{"id":2530,"date":"2014-10-14T21:30:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.narcissismcured.com\/blog\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2020-07-12T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T04:31:10","slug":"conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narcissismcured.com\/thelovesafetynet\/conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"Inner Connections 4 – Conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Master Class Dashboard<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Inner Connections Dashboard<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]\"E\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is there an Emotionally Intelligent Way to Access your Conscience?<\/h2>\n

I do not usually write about spiritual matters. Our work is based on emotional intelligence which is science and not faith. Still, in all my years of work and study, I have failed to come up with a satisfactory means of regulating fear that does not involve some type of faith that the powers that influence our lives are active, compassionate and kind.<\/i><\/p>\n

The process I offer here for accessing your conscience is not spiritual or religious. Instead, I have come up with a method anyone can use (regardless of their faith), based on emotional intelligence and lateral thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are welcome to skip to this exercise at the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

First\u2014I would like to share some of my thoughts on prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer to Soften Your Partner\u2019s Heart?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

I often talk to partners in abusive relationships who have had a church elder tell them that they should pray and trust God to soften their partner\u2019s heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

To me, this would be similar to a plumber telling a person with burst pipes in their home that they should pray that God will fix the pipes for them, or a person running a soup kitchen sending hungry patrons away telling them to pray for God to provide them with food.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others say they should turn to the Bible for answers.<\/p>\n

With the Bible being as long and diverse as it is\u2014written in times so different than our own\u2014how is this meant to help someone?<\/p>\n

Should this person read about stoning wives for adultery? Or Lot sleeping with his daughters?<\/p>\n

If church elders cannot provide families in their church with emotional support and resources to improve their marriage, I believe they are in the wrong job.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer is not a reliable means of accessing wisdom from our conscience.<\/p>\n

Any sensible prayer should <\/b><\/span>not change God\u2019s mind but<\/b><\/span> our perspective<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

I find it interesting that in the book of Job in the Bible, Job refuses to ask God to deliver him from his afflictions. Instead, Job says that if it is God\u2019s will that he suffer, who is he (Job) to request God do anything differently?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God, in the end, affirms Job’s position on this.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I would like to offer a process to access our conscience, that instead of asking God to do anything differently, will instead\u00a0bring ourselves <\/i>to a higher state of mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is vital in regulating fear<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

Fear is an important signal, but like all emotion, it\u2019s essential we can regulate and \u2018turn it off\u2019 once we have got the message about what the danger is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise, fear can become debilitating and leave us in a situation where we are powerless to act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some threats are things we can deal with by ourselves, but shutting that fear response off will sometimes require us having solid faith that there are higher powers that have our best interests at heart. These<\/span> may include family, elders and officials in our community, emergency services, institutional leaders, government officials and may also include divine beings such as angels, or God.<\/span><\/p>\n

In times of prosperity, it is easy for us to feel these higher powers are benevolent and kind. However, when times are troubled and life becomes cruel, it is easy to become fearful and lose faith in the powers that rule over our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even worse can be times when things are unpredictable, and we may begin to fear the higher authorities meant to protect us are self-serving, dormant or fickle and have become indifferent to our needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

This shifting perspective poses a profound philosophical question that most of us rarely think about but still affects our lives:<\/span><\/p>\n

Do we consider\u00a0the supreme power and intelligence in the universe;<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n