Second Anniversary of the UN’s Adoption of
International Day of Conscience
Creating Global Peace and Security
with Love, Conscience, and Solidarity
Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze
President of Federation of World Peace and Love
Vice-President of Association of World Citizens
Zhang-men-ren of Tai Ji Men
July 25, 2021
It is a great pleasure to meet all of you online to celebrate the second anniversary of the UN’s adoption of the International Day of Conscience. The United Nations is an international community that brings together world leaders and leaders from all walks of life. Recognizing that conscience is the foundation of world peace, the United Nations adopted the International Day of Conscience, as the 166th United Nations Day. As the initiator of the day, I would like to commend your efforts in supporting and promoting the International Day of Conscience. Your efforts to spread a global culture of conscience to all countries and communities motivates us to keep moving forward.
I launched the movement of An Era of Conscience in 2014 and have continued to promote the endorsement campaign for the declaration of conscience and related activities to encourage global citizens to promote the culture of peace with love and conscience. Our achievements and efforts have won international recognition and support. To date, people from 200 countries have joined the movement. The United Nations adopted the resolution, “Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience,” on July 25, 2019, making this date an important milestone as it declared April 5 the International Day of Conscience, reminding people to self-reflect and awaken the hidden good energy within to improve themselves, help others, and make their communities more harmonious in order to raise global awareness of solidarity and action to change the world, as well as achieve world peace with “conscience,” which is the root of everything.
It has been two years since the International Day of Conscience was adopted by the UN. The global pandemic has caused great geopolitical tensions, deteriorating living environments, humanitarian crises, and unprecedented challenges in public health, national security, education, and human rights. In the post-pandemic era, uncertainty in society, economy, politics, and public health will be certain. The key to a nation’s continued existence lies in maintaining domestic and international peace and working together with other countries to combat the pandemic. People need to readjust their lifestyles to adapt to the new normal and incorporate more sustainable thinking, aka conscience and selfless love, into matters concerning individuals, families, communities, and even international interactions. To truly resolve the pandemic crisis and make fundamental changes, people need to follow their conscience in everything they do, unite themselves for global health, as well as help and love one another.
The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired new thinking about health and safety, as well as put our wisdom for global cooperation to the test. The goal of recovery in the post-pandemic era should be to reduce inequality while strengthening safety and security, with tolerance, understanding, and solidarity as the main axis of a safe society. Conscience is the key to the future of human development and a sustainable approach relies on international cooperation frameworks. Only by practicing conscience, can we find the solutions that can truly benefit all human beings and solve the world’s problems. Only by making global solidarity a hallmark of the post-pandemic era and making the world more inclusive and sustainable, can the world recover and become safer and more peaceful.
Conscience in world leaders and individuals alike is the driving force that allows us to achieve peace. Conscience is innate. We need to follow our conscience and respect, understand, believe in, and love ourselves and others. Conscience transcends divisions and leads us to see everything with equality and sincerity. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals involve interconnected issues. The root of these problems is suppressed or dormant conscience, and the process of achieving the goals depends on the courage of conscience. To truly solve these problems, we need to activate people’s conscience. Only when conscience-driven actions are carried out and their effects are seen can we truly realize the goal of sustainable development for world peace, which depends on the uninterrupted practice of conscience by every world citizen, united in true love and solidarity.
In order to benefit all humanity selflessly, we need to act with conscience. Conscience is the light in darkness guiding us to the right direction when we feel helpless or discouraged in the face of difficulties or when we are lost in the material world. Conscience is the call for a better future from the depth of our hearts. When we calm our hearts and listen to the voice and pleas from within, we will wake up from the chaos, understand the meaning of life, and find the direction and objective of life.
The fight against the virus requires our collective efforts. The attainment of sustainable peace requires our collective actions of conscience. Conscience is the key to our pursuit of happiness and world peace. As more people’s conscience is inspired and awakened and our conscience-driven actions are connected, we are one step closer to world peace and harmony. From individuals, organizations, countries to multinational organizations and the world as a whole, citizens of the world should do their part to transform themselves and their surroundings with good intentions, good words, and good deeds, to bring about the butterfly effect and transform the world. Let the "culture of conscience" become the guiding principle of life and the foundation of social harmony, so as to build a more resilient and tolerant world with conscience, create a peaceful and happy future with love, and realize true sustainable development.
We hope that, together with the citizens of the world, more stories of conscience will be shared and reported, and more heroes of conscience will emerge.
May you all stay steadfast and diligent. May your conscience stay active forever!
*Presented at the ICDAY’s virtual event in celebration of
Second Anniversary of the UN’s adoption of
International Day of Conscience