Justice

The main subject of Tarry's talk on sunday was, as I mentioned in an earlier post, justice, and I'd like to take some time here to elaborate on some of the concepts he elucidated.

Justice, according to the Baha'i teachings, has its manifestation at two levels.

1. The individual level: At the individual level justice as a quality is intrinsically related to the way we view the world. As Baha'u'llah says in the Hidden words, "The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee." It is therefore only through possessing a sense of justice and fairness that we are able to turn the mirrors of our soul towards the grace of God, reflect the rays he sends down towards us, and bask in the sunshine of his knowledge. But what exactly does it mean to be just or fair? Baha'u'llah further expounds - "By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor." The quality of justice, therefore, is closely linked to one of the fundamental Baha'i teachings - that of the independent investigation of the truth. Each of us has been endowed with the capacity to reason, to understand, and to discern. It is therefore incumbent upon us that we use our faculties on the spiritual path, and seek out the truth with a "searching eye". Neither should we blindly believe what others tell us, nor should we be satisfied with a superficial understanding of things.

Justice can also be understood in terms of the lack of prejudice - for this is truly what fairness means. As even the root of the word indicates (pre + judge), having prejudices implies that we prejudge things or situations or people, form opinions without having complete knowledge, and essentially for unreasonable judgments or conclusions. Possessing a just heart would imply that in every interaction we have with the world and its inhabitants, we abandon prejudice and instead search for the truth with an open heart. The latter is actually one of the most difficult things, in my opinion. Though it might be easier to tell oneself not to be prejudiced about people, to be truly open to the truth in all its forms is ever so difficult - for we each grow up with our own baggage, our own history, our own upbringing, within a societal framework which shapes and molds our instincts and opinions - and so usually we start off on the spiritual journey with a preconceived idea of what the truth is, or might be. Usually we shy away for certain kinds of reality, while being attracted towards others, because of what we've always grown up taking for granted. Shedding these veils, ridding oneself of these barriers to seeing the truth, and learning to be just and fair in all our interactions with reality is truly one of the greatest challenges along the spiritual path.

2. The social level: Justice, at the level of society, is expressed through another of the fundamental tenets of the Baha'i teachings - unity. Baha'u'llah says that it is impossible to have a just society unless we are able to wholly transform the current social order into one which is based on the unity of mankind. This is of course a slow and gradual process, but, according to the Baha'i writings, inevitable. The inevitability of unity and oneness is actually a fairly reasonable claim, I believe, and there are two arguments I'll give for that. One, if we look at human history, we see a move towards greater and greater levels of aggregation. At a very early point in their evolution, humans probably lived just with their families, or in groups of small families. This evolved into a situation where the fundamental unit of grouping became a tribe. Further along in history we see the emergence of city-states and kingdoms. And today we find ourselves in an era where the basic unit of governance in the world is the nation-state. The change from one social structure to another has taken many centuries - but it has been definitive. And over time it has also affected the mentality of people - where at one time, which particular city they were from formed a basic part of someone's identity, today that does not matter so much. Rather, which country we are from is one of the strongest elements of our identity (and also one of the key determinants of our future, the social conditions we grow up in, the opportunities available to us, and so on). And so though it might seem at this point in history that given how much people identify with their nations, that we cannot possible unite, it would be well to remember that some time in the past, people thought very much the same about their city, or kingdom. And we would do well to remember that even now, we do see some glimmerings of the higher level of aggregation - the League of Nations (followed by the UN) was the first experiment of its kind, where many countries came together as a group. Undoubtedly even the UN in its current form is severely flawed in many ways - but it is remarkable, nevertheless, that such an experiment has survived, and continues to get stronger and more diverse in its operations with time.

The second reason why the unity of mankind seems inevitable, is the fact that a lot of the problems and social forces we face today are pushing us inexorably towards that. Today the world is so interlinked in every possible way, that it is impossible for any country to exist in isolation (which in the past was entirely possible, and in fact, the order of things). Likewise some of the problems we face today, such as the environmental crisis, economic issues etc, are of a truly global nature, and problems that can only be solved if all nations come together in an attempt to attack them. Therefore, all forces in society seem to be pushing us towards accepting the oneness of mankind as well.

In another of the Hidden words, Baha'u'llah extorts:

"O CHILDREN OF MEN!

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since we have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest."

This unity and oneness, then, needs to become the foundation for our social organization - and that alone, says Baha'u'llah, will lead to a just society. It is not hard to see why this might be the case - for if at the individual level, prejudices continue to exist, we can never reach unity and oneness - and if we have biases against certain groups of people, and have already prejudged them, it is impossible to be completely fair and unbiased.

Therefore what we need is the establishment of justice, first in our hearts, and second in our social systems. And it is extremely important, in this process, to ensure we don't confuse the two, something which often tends to happen. When someone wrongs us, for example, we decide that justice needs to be meted out - and so we get angry, hold it against them, maybe try and punish them for what they did. But this is not what justice really means - for at the individual level, true justice always involves forgiveness. The just and fair thing for us to do is to, in our hearts, instantly forgive anyone who wrongs us. As Baha'u'llah says, "There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if ye look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy. Therefore, do not look at the shortcomings of anybody; see with the sight of forgiveness." The right thing to do, spiritually, therefore, is to always forgive.

At the social level, however, institutions must exist which can mete out justice - but its nothing personal. Society does need to punish criminals, there should be consequences for our actions - but that is for society and social institutions to enforce, not individuals. As I mentioned in an earlier post on non-violence, justice will require us to have a police force, a judicial system - but at no point should any of the individuals who are a part of that system enforce justice because they feel personally wronged, or out of vengeance. This difference between justice at the individual and social level is key to recognize.