Idea of Justice

This article give my crude ideas on justice at this point of time. For clarity, I have neither read the book "The Idea of Justice" by Amartya Sen nor "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls.

Justice is both personal and social in every aspect. Both of aspects are interdependent and produce effects that change the path of society and individual respectively. The rule of law is directly taken by man from nature. Hence, it always go in hierarchical structure rather than equality for all. Hence, providing justice to all is a complex phenomenon.

We have to know the difference of revenge and justice. People want a scape goat as the front face to accuse swiftly and get a justice. One can certainly defend domination in the name of freedom, but those oppressed by such a view or practice of freedom would say that not all freedoms are equal or equally worth defending. Oppressed has more sense of justice than oppressor, hence concept of justice should be studied always from the victim and the neutral point of view.

Social justice needs to be fought against and an absolute value needs to be accorded to human dignity the realisation that my own dignity cannot exist without the dignity of others. The struggle for social justice is against those that produce resentful domination in power distribution in society. Moderation and tolerance are essential prerequisites of development of the just society.

Nasir Aslam Zahid, the former judge in Pakistan said that the common citizen’s view of justice was not formed by the superior judiciary’s decisions in constitutional cases as much as it was based on an innocent man’s failure to obtain bail from a magistrate, or another innocent person’s inability to escape illegal detention for his failure to bribe an SHO, or when he sees a privileged person enjoying a facility that is denied to all others.

So even steps done in the name of development can lead to the violence. That is better discussed Development and Violence: Some Clues? by SouthAsianIdea.

The usurpers and dictators don't like any form of justice. They view justice in the terms of and judge persons or ideas on the basis of loyalty. The contents of which the authorities are totally ignorant of, is terned as treasonable.

Christopher Hitchens summarises dictatorship governance as : The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not. (The only rule of thumb was: whatever is not compulsory is forbidden.) Thus, the ruled can always be found to be in the wrong. The ability to run such a "system" is among the greatest pleasures of arbitrary authority,

I had already given my points on the concept of justice in the democratic system long ago : Justice and Democracy. The religious and cultural background of the country affects the lawmaking and judicial process. With the migration and increasing diversity, the idea of justice changes drastically. Today, I have not clue what will be the idea of justice in a future pluralistic society.

Partly, I assume to conclusion that Justice can be easily achieved in democratic form of governance than a dictatorship. Yet, there is no sense in retaining a regime that had lost a democratic legitimacy and operated based solely on violence and deception. The social norms will be violated and evolve gradually.

Law and order forms the backbone of the Justice in the society. Prevailing justice through laws is essential part to maintain justice in the society. How worse may be the order, prohibition laws doesn't solve problem in any field, be it literally, religious, political or economic sanction. So justice done in the name of prohibition will give rise to perpetual cycle of violence and injustice.

The core value of the liberal society to get an idea of justice is free speech, critical thought and tolerance. It will enable an individual to stand up to the dictates of power and to the embrace of wealth, even to the seduction of popular prejudice. And, then the society cope with its problems and rule of the wild is tamed by the civilized world. In any time, I am only asking you to be critical of authoritarian power to get an idea of justice.

A Divine Reading Trip

Religion should improve the life of mankind. The war on religious purity will fail if warrior fail to underestimate the power of humanity and love. Too much stress on morals make us immoral. Prohibition produces duality in us where our mind says 'No' and sub conscious says 'Yes' luring us into the addiction of things. So, let the life flow in the reigns of mystery, spontaneity and be full of love.

I have just finished 17 pages of  book written by Osho on Tao and completely feeling ease with my inner soul. See this beautiful paragraph --- One rule of the mind is, when you try very hard to do something, that something loses its edge. This is how we lose the edge of our happiness. What happens is instead that the edge of our unhappiness remains razor-sharp. We suffer so much misery in the world not because there is so much misery but because there is a fundamental error in our way of life. We do not want to touch unhappiness so its edge remains razor-sharp; and we are so eager to touch happiness that we blunt its edge in the process. In the final analysis we find nothing but misery all around and no sign of happiness anywhere. Then we say, ”Happiness is difficult to come by. It is only a dream. Life is a long stream of misery.”

