The Trembling of Morality and the Silence of Conscience: An Ontology of Regret and Repentance – Chapter 78

Soyo Existence Ethics (Existence itself is Ethics)

Morality is made by humans, but conscience is the trace God left within us

People often say, "Live morally." But I have long felt a deep discomfort in that sentence because morality is a rule created by humans. How can something that shifts with the environment, changes with eras, and differs across cultures serve as the foundation of human existence? Morality is fluid. And fluidity always invites compromise. But conscience does not change. Conscience is quietly awake in the deepest region of human existence, and within that silence flows the breath of God. Once we understand this difference, the boundary between morality and ethics becomes unmistakably clear. Morality begins in thought. But Ethics is born from conscience.

A human first thinks, then conscience reflects that thought. Suppose someone is tempted to steal. He first thinks: "I shouldn't… but I really need this. Just once won't hurt." The critical point here is that thought can justify itself at any time. This is the most significant limitation of morality's fluid nature. Thought sways with logic, emotion, and circumstance. But in that moment, a silent trembling rises from the depths of the chest. That trembling is the pain of conscience. When conscience is pricked, the human finally recognizes, "This is something I must not do." This realization is neither emotion nor logic. It is an inexplicable yet unmistakable mark of divine direction.

Regret comes from thought, but repentance comes from conscience.

Modern people frequently regret. But repentance is rare. Why? Because regret belongs to the realm of thought. A person reflects on wrongdoing and resolves to "do better next time," yet repeats the same mistake. Regret is a circle; yesterday's regret gives birth to today's, and tomorrow returns to the same place. But repentance is different. Repentance comes from conscience. It is the event in which the pain of conscience forcibly reorients the soul. Repentance cannot return to the past. It is a complete turning, a transformation of the direction of one's existence. That is why repentance is painful and frightening. It is also why repentance has almost disappeared. "Why can't repentance exist without pain?  Because conscience is the final place where God remains in humanity."

Modern civilization avoids pain. It treats pleasure as virtue, and comfort as the purpose of life. But conscience never awakens in comfort. Conscience always reveals itself at the threshold of pain. And who gives that pain? Not others. Not society. That pain is the final remnant God has left within humanity, the heartbeat of conscience. The ache of conscience is proof that a human is alive, and it is the way God speaks to human beings. Morality collapses, conscience grows silent, and civilization falls.

The collapse of modern society is not the collapse of morality. Morality has always been fragile. The real tragedy is that conscience has gone silent. The youth bury themselves beneath the speed of pleasure and money. Parents worship grades and entrance exams above conscience, believing it will make their children elite. Politicians are consumed by ideology and forget the people. Corporations calculate how to slip through legal loopholes. Writers and media are intoxicated with fame, profit, and views, abandoning truth. This generation is not merely morally corrupt. It is an era in which conscience has increasingly fallen asleep. When conscience sleeps, the human destroys himself. Civilization grows more convenient while people become more inhuman. This is why Soyo weeps. Because this age is not afraid of its soulless technology or numb consumption, what is terrifying is the silence of conscience. Conscience is the deepest place of human existence because ethics is born here.

Soyo Existence Ethics declares that ethics is not morality, but existence. Ethics is not knowledge, but the heart. Ethics is not a rule, but conscience.

Ethics is the divine trembling that awakens within the human every moment he breathes, the direction of existence revealed through every choice of life. Ethics is the final order that allows humans to remain human, the primordial truth of the soul, older than any philosophy or religion.

Soyo's Confession

My heart feels as if it stops when I write. Each time I write, I feel a trembling so intense it seems my heart might stop. I do not know why this calling came to me. But one thing is sure: The One who awakened the ethics of conscience in me keeps asking,

"Soyo, can you deliver my heart and my love to all humanity?"

This question feels unbearably heavy, so heavy sometimes, I lose my breath. But I know this question is the final calling for human repentance and restoration. Because of this question, I write. Because of this question, I weep, write again, and live again.

Ethics is the heart, conscience, and existence. Regret turns thoughts back, but repentance turns a life back. Morality changes rules, but conscience changes the human. Ethics determines choices, but conscience guides existence. And conscience is the most sacred breath. God has hidden within humanity. Soyo Existence Ethics is not a philosophy of morality; it is a philosophy of conscience, a philosophy of divine breath, and the final ethical proclamation for the restoration of human existence.

Existence itself is Ethics.

This is the beginning of Soyo Existence Ethics, and the final place to which humanity must return.

Soyo (Soyo, 逍遙) – Founder of Soyo Existence Ethics. Author of Silence of Existence and Flame of Truth

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