The Way of Heaven

Principles of heaven and conscience are the same in essence… What is known without thinking is the innate knowledge of goodness. (Mencius, 372-289 BC)

In considering the vast stream of creation, from the Big Bang down to our life at this localized moment, we might wonder how to tap into that ongoing, creative stream, align ourselves with it, and serve it. Many things come into play, but central among them is our conscience, which the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius defines as our innate knowledge of goodness, known without thinking. He further explains that the principles of heaven are essentially the same as conscience. Or as Gurdjieff put the matter: the source of conscience in us is the representative of the Creator.[1]

From birth we each have this innate, intuitive sense, which we call conscience. To see how to serve the stream of creation, we listen for, hear, and follow our own conscience. Crucially, it not only tells us what is wrong, but also what is right. It is that sense of rightness that leads us to keep up with our duties and engage in the creative acts that move our small corner of the planet toward our collective evolution, while the sense of wrongness can prevent acts that move us in the opposite direction.

But the promptings of conscience are not always loud and clear. With a busy mind, full of associating thoughts and reacting emotions, conscience may be lost in the noise. For that, meditation, inner exercises, presence, and contemplative prayer can make room for conscience to be heard, not as thought, but as the intuitive impulse of rightness, or wrongness. As long as we are captivated by an actively self-centered egoism, for which conscience is anathema, its promptings are downplayed, ignored, disputed, or ridiculed. To hear and abide by conscience may mean going against our desires, our likes and dislikes, our laziness, greed, and cravings. This is a core form of inner work that weakens the hold of egoism and strengthens our will by aligning us with the great stream of will.

Of course, we always do a sanity check on any promptings we believe may be from conscience, to resist our self-suggestibility, to avoid hearing only what our personality wants to hear, and to make sure our actions do not violate the common morality, norms, and laws of our society. The source of conscience is also the source of love; we let kindness color all of our actions.

The Way of Heaven invites us not only to act in accord with its principles, but also to aspire to enter heaven, if only intermittently, while still possessing this living, physical body. For that we need first to hear the call of heaven. It acts on all of us, though not all feel that call. For those who do, many responses and many paths are available to enable us to draw near. For that we need a soul, a well-developed soul, and an integrated, purified will.

Listening to and living by conscience plays a key role in that integration and purification. Our other inner work of meditation, presence, and prayer, clears our vision, raises us out of identifications, decreases the inner noise, and leads us toward seeing through the illusion of egoism, which is the opposite of conscience. With egoism we are driven toward serving what we mistakenly believe to be our self, while with conscience we are drawn toward serving the greater good, humanity, the Earth, and the Sacred. It is always useful to ask oneself: what am I serving?

Meditation quiets our mind and heart and leads toward inner peace. Having a clear conscience leads toward inner peace. Seeing that our thoughts and emotions are just thoughts and emotions, and not identifying with them, leads toward inner peace. Seeing through the illusion of our own ego leads toward inner peace. And inner peace allows us to live in the non-separateness that is love.

[1] G.I. Gurdjieff: Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, 1950, p. 372

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