This flow of misery and pain is entirely of our own making. One who keeps feeling the edge of misery and does not worry about happiness at all gradually finds that the edge of misery becomes dull and all of life becomes a fountain of joy. Whatever you touch is destroyed; whatever you desire is lost. You never attain what you run after. Life is not a mathematical equation but a riddle that defies solution. He who takes it to be a calculated science finds himself in difficulty. He who looks upon life as a riddle, a mystery masters all its secrets and attains the highest existence.

The experience of reading is like elixir to the heart and eases mind into nothingness. It is giving me confrontation with my fears, not any shallow consolation. You can also read them. Thanks to Rajjo for making me aware of these books.

Index of /Beloved_Osho_Books/
Tao_The_Golden_Gate_..> 04-Mar-2008 16:00 589K
Tao_The_Golden_Gate_..> 04-Mar-2008 16:00 547K
Tao_The_Pathless_Pat..> 09-Dec-2009 19:02 873K
Tao_The_Pathless_Pat..> 04-Mar-2008 16:01 938K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:02 561K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:02 540K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:03 527K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:03 515K
The_Secret_of_Secret..> 04-Mar-2008 16:04 1.0M
The_Secret_of_Secret..> 04-Mar-2008 16:05 942K
The_Way_of_Tao_Volum..> 04-Mar-2008 16:06 1.3M
The_Way_of_Tao_Volum..> 04-Mar-2008 16:11 1.1M
When_the_Shoe_Fits 04-Mar-2008 16:08 563K

Understanding Islamic Culture -1

Today Muslim world is deeply divided along the lines of separation between passionate liberalism and firm conservatism. Most of the Muslims do not debate with Non believers on Islam. They react and then huddle up behind flimsy and lopsided historical and national narratives about what being a Muslim is all about. That doesn't solve the problem of stereotyping of Muslims. I personally assume, Muslims as individuals capable of accepting cultural norm of others very easily and Islam as an institution going towards reform very slowly. This article is not be beginners guide for learning about Islamic cultural aspect. It is the first part of our essay that is focusing on current cultural environment in Islamic world. For beginners [History of Islam]

Arab world is the cradle of Islam and all the problems emerged in Islam can be studies better by understanding the mindset of Arab region. Arab countries are depending too much on religious books and have failed to educate a generation on rational and scientific thinking. When there is no cultural, political or social movement in a country, alternative forces emerge. That's the reason the Arab's secular renaissance has failed to take hold. Let us begin with few interviews :

1- In an exclusive interview, Tayyib Tizini, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Damascus, holds the view that the current strength of radical Islamist movements in the Arab world is the product of a lack of freedom.

2- In an exclusive interview, Tariq Ali, author of "The Clash of Fundamentalisms" and renowned critical intellectual, talks about Islam and the West and about reforms in the Islamic world.

3- The Arab world is marked by polarisation: between the elites and the masses, between town and country, between rich and poor. Development will not be possible as long as this polarisation exists. As the Lebanese writer Karam al-Helou notes, this blockade of progress threatens to destroy the Arab world from inside.

4- In a January 2008 interview with the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Georges Tarabishi, a prominent liberal Syrian intellectual living in France, spoke about democracy in the Arab world, the fundamentalist challenge, and secularism. He argued that just as secularism emerged in Europe as a remedy to Protestant-Catholic sectarianism, so it is needed in the Arab world to overcome sectarian divisions and pave the way for a democratic future.

5- Are Sharia Laws and Human Rights Compatible? In their correspondence, Emran Qureshi (journalist and expert for Islam and human rights) and Heba Raouf Ezzat (lecturer for political science and womens' rights activist) discuss the role of the sharia in Islamic countries and in how far sharia laws are compatible with human rights.