666. The angels who were above them had listened carefully to what each group said. They said to each other, "We gather that no one in Christianity knows what conscience is. We will send one of our own down there to teach them what it is. "
An angel in white clothing immediately appeared in the center of the groups. Around his head there was a shining halo with tiny stars in it. He addressed all four groups and said, "In heaven we heard you stating, one after the other, your opinions on conscience. You all expressed the thought that conscience is some mental pain with a heavy feeling that attacks first the head and then the body, or else first the body and then the head.
"Conscience itself is not, however, a pain of any kind. It is a spiritual willingness to follow religious and faithful practices. People who are blessed with conscience have peace, tranquillity, and inner bliss when they follow their conscience, and a lack of tranquillity when they go against their conscience.
"The mental pain you think is conscience is not actually conscience; it is an assault, which is a battle felt in either the spirit or the flesh. When the assault is spiritual in nature, it begins in the conscience; if the assault is only earthly in nature, it begins in the diseases the physicians just listed.
[2] "What conscience is can be illustrated with examples.
"Priests who have a spiritual willingness to teach truths so that their flock will be saved have conscience. Priests who teach truths for any other reason or purpose have no conscience.
"Judges who are single-mindedly focused on justice and who practice it with good judgment have conscience. Judges who are primarily seeking a reward, friendship, or favor have no conscience.
"For another example, when people have something that belongs to someone else, and the other person is not aware that they have it, and therefore they could simply keep it without any fear of the law or risk to their position or reputation, if they return it to the other person anyway, because it is not theirs, they have conscience. They are doing what is right because it is the right thing to do.
"Imagine people who have the opportunity to take a particular position, but who know that someone else, who is also seeking the position, would do a better job for the community. If they yield to the other candidate for the good of the community, they have a good conscience. And so on.
[3] "All who have a conscience say what they say from the heart and do what they do from the heart. They have a mind that is not divided. They speak and act on the basis of what they understand and believe to be good and true. It follows from this that people who have true beliefs and clear perception are able to have a better conscience than those who are not enlightened and have a hazy perception.
"Our true spiritual life lies in true conscience. In it, our faith and our goodwill come together. Following our conscience is acting on the basis of our true spiritual life; going against our conscience is acting against our true spiritual life.
"For another thing, surely everyone knows just from common speech what conscience is. When we say of someone, 'That person has a conscience,' don't we mean, 'That person is just'? And on the other hand, when we say, 'That person has no conscience,' don't we mean, 'That person is unjust'?"
[4] When the angel finished saying this, he was suddenly taken up into his heaven. The four groups broke up and mingled together as one large group. After they had spoken with each other for a while about what the angel had said, they divided again into four groups, but this time the groups were different than before. One group consisted of those who understood what the angel said and agreed with it. The second group consisted of those who did not fully comprehend what he said, but still felt favorable to it. The third group consisted of those who were unwilling to comprehend the angel's message. They said, "What does conscience have to do with us?" The fourth group consisted of people who were mocking the whole idea. They said, "Conscience is just gas pain!"
I saw the groups moving away from each other. The first two groups went off to the right; the last two went off to the left. The last two groups headed downward, but the first two headed upward.
