DEFINITION
Law
- Legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity
- The collection of rules imposed by authority
- A generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature
- A rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human society
Imagine a world without law. A world where there are no man-made rules and restrictions on anything you do. No one tells you what to do. You are free! Free of all restrictions, and free of all control from the authorities. What would you do? Who would you be? What would you become? That is what we are here to find out.
So what is law?
Law is merely a set of rules, created over several thousand years by powerful men to create order in their lands, and make sure people behave in a manner they require. The law sets out penalties for non-compliance of these laws, and courts have been set up to deal with such events. If you are found not guilty you may go free, but if found guilty, you will be punished for breaking the rules – anything from a fine to a prison sentence, but perhaps even sentenced to death.
Most people are happy that there are rules to control the more wayward members of society, and it is only the minority, not the majority who break them. As my mum once said to me: “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear from the law.” Law is simple. These are the rules. Don’t break them equals no problem. Break them equals problem. Any civilised person would agree that we need these rules to stop the more “dangerous” people from behaving in ways that harm others.
Although law exists in all parts of the world, laws vary widely from country to country, and even village to village. There is no universal law created by man, because each man who creates laws in his country thinks differently.
In britain, if you steal apples from a shop, you may receive a fine, but in saudi arabia, they may cut your hands off. If you kill someone in britain, you will go to jail for a long time; but in some parts of the world they will hang you, electrocute you or shoot you. In some countries, speaking out against the government is punishable by torture or death, and in some countries it is positively encouraged. In some countries killing a cow is a crime, and in others it’s a business.
These are laws created by whoever is in power at the time. It is an individual opinion of right and wrong, and punishments vary widely from place to place. Law can also be modified instantly with a change of government, even in a fully functioning democracy. One day something is illegal, the next it’s not.
Courts and judges do not decide law, they merely apply the law of the day; there is no moral or ethical judgement. If the law says it is not illegal to kill another human being, you will never be convicted of killing a human being (until they change the law that is). Do you see? Law is transient, not fixed.
If I am in government and make not carrying identification illegal, punishable by twenty years in prison, and you break this law, you will go to jail. But if I am defeated at the next election, and I am replaced by a new government, they may reverse this immediately and you will go free!
Law is ultimately changeable on a whim, depending on the mood of the government, and the one thing we should not accept, is that law is truth. Right and wrong is a man-made concept, designed to control the population; to keep them in line; to show them who is really in charge of their lives; and to let them know that if they fall foul of these laws, they will be punished to let the rest of the population know that disobedience will not be tolerated! After all, making murder illegal does not stop it happening, it just states that if you commit murder you will be punished.
Democracy
- A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
If you are one of the people lucky enough to live in a democracy, and not a country ruled by a military junta or a homicidal dictator, then you will have the right to vote for whichever party you believe will serve your interests best. Each country has its own special rules, but generally you will vote for a local member of parliament, who will represent you at a national level. He or she will probably belong to a major political party that will have their own agenda to push through.
They (the party) set out specific things they wish to achieve during their term in government in what’s known as a manifesto, although most people never read it. Once in power, the government will try to get some of their bills (a statute in draft before it becomes law) passed. Some you will like, others, you may not. You may like that they’re tough on immigration, and have passed new laws to repatriate illegal immigrants, but you may hate that they have passed a new law to make you carry identification at all times to prove who you are. They may not have had this bill in their manifesto, but have rushed it through in light of “recent developments” which have forced them to act in such a way to “protect national security.”
So what are you to do? You voted for the party you liked, but you don’t like some of the new laws they have passed. In a democracy, you get the chance every four or five years to change the government, so you decide to vote for another party, but are dismayed that all the parties think that carrying identification is a good idea, so you don’t vote in protest at the identification system. But as most other people agree with the party’s stance on carrying identification, someone gets elected.
But what if the majority of the population disagree with carrying identification? Well, normally if a party wants to get elected, they’ll drop it as a campaign issue, or may promise to revoke it if it has already become law; that is the only chance you get to directly influence the law, before a new party is elected. Once you have elected them, you cannot just change your mind, you will have to wait another four years.
You cannot just decide to change the law, that is for the politicians you elected to decide. You can protest all you like and try to influence them, but they still may not waver from their policies and will continue to try to get bills passed, after all, that’s what they have been elected to do.
If you don’t like it, wait until the next elections come around and have your say along with the rest of the population. That’s democracy. If you do not live in a democracy, then I am so sorry but you are under complete control of those who have seized power, and challenging the law, will normally mean a lengthy prison sentence or death for you.
A little experiment
So hopefully, we now understand that law is a man-made, country specific tool, to control the population. You may not agree with me here, and may still believe that, “law is what makes us civilised! Where would we be without law? We would be no better than the savages.” And that is exactly what I want to discuss here with you now.
How many laws do you have in your country? Have you any idea? I certainly haven’t got a clue, but I am sure there must be literally tens of thousands in my country, covering everything from what side of the road I must drive on, to rules about going to the toilet outside! So let’s begin.
From today onwards, all laws have been revoked. You may now urinate where you please, drive on whatever side of the road you like, you may steal at will, murder and rape, build houses and offices wherever you like, fail to pay taxes, it doesn’t matter, because no one will tell you it’s wrong. After all, how could it be? There is no punishment, therefore there can be no crime.
What I want to understand is whether law has evolved as a natural control mechanism because humans cannot live together peacefully, and have no self-control, or as the result of men having power over others, and wanting to hang on to that power, whether religious, military or political?
