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Law
in Society
Law Makes Man
Civilized; Avoiding Law of the Jungle
Man is part of the society, an inseparable part of the society, which
functions by LAW. Man is part of the society, an inseparable part of
the society, which functions by LAW. It is lawful life that makes us
civilised. Without law in the country, it is jungle life where the
strong rule by a strong arm. (MSS)
Law that Enables Order,
Security in Society
Law is the outcome of collective living. Man living all by himself
is a law unto himself or the plane of life that generates law does not
arise. Living together makes order necessary. That which makes that
order possible is law. What each man requires and feels, other men too
require. It becomes a public perception. Perception matures into
understanding when the mind endorses what it observes. Mind lends its
mental force to that concept. An impersonal concept receiving the
endorsement of the individual conscience is the birth of a legal
necessity. Public conscience too can perceive it, can endorse it and
offer its sanction to codify it. It is law. The existence of Man
demands peace and order. Existence needs consciousness. Consciousness
needs law and order. (MSS)
Ultimate Law
On the surface, we see law; behind it is a higher justice. Further
beyond lies the world of dharma, which defies law as well as justice.
It is the Lord's Dharma. At its height, it can be only good.
(MSS)
Law of Society
In the courts, judgment is final; but a decree is needed to
execute.
Law lays down
the legal destiny of the society at large.
That is the constitution.
It is brought down to every walk of life.
Propriety, courtesy, procedure, custom, usage,
decency are the end expressions of the legal authority of the society
reaching the individual through the long arm of government.
(MSS)
Also See Thoughts on
Truth
Also See
Thoughts on Security in Society
Rights,
Human Rights
Man Must Step
Forward to Claim All His Rights
Man has the right to vote, he has the right to liberty, right of
assembly, right to express his opinion and enjoy many other
rights. Still, he does not have all
the rights that are his due. There
are
rights granted to him by the
government or society as a concession, perhaps in the spirit of
condescension or charity. Only when he emerges as an individual,
asserts his presence, comes forward to TAKE his
rights as his birthright, not as a matter of consideration,
will he come into his own RIGHT. [This is as MSS says elsewhere the
voicing of the Right of MAN, the individual. -editor] (MSS)
Untitled
the rise of democratic forms of government has been the result of a
revolutionary shift in the relative importance and positions accorded
by society to the individual and to the collective. This shift
involved a movement toward a more balanced relationship between the
rights and interests of the collective and the rights and interests of
individuals. It has resulted in parallel developments in the spheres
of philosophy, science, religion, economics, politics, education and
social culture. In the intellectual sphere it gave rise to the
Renaissance and the Enlightenment, in the field of religion to the
Reformation, in economy to the rise of capitalism, in politics to the
rise of democracy. (MSS)
Untitled
The idea of universe human rights and freedoms which we now identify
as the essence of democracy was at first cited as a justification for
redistribution of power to the commercial class and only much later as
a principle for extending rights and privileges to all citizens. This
shift continues today in countries around the world and may not yet
have reached its acme in any country. (MSS)
The Invisible
Movement of Rights in History, & the Emergence of Spiritual MAN in the
21st Century
There is an invisible movement in the air all over
the world which espouses the Rights of the oppressed. Now it is the
Blacks who are in favour, next it is the women. The street children
get their turn. The poor suddenly come into the favour of the world
and the whole world sings the chorus of the Right to Food, Right to
water, Right to Peace, etc. All types of Rights have emerged as the
target for the awakened world. It is a balm to the hearts of idealists
and visionaries the world over as the have-nots, downtrodden, the
oppressed and the invalids have now their share of the limelight. The
UN is the spearhead for most of these movements. The world is awakened
enough in her conscience that the world opinion readily swings to this
call. This development is imperceptible but unmistakable. I see behind
all these urges that MAN is emerging as someone to be counted
hereafter. The Spirit in MAN seeks expression, peeps out from its
hiding place. The symptoms are well-defined. He who seeks expression
is no longer the social man, but the Spiritual Individual. The 21st
century will be his century. (MSS)
End of Property
Rights & Law of Inheritance
The Mother argues for the abolition
of property rights and the law of inheritance. (MSS)
Evolution of Rights
Privileges were originally for the leader
only. Then the rights got extended
to his family -- royal family. Later it was for the nobles and
aristocracy, now it is the upper middle class. Finally it must be for
all. (MSS)
Rights & Mental Stage of Social
Development
-The mental stage
[of social development]
has established the
principle of human
rights and proclaimed the value of the
individual.
-We witness today the
confluence of factors that characterize the mental stage --
unprecedented political freedom, a global affirmation of the
individual and the
rights of the common man.
(MSS)
Rights to the Common Man
This transformation of the political
organization of societies which has extended basic human
rights at first to the middle class
and eventually to the common man.
(MSS)
Emergence of Rights in Society
Compared to Past
-Societies
in the past developed by a concentration of benefits of development
(knowledge, power, privilege and wealth) among a very small portion or
an elite class of its members. They are now distributing more of the
achievements of the elite to wider sections of the population out of
recognition that this makes the society as whole stronger and more
stable. Democratization, universal education, human
rights, social security and economic opportunity are
expressions of this movement.
-Societies in
the past suppressed, exploited or ignored the lower or weaker sections
of the population. They are now striving consciously to protect,
support and develop those sections through equal
rights and equal opportunities for less fortunate individuals
and weaker nations. (MSS)
Guaranteed Employment and Right of
the INDIVIDUAL
Guaranteeing Employment is not one more programme. It is a call to the
dormant world to wake up to the
Rights of the INDIVIDUAL. It is a
magnificent measure. And for the same reason, it will prove to be
explosive. (MSS, extracted)
Human Rights & Mental
Stage
Mental stage has established the principle of
human rights and proclaimed the value of the individual. (MSS)
Untitled
Democratic governments
are those in which fundamental human rights of individual citizens are
protected by the collective and in which the views of the
population-at-large, not just a ruling elite, are reflected in the
actions of government. (MSS)
Untitled
The idea of universe
human rights and freedoms which we now identify as the essence of
democracy was at first cited as a justification for redistribution of
power to the commercial class and only much later as a principle for
extending rights and privileges to all citizens. This shift continues
today in countries around the world and may not yet have reached its
acme in any country. (MSS)
Untitled
The third stage of social
development is one in which the mental component becomes more and more
predominant. This stage has three essential characteristics that
demarcate it from those that came before -- a great increase in the
practical application of mind to generate new inventions, in the
social application of mind to generate new and higher levels of
organization, and in the political application of mind to elevate the
status and rights of individual human beings. The first distant
origins of this phase in Europe can be traced back to the Renaissance
and the Enlightenment, when ideas began to gain freedom from
domination by church doctrine and traditional superstitious beliefs.
The mental component gained influence after the Reformation, which
empowered the individual to seek direct relations with God. It led
eventually to the proclamation of the political ideals embodied in the
American and French Revolutions and the establishment of human rights,
at first in principle and much later in practice. (MSS)
Also See Thoughts on History
