Conscience - Rationalization
from various sources including the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
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"For Man has in his Heart a Law inscribed by God"
Infused/Innate Knowledge -
"Synderesis"/"First Principles"
God writes His Name on the Soul of every Man at Conception. Reason and Conscience are the God within us
in the Natural Order. The Fathers of the Early Church were wont to speak of the Wisdom of Plato and Aristotle as the 'unconscious'
Christ within us. Men are like so many Books issuing from the Divine Press, and if nothing else be written on them, at least the
Name of the Author is indissolubly engraved on the Title Page. God is like the 'Watermark on Paper', which may be written over
without ever being obscured.
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Rationalization and Conscience
are closely related. The Process of Rationalization begins with a Foregone Conclusion and
makes Conclusions without Testing against Intellect; Conclusion is of
Primary Importance, Truth is Secondary.
Persons protecting themselves by Rationalizing are interested not in finding the
Truth, but in maintaining the Illusion that
allows them to continue their Behavior. For them to succeed in this, everyone must Accede to their
Rationalization. If you are going to Kill Innocent Persons you had better
convince yourself and others that is Right, that you "do it out of
Compassion"; i.e. Abortion, Mercy
Killing. If you are going to center your Public Life on the Private Act of Sodomy,
you had better Transform Sodomy into a "Highly Moral
Act". Since we are born with an Innate/Infused Knowledge
"Synderesis" of God's Rules to live by,
all of our Actions need to be Measured against these Rules. If we are able to
Falsely Justify to our Conscience that what we have
done or plan to do is in compliance with our Innate/Infused Knowledge, we give ourselves an
'Excuse' to allow Unacceptable Behavior. This process is called
Rationalization. A Guilty
Conscience is telling you that it doesn't buy your
Rationalization. Other explanations for Rationalization include:
A Defense Mechanism in which a plausible Reason is
Unconsciously Invented by the Ego to protect itself from confronting the real
Reason for an Action, Thought, or Emotion.
For example, a person Invents an Acceptable Motive to explain Unacceptably Motivated
Behavior.
A Defense Mechanism by which your True Motivation is concealed by explaining your Actions and
Feelings in a way that is not Threatening.
The Act of devising Self-Satisfying, but Incorrect Reasons for one's behavior.
Rationalization is simply the means by which People convince themselves that
they're Right.
Any of a variety of Unconscious Personality Reactions which the Ego uses to protect the
Conscious Mind from Threatening
Feelings and Perceptions. Primary Defense Mechanisms include Repression
and Denial, which serve to prevent Unacceptable Ideas or
Impulses from entering the Conscience.
Ethics and Morals are the essence of Humanity.
Without Ethics and Morals One becomes
Inhuman. Rationalization removes
Ethics and Morals from the
Intelligence Equation. Rationalization is a
False Philosophy, driven by Selfishness and
used to Rationalize Immoral Decisions. Rationalization
Disregards the Adverse Effects Ones Actions can have on Others as long as the
Wrongly Desired Result is obtained. Rationalization
is an Application of the Philosophy that "the Ends Justify the
Means".
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Conscience ≠ a Virtue of the Soul
