It’s a “navigator”, so to speak. There’s a “pain”, a sense of being torn, or wrong, within us, which is associated with guilt when we’ve done something wrong, even if we haven’t necessarily admitted or acknowledged to ourselves that it was wrong. Likewise, there can be a sense of rightness-integrity or wholeness -when we know we’ve done the “right thing”. But, due to the fall, our consciences are somewhat compromised or dimmed because we’re exiled into a world where pride and selfishness are exalted, even if this is never openly recognized, and these traits are generally opposed to love of God and neighbor and so often come into conflict with the conscience God’s written on our hearts. And so the conscience can be hardened, where we’re longer sensitive to these feelings.
