JUSTICE

THINK, DECIDE, ACT. "By doing this, I will be adhering to the following spiritual principles, Rationality, Integrity, Independence, Honesty, JUSTICE, Productiveness and Pride.

http://heroofyourlife.blogspot.ca/2009/11/my-mission-statement.html

As I continue through this part of my mission statement, dealing with spiritual principles, what occurs to me, are the similarities between them.

In fact, it seems to me that they are all words to describe objective reality. Not that they are synonyms per se, but they are used (or should be) used to describe the same thing. Objective reality is best described by Aristotle's "A is A", and all these principles naturally follow from this.

And because A is A, none of these principles can actually be broken, only evaded, but evasion does not change the consequences. While it may seem weird for me to use a biblical quote, I like Moses' "Man cannot break the law, he can only break himself against the law."

In my personal life, I have made great use of 12 step programs. I know many people have dismissed these as quasi religious organizations, that promote powerlessness and a status of being a victim. I actually disagree.

One of the principles of these programs is the freedom to choose a "god of your own understanding". The way I have aligned my atheism with these programs is to choose my own "higher power" or "god of my understanding" with "A is A" or objective reality.

So, the much maligned idea of "powerlessness" in my view, is not about being powerless per se, but in having no power to circumvent reality.

In fact, the root of my problems with substances, I've come to realize, had much less to do with physical dependence, and much more to do with "reality evasion" and "whim worship". When I accept Reality as my higher power, I stop trying to control things I can't control as per the serenity prayer, and move into the power that comes with....

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed".

A farmer has the power to command nature to produce a harvest, but only if he obeys the rules about planting in the spring, watering adequately, weeding and fertilizing if needed, and shielding his crop from freezing.

In fact, that is only rational, integrated, and honest (loyalty to the facts) farming, and no amount of whim worship on the part of the farmer will produce a crop otherwise.

Ayn Rand, I believe, spoke of a benevolent universe, to which I understood, rational, purposeful actions will tend to produce desirable results.

That sounds like Justice to me.

Would justice, then not simply be a way of expressing how the universe actually works.

One could argue that natural, uncontrollable events can cause suffering, which is of course true, but that doesn't change the fact that the solution to preventing those things in the future still lies in discovering and taking of rational, purposeful actions.

Also, happiness (the ultimate desirable result) is not based, in my opinion on the absence of suffering but rather on the sense of purpose and self-esteem that comes from living a purposeful, rational life.

Of course, a free society does require a legal system based on objective legal principles, in order to allow men to deal with each other in a peaceful manner when these is a disagreement as to what is just. This is critically important to avoid all the unnecessary suffering that has happened throughout history and continues to happen today in countries that do not have a rule of objective law.

However, even in the absence of such a system, I don't believe anyone actually ever gets away with anything. The so called victor pays the price in untold ways, because of his second handedness, his self-esteem is destroyed, while the so called victim or loser retains his dignity, and if he is truly a person of integrity, will, like Howard Roark, only allow it to "hurt down to a certain point".

I guess I'll conclude by repeating that I think Justice is simply a matter of acknowledging that whim worship can't work, and that in my life, I will only "get what I pay for."

Thanks again for reading.