Law and Order

Welcome to my thoughts on Law and Order. In this short article I will explain the reality of what we do have and the possibility of something orders of magnitude better.

We have a society that diverts a substantial portion of wealth towards law and order. We collectively believe this is necessary otherwise we have anarchy and chaos. Our system of law and order is hierarchical and bureaucratic. This appeals to the most ancient parts of our brains. The law is the law. Rules are rules. Everybody gets treated the same.

We are all conditioned to believe that law and order is the same as justice. This is the same conditioning that has us confusing society with civilisation.

Should you ever go to court, as a mindful being, you will rapidly recognise that your opinion counts for nothing. Written contracts and the rule of law mean everything. A decent lawyer will listen to you but the case he presents is a much simpler version keyed to fit within the basic system of rules that the court acknowledges. This is law and order within a society.

A few thousands of years ago in an actual civilisation, a farmer had a reputation for resolving disputes. In the morning, whilst ploughing or some such like, he would listen to each parties disagreement. First one and then the other. In the afternoon, after lunch, he would give his opinion on the dispute and fully explain what he thought would be a fair outcome. Over a period of fifty years, no one ever appealed his decisions. That dear readers, is justice dispensed by a mindful being. The cost of this service was nothing. The farmers opinion was not upheld with force. Either party could choose to ignore him. No one ever did.

Not exactly anarchy and chaos is it?

You may be fearful that not enough people could do what the farmer did. Become a mindful being and you could do it yourself.

Now, which system would you prefer? A free one where you are listened to. An expensive one where a vast but simple set of rules is adhered to? (With someone else deciding which rules are relevant and conveniently ignoring the rest.)

Give the above some serious thought before you start worrying, unnecessarily, about prisons and criminals. That is merely your basic conditioning causing you to feel fearful yet again. Realising this, you will start to understand exactly how much you have been manipulated, conditioned and influenced by our society. The correct description for this is institutionalisation on a societal scale.

No need to feel embarrassed or threatened, just smile and take some deep breaths.