A crisis of conscience refers to a profound inner conflict or dilemma arising from a clash between one’s ethical principles, values, or beliefs, and external pressures or circumstances. It’s a moment when one’s moral compass is tested, requiring a difficult decision that may challenge personal integrity or societal norms. One such instance in my life occurred when I witnessed a colleague unjustly taking credit for a project I had spearheaded. Initially torn between confronting the situation or staying silent to maintain workplace harmony, I grappled with the ethical implications. Ultimately, I chose to address the issue directly with my colleague, expressing my concerns calmly and assertively. Though uncomfortable, this confrontation led to a resolution where credit was rightfully attributed, preserving fairness and integrity in the workplace. This experience reinforced the importance of standing up for what is right, even in the face of adversity.
Tag: Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour.
Decoding the Question:
- In the Introduction, try to give the definition of Crisis of conscience.
- In Body, narrate one incident in your life when you were faced with such a crisis and how you resolved the same.
- In Conclusion, try to give how a crisis of conscience helped you to take a stand or future decisions in your life.
Answer:
A crisis of conscience is a situation when people are confused between right and wrong. People often worry about their actions that may turn unfair or morally wrong in such situations. This happens due to the moral principles rooted deep within, which involve self-evaluation and introspection. Further, this feeling of judging the self leads to regret and other emotions.
Interpretation of Crisis of Conscience:
- A crisis of conscience is a time when a person faces severe difficulty to decide if his or her action is ethically correct.
- Apart from this speculation while choosing between right and wrong, the crisis can work in retrospect. It is when a person is undergoing some punitive feelings because of the thought of doing something morally unfair or wrong previously.
- This situation of moral dilemma can also turn into a more substantial feeling. It is when a person fears to end up doing an action that is ethically wrong by not following the voice of conscience.
- It also often becomes hard to act by self-value and principles. People end up refusing their voice of conscience for some materialistic demand or greed and behave contrarily. This course of action, due to worldly need and desire, starts eroding the voice of conscience and human nature.
- Nevertheless, humans, for some uncontrollable reasons or circumstances, often end up going against their beliefs. Such situations can also create a sense of guilt and regret.
Incident in Life Faced with Such A Crisis:
College life in anybody’s life brings aspiration and dreams to achieve the desired goals and dreams. It gives thrust to mark presence in every domain be it at studies or in extracurricular activities. In my college time, I was aspiring to get selected for college secretary. The opponent for college secretary was as strong and had good command over communication. I feared that I would lose the selection from him. Here, I got to know something personal about him which I knew that if I put it in the public domain, it would tarnish his image and stature.
For a while I was determined to use his personal details for my win and planned completely to use that in my stride because at that time the desire to win was dominating me more. But at the same time, I am struggling with a crisis of conscience. I knew that I would be morally wrong if I used his personal information. Giving more thought into this, I decided not to use a filthy method to win the post of secretary. Although I lost the post but was happy that good moral sense prevailed and did not venture into an unethical method.
A crisis of conscience brings a tough moral question to a person. In this situation, he or she must consider what is fair and just to answer this question. One also must remember that it is imperative for a human to always follow the voice of conscience and be ethically right. Therefore, it is not always possible to eliminate remorse from within. Thus, the crisis of conscience in human beings gives the ability to judge his/her character, act and helps to choose the right path.
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