Celebrating the United Nations' designation of April 5 as the
International Day of Conscience
Working Together for an Era of Conscience, Love, and Peace
Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze
President of Federation of World Peace and Love
2019.09.27
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening!
In opening, please accept my most sincere welcome to everyone attending this important gathering of conscience. Let’s all be facilitators as we usher in an era of conscience.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution “Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience” and declared April 5th as the International Day of Conscience during its 73rd session. Since FOWPAL co-organized World Leader Summits of Love and Peace with the Permanent Missions of Bahrain and Kiribati in 2018, we have visited many nations, promoting a culture of peace with love and conscience in order to achieve the 17 SDGs by 2030. All world citizens should be united with conscience to develop comprehensive plans to address our collective economic, political and environmental challenges.
Conscience is an inherent treasure. It is the most important asset throughout our lifetime. It is the guide that allows people to distinguish true from false, good from bad, and right from wrong. Conscience is the key to our hearts, inspiring the inherent kindness in human souls and unlocking the endless potential that we have yet to develop. Our potential will be released when we treat all living beings as our siblings and devote ourselves to world peace. Conscience is the antidote to adversity in life. It gives us wisdom. It is the most important wellspring from our hearts that enables us to settle conflicts. It provides solutions to current world issues by revealing the root of the problems.
Conscience is at the heart of human rights protections. We bear the responsibility of passing on to future generations a world free of bullying, fear, wars, and violations of human rights. Therefore, we need a paradigm shift to a culture of peace which consists of values, attitudes and behaviors that reflect and inspire the conscience in everyone’s heart. The seed of love and peace is rooted in the awakening of human conscience, nourished by the warmth of heart-to-heart interactions among human beings that radiate the splendor of life.
Conscience is the only thing we share in common that can bind us together irrespective of the differences in skin color, language, gender and beliefs. Every person was born with a conscience. It is a gift every one of us is endowed with. However, we gradually drift apart from our old friend—conscience—and get closer to the evil. Eventually, we no longer connect with our conscience. Therefore, we have to reconnect it by making tiny changes out of love and conscience in our daily lives. Gradually, the voice of conscience will become louder and clearer. The calling of conscience will reconnect us to our inner capability of making right decisions and doing the right things and reconstruct our modes of behavior and ways of life to reject violence and prevent conflicts.
Deep inside our hearts are common aspirations for love, peace, kindness and all those beautiful things in life. Only when our mutual benefits and common interests are satisfied are we able to create win-win situations. So let’s allow conscience to guide us to a true era of conscience where love, peace and human dignity are enjoyed by all.
The best way to observe the International Day of Conscience is by constantly purifying our hearts and creating a culture of peace. A culture of peace goes beyond the absence of wars. It is a way of life in which our values, attitudes and behaviors are shaped and nourished by conscience. Through the cultivation of the heart, we fill the heart with love, peace and conscience, and we share with the world this energy of the heart. The more we share, the more love and peace we put into our hearts and project into the world. The more we share our love, the more love we will get back in return. Let’s be united with love and put love into actions.
The UN Resolution on the International Day of Conscience marks an important milestone for our collective endeavors to build a sustainable world based upon peace, solidarity and humanity. Our efforts cannot stop here, and we will continue to awaken the conscience of all people around the world. Therefore, let’s call upon people from all walks of life to take charge of human endeavors at all levels of society and in all spheres of social, economic, scientific and technological development with love and conscience. The more seeds of conscience we plant today, the nearer we are to a paradise of love and peace for all people.
Conscience brings love and peace. In order to realize a culture of peace, the United Nations and every one of us should practice love and conscience in our different capacities and set examples for world citizens to follow. We hope everyone can live in a true Era of Conscience and bring blessings to the people of the world, the earth, and all living things.
Everyone is a leader of conscience. Everyone is a hero of conscience. When our hearts are calm and pure, our wisdom will be unleashed. We should follow “three do’s and three don’ts.”
Three do’s :
- Love others and love ourselves.
- Do our best in everything.
- Have a clear conscience.
Three don’ts:
- Don’t misunderstand others or misunderstand ourselves.
- Don’t be angry with others or ourselves.
- Don’t resent others or ourselves.
Following this guideline will benefit ourselves and the people of the world, and will save ourselves and global citizens. We tend to repeat the aforementioned three don'ts; therefore, we should change our mindsets instantly. When everyone does the three dos and avoids the three don’ts, world peace will be realized.
Once again, thank you for coming.
* Presented in the World Leader Summit of Love and Peace at
the United Nations headquarters on Sep. 27, 2019 in New York.