Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
~ Immanuel Kant
If the Moral Law is not explainable by socialisation or an evolutionary hangover, then what do we account for its presence? Something truly subtle is going on here. C.S Lewis wrote the following:
“If there is a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe-no more than the artifacts of a house could be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect is to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to tell us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find inside ourselves. Surely, this ought to arouse our suspicions?”
The word of God describes it this way,
" in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them " - Romans 2:15 (WEB).
The conscience is often described negatively, but here in Romans, it defends or approves of a course of action. Could this explain the feel-good factor that we experience when we do a kind act for others?