Now there are no laws, would you revert to barbarous (primitive in customs and culture) behaviour where anything goes, or would you start to feel more empathy, compassion and love for all around now you were free of control? Would you still continue to believe that things were wrong, if no one told you otherwise?
Let’s talk about drinking and driving, something which is obviously a dangerous combination, for you and all other people on the road. In the past it was illegal, and you faced stiff penalties, although it didn’t stop people from engaging in it, but now you can do it whenever you want. Drink ten pints of beer, get in your car, run down a family of four, and feel none the worse for it. After all, it’s not illegal.
What if someone refuses to pay your invoice for work you have done? There are no courts you can take them to, so what do you do? Do you just talk nicely to them until they pay up, or do you resort to verbal and then physical abuse, and beat the money out of them? It’s ok to do it, because it’s not illegal to beat someone up anymore.
What if you really want to have sex with someone. Do you still buy them drinks, sweet talk them, then ask them if they want to come back to your place, or do you just grab them, drag them back to your house and force them to have sex with you? After all, it’s not illegal anymore, nothing can happen to you. You won’t go to court, because there are no courts, because nothing is illegal. Do you understand?
What if you want to build new houses in a street and the people living there refuse to accept your offer of monetary compensation if they move? No problem! Turn up at 6.00 am on a monday, and start bulldozing their houses – even if they’re still in bed. You offered, and they refused. It’s their own fault. Even if you kill or injure a few of them, and the rest go homeless, who’s going to stop you? It’s not illegal, nothing will happen to you so you can do whatever you like.
But the one thing we’re forgetting here, is that although we can do what we like, because there is no more law, that means the other people (the people you affect) can do whatever they like as well… And here’s the flip side.
As you attempt to drive away from the scene where you ran down a family of four, an angry mob gathers, witness to what you have just done, and drags you out of the car, and beats you to death, after all, it’s not illegal.
The man who refuses to pay your invoice threatens you and promises that if you ever come near him again and demand money, he will find your family and hurt them.
The woman you want to have sex with has her boyfriend in the bar, and on seeing you attempting to drag her out, stabs you in the heart, after all, it’s not illegal.
The people whose houses you have destroyed find out where you live and not only destroy your house, but steal all your possessions, shoot you and leave you for dead. It’s not illegal and although destroying peoples homes is not against the law the people feel ever so slightly aggrieved at your actions and in return punish you for your actions.
So as you can see from these simple examples, punishment is not absent in a lawless society, it is directly meted out by the people. The only difference, is the severity of the punishment may not match the crime.
People will not stand by and watch terrible things happen to themselves or their family; in the end they fight back. All law is doing is controlling that natural urge to administer personal justice and making sure the person is actually guilty before they punish him, something mobs and vigilantes do not explore in any great depth!
So who are you without law? Are you a caring, empathic individual, who wants only the best for his fellow human beings and has a deep understanding of what it is to be human, or are you without feeling for the rest of mankind. Someone only interested in what you can get for yourself, without any thought that your actions may cause suffering?
We have labelled ourselves “the most intelligent being on the planet,” but is that who we really are? If we see the suffering and exploitation that mankind exerts, not only on other humans, but on animals, and the natural world we live in under the rule of law, it is hard to see that we would suddenly change if the rule of law were to be removed.
I believe that Mankind is not ready for law to be summarily removed. We lack the qualities that even most animals possess in being able to live together in balance. We are unbalanced as a species; our brains have not evolved past that of our ancestors in anything but our development of technology.
None of us like to feel controlled, especially by some faceless concept called “law,” but we have to suppose, that in order to achieve some kind of “civilisation,” we have had to invent rules to control conduct.
Man is essentially no more than a violent ape, with the added bonus of being able to use the power of language to manipulate and dominate others. We are not ready to be left on our own, to work out what is in the best interests, not only of ourselves, but of the species as a whole.
We kill, deceive and steal at a will, wholly aware that rules have been created to stop that, and we are also aware of the consequences, but we do it anyway. We ruthlessly charge through our short lives, standing on anyone who gets in our way. We hate the rules, even if we can see that they are in the best interest of everybody. I am not talking about rules set up by despots to control the population for their own interests, (financial or ideological), the rules I am talking about are ones which we should know already without the need for governments to enforce them, but don’t.
One more big shift
In order to remove the rule of law, we have to take a giant step. We have to make a shift in our minds that means that the rule of law would naturally fall away. That there would be no more need for judges, prisons, and courts, or written rules. Would it be possible? Certainly not today. Law underpins civilisation, and without it, we would crumble into barbarism.
Doesn’t it make you sad that we have to be controlled with the threat of punishment in order to live (semi) harmoniously? It makes me very sad. Does the thought that the world would plunge into the darkness of chaos without law make you not want to look at yourself, at your actions, and make a positive shift in thinking? Probably not. You see, we only think of ourselves and our needs, without any recourse to the feelings of others.
If I gave you a list of things you should or shouldn’t do, it would be no different from the rules associated with religious, military or political law. Who am I to tell you you shouldn’t kill, or you shouldn’t steal; or you shouldn’t be violent, or you shouldn’t say horrible things about people.
It is for you to understand your own mind, and in that understanding you will have evolved. You will no longer need a government to tell you what is right and wrong, you will never need a court to stand in judgement of you. You will be free and the man-made laws will naturally evolve into natural law. The law of compassion, the law of love, and the law of empathy. When you understand these three things, you will see they aren’t laws at all.
Just feeling these emotions removes the need for any external control. Think about it. How can three small words remove the need for law?
by Alan macmillan orr
“The Natural Mind- waking up”
2009
