“I saw that there was an infinite ocean of darkness and death, but also an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.”

George Fox

“Conscience,” Chapter 5 in Robert Lawrence Smith’s A Quaker Book of Wisdom, explores conscience as a manifestation of the Divine light in each of us. Smith recounts his experience serving in the United States military during World War II as an act of conscience. As a Quaker, a religion committed to pacifism, he writes about his individual decision to serve as the way in which he followed the Quaker call to, “Let your life speak.” He also explains the conscientious objectors who chose not to serve were acting on conscience, too. Smith considers both acts of conscience. His example illustrates the complexity of acting on conscience.

Smith recalls asking himself the following questions when deciding whether or not to join the military, “Is there that of God in every man? Can you maintain the ideal in a world dominated by barbaric cruelty? Doesn’t keeping humanity alive take precedence over belief in nonviolence?” His answers to those questions ultimately guided him to military service. Those questions speak to this moment.

I am asking a few questions myself right now. How can we connect with and add to the infinite light and love in myself and others? In what ways can we be a force for light? What does “letting my life speak” really look like? How do we keep anger from extinguishing our light? If our conscience is our truth, and our truth is our light, then the task before us is to feed the light in our selves and others. Be part of the infinite wave of light and love. That is the ultimate act of conscience.

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