This article is about whether or not to seek justice. My life has changed its direction because I made a choice relating to this concept and though it was difficult at times, I think it has changed for the better. At the very least I have managed to avoid disaster in the form of getting in trouble with the law, harassment, being locked up indefinitely in a mental asylum or being dead. All of this is possible in India which is a feudal society with little respect for either ethics or the law amongst the elite.
I have linked to the earlier articles on this subject below. You may wish to go through them.
Confucius was once asked: “How do you regard the principle of returning good for evil?
He replied: What then would be the return of good? Rather we should return injustice with justice and good with good.
This teaching differs from the Christian precept of returning good for evil. The goals of Christianity differ from those of Confucius. Jesus would have us seek God but Confucius had no requirement of seeking the Divine in his philosophy. He wanted his followers to be good citizens and human beings and did not ask an impossibly high moral standard from his followers. Returning good for evil is good if you have made seeking God the most important thing in your life. In this age of Kalyug how many of us can claim that that is true of us.
And yet there are difficulties also in following the teaching of Confucius. In the first place how do we know what is true justice. Speaking of myself I did not have the information as to who has done exactly what as far as the ill treatment and victimization that I suffered was concerned. I also did not have the necessary training (which a judge in a court of law would have). I lacked the wisdom to judge what is justice and what is not even if I had had the necessary training and information to decide on the case. Lastly I had no right to be judge, jury and executioner in my own case.
Also I was not enlightened or a divinely inspired mystic. How could I know what God or the Universe wanted as the result of the events which occurred.
As I have mentioned in one of the articles above the Universe is an organic whole. Our position is that of cells within the human body. The only thing that matters is the well being and survival of the Universe. From that perspective it could be said that that the injustices I suffered were in some way necessary or at least did not hinder the well being and survival of the Whole (Universe). I did not at that time know what the Universe required to maintain its well being and survival. And that is the only thing that matters. Whether I get justice or not is of no consequence from that perspective. My desire for justice was just my ego playing tricks and in order to reach the Divine you have to transcend the ego.
But there are difficulties also in following the teachings of Jesus. In the first place almost none of us in Kalyug makes seeking the Divine the only important thing in their lives. Next I was filled with rage at the harm that had been done to me. Not only had I been victimised for years but also I developed a mental ailment as a result of the ill treatment. This intense rage demanded an outlet. In my case I was able to tell myself that I could deal with the anger by mindfulness and meditation practices. But how many people have the advantages that I had at that time. I was single, did not need to work at a job and was interested in spirituality. Almost nobody in society has all these advantages.
If everybody in the world followed the teachings of Jesus there would be no need for the police or the criminal justice system. But all this high flown philosophy will not work in the real world. Nobody would realistically claim that it is best if the police and the criminal courts are done away with. Society cannot function without them.
I think that the Chinese sage Lao Tzu recommended something of the sort but his advice was not acted upon even by the Chinese themselves.
So what is the way forward.
I have no general suggestions that can help. Whether a person chooses to not resist evil or return injustice with justice is a question that each person needs to decide for himself. There may be financial aspects also which need to be looked at. It needs to be a tailor-made prescription for each person who has suffered injustice.
But when in doubt (and if it is possible) choose to let the Universe or God decide what is justice and what is not.
Jesus said that by following his teachings you can have life more abundantly. I am not seeking enlightenment but I am interested in living.
I’ll end here. Please comment on this article if you liked it or even if you didn’t. Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
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