4036. Because they did not know what conscience is, they asked me what conscience is, and I was inspired to tell them that it is all that inner feeling that one is doing something contrary to what is good and true, as when one realizes that something is against truth and goodness, the person feels it to be against them, and that there is a certain conscious holding back, as there was with me. Further, that there is a perception given by the Lord, together with pain, that one is doing something contrary to goodness and truth, and one is touched by sorrow, and almost sheds tears - which is an innermost conscience, for so do they weep when something contrary to goodness occurs. 1748, 22 Nov.
4036. As they were ignorant of what conscience is, they asked of me respecting its nature. It was given to reply, that it was all that internal sensation which is experienced when a man acts contrary to goodness and truth. When anything of this nature is done, man is conscious of the contrariety, so that it operates as a certain kind of sensible check, as with me; moreover, that it is a perception given by the Lord, by virtue of which one is affected with pain that he has done aught that is contrary to goodness and truth, and with a self-sorrow, so that he, as it were, sheds tears, as the principle is one of the most interior nature; for weeping ensues when anything is done contrary to good. - 1748, November 22.
4036. Quia nesciebant quid conscientia, quaerebant me quid conscientia, eis dicere datum, quod sit omnis is sensus, internus, cum facit homo contra bonum et verum, [sicut] perceptum, quod cum aliquid est contra verum et bonum, sentiat homo quod sit contra illa, tum quod sit retentio quaedam, sensibilis, ut apud me; porro quod sit perceptio, quae data a Domino, cum dolore ut faciat contra bonum et verum et cum misericordia tangitur, ut quasi lachrymas fundat, quod sit conscientia intima; nam sic lachrymant, dum contra bonum aliquid fit. 1748, 22 Nov.