LET CONSCIENCE LIVE!!!

"Conscience: A sense of moral awareness or of right and wrong. The concept has been variously explained by moralists and philosophers. In the history of ethics, the conscience has been looked upon as the will of a divine power expressing itself in man's judgments, an innate sense of right and wrong resulting from man's unity with the universe, an inherited intuitive sense evolved in the long history of the human race, and a set of values derived from the experience of the individual. Psychologists also differ in their analyses of the nature of conscience. It is variously believed to be an expression of values differing from other expressions of value only in the subject matter involved, a feeling of guilt for known or unknown actions done or not done, the manifestation of a special set of values introjected from the example and instruction of parents and teachers, and the value structure that essentially defines the personality of the individual. As a practical matter, the consciences of different people within a society or from different societies may vary widely." ......So puts a comprehensive definition.
In a free world where everyone is responsible for their actions (unless of course we deceive ourselves), for the power of will to do or not to do has been rested in every individual, there lies within everyone a reasoning faculty (The mind), where the independent, personal and localized 'Judge' of all man's acts resides. This judge is called "CONSCIENCE". Nothing can be hidden from it, as it knows all our plots and schemes and regularly, if not always speaking its opinions to us each time we take an action or are about to make a decision and also after the deed has been done.
Like an alarm unit, it triggers discomfort with you once it smells a foul. A discomfort you can feel, one too strong to ignore. At this point, you need no one to sermonize you to know you are taking or have taken a wrong step. Ever since the fall of man, everyman's heart has been re-configured "WICKED", leaving the conscience as the fair judge, the unbiased umpire.
Like the referee could get hit by the ball in the physical game of soccer, so does our conscience get a hit every time we fail to acknowledge and/or listen to and obey it. This hit can get so severe (especially when regular), that the conscience dies. So is it in the case of those who we adjudged as; "Having No Conscience". Actually, it was there in the first place, but got killed.
"Oh creation, what have you done to the creators alarm unit?
Oh man, where is thy conscience?
A guide it is, to guard was it meant to be,
But you soon saw it as an intruder interfering with your privacy.
So you imprisoned it, so your acts will know no bounds.
You killed it, in a quest for freedom."
-TW™
I read a particular definition of conscience and I'm yet to recover from its craziness. It defined conscience as stated below,
"It's That Little Voice That Chimes In Every Once In A While To Ruin Your Plans."
******DEEP SIGH*********
Obviously, Conscience has been misunderstood. There are so many misconceptions about the subject of Conscience,
One such misconception that seems to never go away is the idea that conscience is the final arbiter of what is morally right — a misconception often designated under the expression "primacy of conscience".
But to put it bluntly, conscience is not the final arbiter of what is morally right.
In its truest sense, conscience is the intellectual apprehension of the Divine Law. For this reason, Divine Law is primary, and conscience is only a POINTER and CHECK.
"The Divine Law is the supreme rule of actions; our thoughts, desires, words, acts, all that man is, is subject to the domain of the law of God; and this law is the rule of our conduct by means of our conscience. Hence it is never lawful to go against our conscience."
Looking From The Other Angle;
Essentially, conscience is one's best judgment, in a given situation, on what here and now is to be done as good, or to be avoided as evil.  Because conscience is one's best judgment, a person has a duty to obey it.

....."He who acts against his conscience loses his soul".
A young man who was from his childhood to believe a stick or two of cigarette helps to drive away a cold, just as a shot of dry gin would, would continue to judge erroneously, that taking a shot of dry gin isn't detrimental to his health. It wouldn't even ring on his conscience for once as wrong or harmful. (Am not categorically saying a shot of dry gin is good or bad nor have I confirmed its efficacy in the cold)
But when your conscience says so, you must nonetheless follow your conscience and not smoke or drink. The reason is that if you were to drink it, you would be doing what in your best judgment is morally wrong.
This is what is meant by the "primacy of conscience", that is, conscience having the final word on what I ought to do in the here and now situation.
Many a times, we regularly engage in a particular behavior that we personally think is perfectly innocent, such as exaggeration, and our conscience does not bother us in the slightest when doing so, but happens to wrong as immoral, the larger chunk of those around us. In such cases, it could be that our conscience is deficiently informed. If one day as you recount an event, a colleague approaches and says:  "I think what you are doing is not right, we need to talk, but later." Something clicks automatically within your mind, and sets a search rolling within you. You soon start screening yourself.
Already your conscience has been pricked, even though your friend had no time to explain him(her)self.  When next you find yourself in a situation in which you're about to relay a story or incidence, your judgment bearing upon the act is now different as a result of your colleague's remarks. Though you still can't understand why your stand is shaking, but because your friend whom you know to be reasonable told you that it is wrong, your conscience is disturbed.  Your best judgment at this point is that "perhaps I should just tell it as it is".
NB:
When your conscience troubles, something is wrong somewhere.
Its failure to trouble you or enforce its presence does not guarantee that all is fine, it just might have drawn its last breath since your last action.
Be wise! LET CONSCIENCE LIVE!!!

Its The Wordsmith.
-TW™
(C) 2014.