Day 59 – Q 3. There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts. Comment.

3. There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts. Comment. 

न्याय की अदालतों की तुलना में एक उच्च न्यायालय है और यह अंतरात्मा की अदालत है। यह अन्य सभी अदालतों को प्रभावित करता है। टिप्पणी करें।

Introduction:

Court of justice is where justice is delivered after hearing both confronting parties, based on ethical principles and legal jurisprudence. 

Conscience is one’s inner compass, guide, inner voice that guides our behaviour. Court of conscience is our inner-self where we introspect our behaviour. Its an honest account of our action, as our inner self have all the knowledge of us. We cannot lie there.  

Body

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts

• One cannot lie with one’s conscience.
• It doesn’t take time to identify if one is guilty. One does not have to go through long court proceedings. One just has to honestly introspect, and the judgement is instant.  
• As Immanuel Kant said, “In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”
• Court of conscience is most easily accessible. It can be used to judge an action, before performing it. Court of justice mostly judges an action post-facto.
• Court of justice imposes physical punishments. Court of conscience punishes on much more deeper level – emotional, psychological, spiritual level. It creates inner dissonance, crisis of conscience and in general unhappy state of mind. 
• Powerful people may be elusive from court of justice, but cannot escape court of Justice. Ashoka, being the king, himself was court of justice. However, after battle of Kalinga he realised his mistake of raising such a large battle. It was court of conscience that directed him to reform.   

Conclusion

Hence court of conscience is the more important to direct ethical behaviour of people. However, conscience must be an awakened one. To develop conscience one must do ethical analysis of the situations around us. As Aristotle has said, “ethical competence develops as a result of practice”.