us in so many other areas, but what if we kill the conscience? Is this even possible? Think of intoxication. Think of drinking so much alcohol that you cant think straight anymore. With your beer muscles, you think that you can take on that bully in the bar or smash that can of beer on your forehead. Having lost your inhibitions, you say things to people that you normally wouldnt. You also do things that you normally wouldnt, and your conscience is muzzled in the process. The internal voice isnt as loud, so you dont feel as much guilt.
A Guilty Conscience!

In todays society we may be able to do whatever we please but in the end we must be able to look at ourselves in the mirror. We may act boldly in the crowd but what about our thoughts when we are left alone? Though men may be able to fight the strongest of foes from without, many have crumbled when

faced with that still small voice from within. For most people the hardest thing to do is to simply live with themselves. Modern psychology has never solved the problem of guilt in the human mind. How is it that a man knows that he has done something wrong and feels guilty because of it? Since no one can explain the phenomenon of the human conscience he tries to excuse it by shifting the blame. Today, we are told that the criminal is a victim - A drunkard need not feel guilty for he merely suffers from a disease like cancer. If one becomes helplessly addicted to a particular vice he too is only a victim of genetics or the environment. Today, no one is responsible for what he does because he is only a product of his genetics and the environment. There are now numerous "diseases" and "conditions" that are ascribed to peoples actions. The idea that an inner conscience evokes shame and guilt for ones actions is utter nonsense in the brutal survival of the fittest ideology. But all these ideas can not take away the guilt of one who knows in his heart that he has done wrong. Try as he may, man can not escape his conscience. Man is constantly attempting to excuse his actions - his sins - by rewording them to appear in a better light, so we know that this "conscience" did not originate with man. Man would not appoint a prosecutor, judge, and tormentor against himself within his own soul. It is not a result of education for even the most ignorant and unlearned can understand guilt. Even children, in the earliest age, understand right and wrong, and show signs of guilt for wrongdoing. If there is an effect there must be a cause. The eyes and ears of man were designed to see light and hear sounds. The light did not create the eye nor did the eye create the light - they were designed - one for another - by the infinitely reasonable master Designer who prepared them for each other. So, the undeniable existence of the conscience proves the existence of a moral and holy God. This God has an absolute law which He has inscribed in the souls of men. God created man in His own image and likeness. Man then sinned against Gods law and rebelled against Him. From the moment when sin entered the world the conscience which God had made was awakened and man knew good and evil. We do not have to be told that stealing is wrong, we already know it is. The conscience is the light of God that "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John 1:9) The conscience is what tells us that we are sinners and that we are guilty in the eyes of God. The purpose of the conscience is not to drive us into despair but rather to lead us to God. If we understand that the conscience is the reflection of Gods law in our hearts then the answer to a guilty conscience is simple. We need the forgiveness of God. For this purpose Christ came and shed His blood. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. . . ." (Colossians 1:14)

A rolling stone gathers no moss

This proverb now has two meanings: people pay a price for being always on the move, in that they have no roots in a specific place (the original meaning); or people who keep moving avoid picking up responsibilities and cares.
People who are always moving, with no roots in one place, avoid responsibilities and cares. As such, the proverb is often interpreted as referring to figurative nomads who avoid taking on responsibilities or cultivating or advancing their own knowledge, experience, or culture. Another interpretation equates "moss" to "stagnation"; as such the proverb can also refer to those who keep moving as never lacking for fresh ideas or creativity. A 'concrete' interpretation of the proverb "a rolling stone gathers no moss" would simply restate the proverb [6] in different words, rather than delivering any metaphorical meaning. For example, a 'concrete' interpretation of the proverb would be: "If you roll a stone down a hill, it won't pick up any moss." This kind of answer is considered a failure to abstract and fails the psychological test. An example of an abstract interpretation is

when substitution of metaphors occurs: A "rolling stone" is interpreted as an unsettled person or a busy person and "moss" is interpreted something to be avoided or, conversely, something to be desired. The important feature of the test is the discernment and substitution of metaphors rather than a particularly 'correct' answer.

Essay - A Rolling Stone Gathers no Moss

Why a stone should want to gather moss, it is hard to say. But the proverb is an old one, and everyone knows what it means. The "rolling stone" is the man who is always changing his occupations and pursuits, and never settles down steady to anything. Popular wisdom says that such a fickle and unreliable person makes but little out of life. There is, no doubt, a great deal of truth in this. In these days of keen business competition and specialization, a man must choose a trade or profession and stick to it if he is to achieve any success. Steady application and hard work at one job are essential. A man who starts one kind of business, and getting tired of it, tries another, and then gives that up for a third, cannot hope to get on in any. Constantly chop-ping and changing, he cannot expect to produce any satisfactory results by his dissipated efforts. As the proverb says, "He, who hunts two hares, loses both". The typical "rolling stone" is the man who never keeps any situation in his trade or profession long. When you get an application from him, and find that he has had many posts but for only short periods, you say: "Ah! This fellow is evidently a 'rolling stone'; he will never stick to this job, even if I give it to him. He is no good." Such men seem to have restless nature, and are incapable of setting down anywhere. The same is true of studies. A student who wishes to become a scholar must specialize in one subject; and he must devote all his time and energy to it, if he is ever to become an authority on it. The student who takes up mathematics, and then goes in for history, and tired of that, takes up philosophy, and drops this again for economics, will be "Jack of all trades and master of none". Still, there is something to be said for "rolling stones." Adventurers, explorers, travelers, and discoverers are generally men of restless energy who could never settle down to any steady occupations. Yet the world owes much to such rolling stones; for even though they gather no "moss" for themselves, they certainly gather much for the world, in the shape of new knowledge. But these are men apart. For ordinary people the proverb is, "Slow and steady wins the race."