The next principle is that of justice. Here are some questions for consideration.
(1) Does forgiveness affect or negate justice?
(2) Can justice be negated?
(3) How does illusion corrupt justice and cause more injustice?
(4) What is the great purpose behind justice?
Some think that forgiveness negates justice – that if you forgive a crime justice becomes unnecessary. This is not quite the case. Forgiveness releases the seeker from grievance and desire for vengeance, but in the mind of the wise justice must always prevail. Justice can never be negated, but only delayed. If one misunderstands forgiveness and tries to negate justice then justice still waits to materialize, but with interest.
Suppose a neighbor abused your young daughter. Should you forgive him? Yes. We should forgive all people. If you forgive him what do you do? You see him as you would a tiger that got out of hand. You let go of hurt and grievance, but still demand justice. You seek for justice not for revenge but to assist, by the aid of law, in rendering the abuser harmless, to protect society from harm and to guide, by justice, the offending person away from his error.
The principle of justice is this. The person must pay for his crime in such a way that he gives back to society as much as he has taken away and learns to understand the hurt which he has inflicted. True forgiveness does not get in the way of this.
(1) Does forgiveness affect or negate justice?
For instance, let us say Lance steals $100 from Bob and he forgives him and tells him to keep the money. Is justice served or altered?
The first thing to consider is that there are numerous circumstances that could have been at play. Remember the story in the Aquarian Gospel where a guy stole a loaf of bread to feed his child who was starving? In this situation Jesus condemned those who would not show charity to the family.
Let us suppose Lance stole the $100 because he was forced to at gunpoint. In this case the crime lies with the person with the gun.
On the other hand, there are few circumstances where stealing is justified and karma is not accumulated. Let us assume that Lance is just a regular guy who would like to have an extra $100. He is visiting Bob and uses his bathroom and notices his wallet on the counter. He examines it and notices it has four $100 bills and thinks to himself that if he just took one them Bob may think he just lost track of how much money he had.
After he takes the $100 Bob does notice the missing money, suspects Lance and confronts him. Lance confesses and tells him that he already spent the money on a present for his girlfriend. He says that he will pay him back later.
Bob then figures he will never get paid back so he forgives the debt with the advice to not do it again.
Lance is relieved but not reformed and next week he gains access to Sam’s wallet in a similar fashion as before takes his debit card and withdraws $500.
Now one can make the case that Bob’s easy treatment on Lance caused him to not learn his lesson, leading to him stealing $500 from Sam. So is Bob partially responsible for the new theft? Most likely, yes. Perhaps if Bob had demanded justice Lance would have thought twice about further theft, especially from a friend.
Ideally, then how should Bob have handled he situation?
First Bob should have let Lance know how upset he as with the theft, that it amounted to a betrayal of their friendship. Releasing negative feelings makes it possible for Bob to not hold a grievance, which is the main purpose of forgiveness. He should then tell Lance that he expects to be repaid either in cash or something else of value. He then forgives Lance but does not forgive the debt as he is a believer in justice.
(2) Can justice be negated?
Justice is only negated when justice is served. In many instances it takes good judgment to see what true justice is as demonstrated by the controversy over the Zimmerman verdict and later the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. One advantage of soul contact is the soul recognizes true justice.
(3) How does illusion corrupt justice and cause more injustice?
When a person’s feelings are hurt his emotional self will often see through the eyes of illusion and demand justice where none is warranted. For instance, the Jewish leaders had their feelings hurt by Jesus and thought that justice warranted his death. Obviously, they did not understand true justice. Sometimes offense is 100% our own fault and justice makes no demands on the person who offended us.
(4) What is the great purpose behind justice?
Justice is perhaps the greatest teaching tool that life has for us. When we make an action that harms our fellow travelers we are brought back to reality when justice is served on us and we realize what we have done. Justice pushes us forward on the great path of spiritual evolution. Justice is karma in action.
Copyright 2014 by J J Dewey
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