Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 38
formation of the divine image within us, so far at least is certain, that, by
information external to ourselves, as time goes on, it admits of being
strengthened and improved. It is certain too, that, whether it grows brighter
and stronger, or, on the other hand, is dimmed, distorted, or obliterated,
depends on each of us individually, and on his circumstances. It is more that,
in the event, from neglect, from the temptations of life, from bad
companions, or from the urgency of secular occupations, the light of the soul
will fade away and die out. (105)
How does this conscience develop and grow? Newman speaks of the divine image being
strengthened and developed by ―information external to ourselves.‖ In John Henry‘s mind,
this world of ―nature and of man‖ is a mirror that enables the child to attain these first
truths of conscience. In his own case, certain ―information external‖ to himself will shed
light on his future decisions in conscience as they evolved. Hence, the individual
circumstances surrounding the life of Newman and every child become part of either a
brightening and strengthening, or a distortion and death. Nonetheless, God and our duty
are both intertwined in a manner ―singularly congenial to the mind,‖ due to the fact that the
growing infant initially goes beyond the mere shapes and aspects of goodness. The child
knows things, persons and actions, but naturally has a conscience with a sense of the divine
(103-05).
As he looked back at this life and noticed surprise after surprise, these truths had held firm.
So, for Newman, no event in a life is indifferent or purposeless. Indeed, unforeseen and
unusual circumstances can force untold influence on the development of each life and
conscience. His autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, would never have been born without
Kingsley‘s attack on his sincerity the ‖Letter to the Duke of Norfolk‖ without Gladstone‘s
critique of Catholic freedom An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine without his
exile from the Anglican Church. The world of ―nature and man‖ is the scaffolding on which
each person walks his path. These ideas are clearly expressed in the whole thrust of the
Apologia. Newman's secretum meum mihi—‗my personal secret‘—made him ―rest in the
thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my
Creator‖ (Apologia Pro Vita Sua 16). The meaning he gave to his life came from the central
truth of his teaching on conscience as knowing God as a self-evident Being from childhood.
To illustrate this philosophy of conscience, natural, personal and dependent on influences
external to itself, let us now contrast the teenagers Newman and Unamuno as they
understood and lived supremacy of conscience over religious authorities.
Adolescence brought Newman and Unamuno to the experience of a religious crisis. What will
be interesting in our analysis of this phenomenon will be to see how their concepts of
conscience reacted to a personal experience of religion in a revered adult. The key task will
be to see how Newman's and Unamuno's changes in thought were not purely subjective as
an emotional phenomenon, empty of all objective reality, but rather a reference to a definite
thought system, a questioning of authority, and a personal responsibility towards one‘s
future.
This question should set the stage to answer a deeper concern about conscience vis-à-vis
authority. If the authority of conscience is supreme as present from the beginning of human
conscience, as stated in Newman's philosophy of conscience, and lived in both his and
Unamuno's lives, can we consider this ethical philosophy as a foundation stone to avoid the
trap of mind manipulation and cult control for youth?
Immediately, we notice their first religious crisis as teenagers to be those of typical
adolescents with limited maturity and boundless idealism. Both youths combined religious
fervor and intellectual independence. Nevertheless, Newman himself attributed life-long
importance to this moment of religious conversion. After he became a Cardinal, he confided

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 39
to Anne Mozley, his sister-in-law and editor of his correspondence: ―Of course I cannot
myself be the judge of myself but ...I should say that it is difficult to realize or imagine
the identity of the boy before and after August 1816 ...I can look back at the end of
seventy years as if on another person‖ (Letters and Correspondence 1: 19)
Unamuno, likewise, carefully considers his first spiritual crisis at age 14:
En la época de este cuarto curso, a mis catorce años, cumplióse en mí, en
lecturas de vela y por la obra de la Congregación de San Luis Gonzaga, la
labor de la crisis primera de espíritu, de la entrada del alma en su pubertad. Y
voy a ver si consigo hallar palabras apropiadas y sencillas para contaros
aquella brisa de la maña de mi espíritu. ¡Feliz quien logra resucitar en su
memoria la candorosa expresión de sus años de romanticismo! (Recuerdos
103)
During fourth year, when I was 14, reading late at night and involved with the
Congregation of St. Luis Gonzaga, the work of my first spiritual crisis, my
soul‘s entry into puberty, took place. And I‘ll see if I find appropriate and
simple words to tell of that breeze of the spirit‘s craft. Happy whoever can
bring alive in memory the warm expression of romantic years!1
Unamuno later certainly was not the practicing Catholic, nor was Newman the Evangelical of
their early youth. Both teenagers, before their changes, clung to the upright religion and
morality previously learnt at home. However, some touches of what they later considered to
be superstitions were also present. At the beginning of the Apologia Newman stated how
―even though I had formed no religious conviction ...I used constantly to cross myself on
going into the dark‖ (14).
In Unamuno's case, he remembers his experience of childhood Catholic fervor and piety,
practicing all Holy Mother Church teaches, including praying for indulgences:
Verdad es que recuerdo también cómo habiendo leído en un devocionario una
jaculatoria que proporcionaba cincuenta días de indulgencia a cualquier fiel
por cada vez que devotamente la recitare, nos estuvimos una tarde una
prima mía y yo, sentados sobre la mesa de la cocina, recitándola una y otra
vez durante largo espacio de tiempo y llevando en un papel con raya de un
lápiz la cuenta, no ya de los meses, sino de los años de indulgencia que nos
habíamos ganado. (Recuerdos 22)
It‘s true that I remember as well that having read in a devotional of a prayer
that offered fifty days of indulgence to the faithful every time they devotedly
prayed it, my cousin and I spent an evening seated on the kitchen table,
praying over and over again for a long time and taking note with a pen and
paper, no longer the months, but the years of indulgences which we had won.
At this stage of their lives, Newman and Unamuno evinced an inkling of interest towards a
combination of intellectual philosophy and emotional Christianity. Their teenage study
became a first exposure to the liberal and conservative philosophies characteristic of the
18th and 19th centuries. In the same token, both thinkers began to steer away from
dogmatism towards a personal Christian faith.
The change or conversion took place for Newman when he was 15. John Henry was sent
away to the College at Ealing, where he had to remain after the close of the school term in
June because of the collapse of the bank that Mr. Newman directed. At Ealing, he found a
discreet and dedicated scholar in the Rev. Walter Mayers, a naturally serious man of
character. This shy person was above all dedicated to God, preoccupied with the Gospel
message. Mayers nonetheless always had a yearning for an even more apostolic mission