Law and Spirituality

By James P. Kimmel, Jr.

It has taken humanity centuries to separate law from religion. We did this to avoid the horrors of religious tyranny and allow freedom of belief and expression. But although separating law from organized religion has proven highly beneficial, this does not mean that separating law from spirituality is desirable - or even possible.

We are comprised of mind, body, and spirit. As such, it is not possible to say that law bears no relevance to matters of the spirit-or that matters of the spirit bear no relevance to law. Spirituality is that unseen constant which unites us despite our separate bodies. We might also call this oneness or love. Law is that human variable which orders relationships between our separate bodies and mediates conflicts between them. Spirituality and law are thus bound up with each other at a very fundamental level. Experientially, one finds peace and happiness flourishing where spirituality (oneness, love) is supported by law and where law is guided by spirituality. On the other hand, one finds conflict and warfare where the law has lost its spiritual bearing, or where spirituality has lost its legal protection.

The Relationship Between Law And Spirituality Has Been Broken

Today in the United States, we have become so successful at separating law from organized religion that we have undermined the relationship between law and spirituality. This is manifest in our national obsession with using law to obtain justice against those who wrong us. Instead of using the law to unite us with each other (to achieve oneness), we use law to conquer and divide. The word 'justice' itself, which once meant fundamental fairness and equity for all (the state of tangible oneness), is now debased by our society as the politically-correct synonym for revenge, retribution, payback, and vengeance-the very opposite of equity and oneness. In other words, the relationship between law and spirituality in our society has been broken. As a consequence, we experience increasing levels of conflict-in our homes, schools, businesses, communities, and within the world around us. Why? Because when we are wronged, our instinct to seek revenge is encouraged and rewarded by our justice system, rather than being discouraged and redirected toward the restoration of peace, happiness, and oneness. We excuse and rationalize our retaliatory lawsuits, violence, and warfare under the guise that we are only seeking 'justice.'

The Pursuit Of Justice Has Become Our Secular Religion

Not only has the broken relationship between law and spirituality led to violence, but it has had the unforeseen and quite paradoxical effect of elevating the pursuit of this new form of justice (vengeance) to the status of a secular religion. Having successfully separated government from organized religion, the vacuum has been filled by the justice system. But look closely. In our modern justice system, lawyers have become the high priests of our society and judges the popes and prophets, delivering justice to the masses. We erect great temples in which to practice and worship justice (courthouses); we create sacred vestments (judicial robes) and devise sacred liturgies to be carried out in these temples (oaths, legal creeds, complex rules of evidence and procedure); we even empower our lawyers and judges with the authority once held by the clergy to withhold and bestow property, freedom, and life itself. Viewed up close, our justice system looks and behaves increasingly like the Roman Catholic Church in the days before the Protestant Reformation.

Restoring The Relationship Between Law And Spirituality

The time has now come to restore the relationship between law and spirituality. The time has also come to restore the word 'justice' to its rightful place and meaning as that of equity and oneness, not inequity and revenge.

How can we restore the relationship between law and spirituality? Like the Protestant Reformation, the reforms required of the justice system will come directly from the people, not from attorneys or the justice system itself. First, people must begin to demand peace and happiness when they have been wronged, rather than justice (revenge). To sue for justice is to sue for conflict and disunity. Instead, we must begin to sue for peace. We do this by practicing 'nonjustice,' which means to abstain from seeking justice.

The second way to bring about the necessary reforms within the justice system is for people to begin demanding that attorneys help them win peace and happiness when they have been wronged, rather than justice. In Gandhi's words, we need to demand that our attorneys work harder at uniting us when we have been driven asunder, rather than tearing us farther apart.

Law And Spirituality Reunited

When we are wronged, we have a choice: We can either seek justice or we can seek peace and happiness. When we seek justice, we deny our spirituality. When we seek peace and happiness, we acknowledge and restore our spirituality. The law can be used as a tool either to unite or divide us-as a tool of spiritual truth and love or material fear and hatred. By reuniting law and spirituality, we restore the means by which separate human bodies restore peace and happiness and experience their true oneness.

Attorney James P. Kimmel, Jr. is the founder of the Nonjustice Foundation and a leader in integrating law and spirituality. He is the author of Suing For Peace: A Guide for Resolving Life's Conflicts (without Lawyers, Guns or Money). Email him at information@nonjustice.org