ABSTRACT
Conscience is the foundation stone of natural religion. It is the echo in the ego of reality, of the other. Contrary to common opinion, the super-ego is not synonymous with conscience. Conscience is the foundation stone of natural mature religion. It is only when the super-ego begins to diminish in the intensity of its activity that it begins to be replaced by conscience. The savage super-ego is reproaching the ego for something. What emerges from psychoanalytic investigation is that the savage attacks of the super-ego are always present where the other as a feeling person is obliterated. The super-ego condemns, but in the very condemnation the individual stays stuck in the erotic craving. Actions whose source is in the super-ego are closely linked to instinct. The super-ego is the inheritance in the individual of this group-driven behaviour, from which there has been only the beginning of intentional action.
