The man, believing himself wronged, sought justice in his
prayer: “My neighbor has a new
goat. I do not. Kill my neighbor’s goat!”
This variation on an old Russian peasant’s tale illustrates
a common, and distorted, concept of justice.
The contemporary version goes like this:
“She has all the luck. I am
unlucky. Take away her good
fortune!” Make him/her as miserable as
me.
The question, in both versions, is the status of the
petitioner – is he/she better off when the neighbor’s goat dies and the other
person suffers disaster? No. Yet a curious sense of “justice” prevails – they’re suffering just like me.
This kind of justice believes that if one person gains, it
is at the expense and suffering of another.
Too much of a good thing for one, you see, creates too much of misery
for another. Except that it isn’t
true. The reality is an abundance in
universe, that joy is the object of pursuit and everyone is as prosperous and
joyful as their faith (belief) allows.
It is not the lack of anything that produces misery, it is the belief in
lack that produces the misery. Remember
that negative emotions serve the same purpose as physical pain – alerting
consciousness that something is awry. In
the case of mis-guided justice, what’s awry is a false belief in cause and
effect. Or, a confusion of universal law
and man-made law, a.k.a. render unto Caesar
that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.
Justice is defined as the
maintenance or administration of what is just (conformity with what is
morally upright or good) especially by
the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of material
rewards or punishment and conformity
to truth, fact, or reason. Merriam-Webster.
The Bible addresses justice in Matthew: 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2. For
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again. This
is the ancient concept of karma. It is
the impartial assignment conforming to truth.
Why be cautious about judging?
The Bible clarifies in Romans - Dearly
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is
written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord.
Historically man-made law reflects universal law to a lesser
degree, thus justice seeks to reduce or eliminate accepted “evils” – don’t
kill, steal, and such. If an offender of
the man-made law is suitably punished for his crime, then justice is served.
So, what’s going on with this judge-not, don’t seek
vengeance, stuff? Conformity with truth,
fact and reason. Using a sense of
“justice” to call for punishment on another will come full circle - as is said
– for doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Thus, perhaps, the caution to leave vengeance to
the Creator. To observe and energize “injustice”
whether a personal wrong, or a fear that someone else is escaping punishment is
to place the observer in the midst of the injustice/wrong – the Law of
Attraction will respond and bring to the person more of what they are giving attention.
It’s impossible to escape the consequences of conscious
attention – literal cause and effect.
The ruling principle has to be what is desired: Do I want to feel good or, do I want to feel
bad? A thousand variations on that
theme, granted, but still the same theme.
“I won’t rest until that $%!@#!!! gets justice!” “How can you be so happy when they are so
miserable?” “You don’t need another car,
what about all those without a car period?”
“If you didn’t eat out as much you could give that money to the poor…” “Your carbon footprint is too big…” On and
on, and on. Variations on a theme.
Concerned about justice?
Relax. Justice is assured,
without exception, measure for measure, with unfailing fairness. The Law of Attraction.
