Does the Arc of the Moral Universe Bend Toward Justice?

I have been meaning to speak on this topic for a while now. An email I got from a listener a few weeks ago raised the issue, and I have not been able to forget it. I addressed the subject in a blog about a year ago, but I have not addressed it in a podcast in relation to nonduality. This is the question of justice. Those who are exploring nonduality wonder how it addresses questions of justice. This subject is raised in a couple of contexts.

One is that if there is no personal afterlife of the individual because the ego is an illusion, then what about all those people who did terrible things in life. People like Adolph Hitler or Pol Pot or war criminals or serial killers. If there is no Divine Judgment or hell, then does that mean these evil characters get off Scott-Free? It seems so wrong! So unjust! 

The other context in which this topic arises is that of working for justice in society today. I am talking about social action. Does nonduality mean that everything is fine just the way it is, and there is no need to try to make this a better and more just world? Does nonduality mean abandoning any sense of social justice or even personal morality? 

If Nondual Reality is beyond the duality of good and evil, does that mean that there is no moral arc to the universe? Does that mean that the arc of history does not bend toward justice?

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Transcript

I have been meaning to speak on this topic for a while now. An email I got from a listener a few weeks ago raised the issue, and I have not been able to forget it. I addressed the subject in a blog about a year ago, but I have not addressed it in a podcast in relation to nonduality. This is the question of justice. Those who are exploring nonduality wonder how it addresses questions of justice. This subject is raised in a couple of contexts.

One is that if there is no personal afterlife of the individual because the ego is an illusion, then what about all those people who did terrible things in life. People like Adolph Hitler or Pol Pot or war criminals or serial killers. If there is no Divine Judgment or hell, then does that mean these evil characters get off Scott-Free? It seems so wrong! So unjust! 

The other context in which this topic arises is that of working for justice in society today. I am talking about social action. Does nonduality mean that everything is fine just the way it is, and there is no need to try to make this a better and more just world? Does nonduality mean abandoning any sense of social justice or even personal morality? 

If Nondual Reality is beyond the duality of good and evil, does that mean that there is no moral arc to the universe? That the arc of history does not bend toward justice? The quote I am referring to is the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr. In a sermon entitled “Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution,” given at the National Cathedral on March 31, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Dr. King used this quote many times in his ministry, including during the march from Selma in 1965. Barak Obama liked it so much that he had part of the quote woven into the carpet in the Oval Office.

What many people don’t realize is that King was paraphrasing an earlier abolitionist preacher. The original words were spoken by Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister from Lexington, Massachusetts. Parker was an influential transcendentalist who studied at Harvard Divinity School. In an 1853 sermon Parker said: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

Transcendentalists like Parker had a lot in common with what is called nonduality these days. They were among the first Westerners to read the sacred literature of the East and think it has something to teach Christians. I like Parker’s words about justice more than King’s version because they have an agnostic ring to them. He says he does not know, that he does not understand the moral universe. Like him I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. My eyes see even less than Parker’s. 

But I know there is something in the human heart that yearns for justice. Something that makes our blood boil when we see injustice happening to ourselves or others. Something that insists that evil deeds need to have consequences. That evil should be punished and good rewarded. All cultures have some moral code like that. Eastern religions have the concept of karma that makes this justice a part of the universe and carried out in past and future lifetimes. Western religions have a divine judgment after death where justice is meted out in heaven and hell. 

The Biblical God is a God of justice. That is a common theme of the Hebrew prophets. The prophet Amos proclaimed it fiercely: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” That quote is often used by King. Where does this deep instinct for justice come from? Is that voice of God speaking in our hearts? Is justice engraved in the fabric of the universe? Is there a moral arc of the universe that bends toward justice?

The first thing I need to say is that we are getting into metaphysics here, and nonduality is not metaphysical. It is not a philosophy or a theology or a system of thought. Nonduality does not get into issues like this. It is concerned solely with realizing Ultimate Reality here and now. It is about breaking through the illusion of time and space and entering into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God and which the Buddha called Nirvana. It is about the end of suffering now, not about an afterlife.

To me speculation about cosmic justice misses the point. It is just another dead end that engages the ego. It does not lead to liberation. It does not facilitate spiritual awakening. That does not mean that we do not still have to deal with justice and injustice on earth. It does not mean that we do not deal with morality. Both Jesus and Buddha did. 

Let me explain how I think about it. I think that morality is an evolutionary development in the human species. In other words it is in our genes. That is why our blood boils at injustice. It is literally in our blood. It is hardwired into our brains and into our instincts.

Homo sapiens evolved a system of social morality that helped preserve our species by getting us to work together and care for each other. Humans who cared for fellow humans were more likely to survive as a tribe. Tribes who cared for their offspring and protected each other, lived longer and had more offspring. Individuals who cared only for themselves at the cost of others were more likely to die out. The tribe weeded out such people through social enforcement of different types, including banishment and death.

That means that justice is inherent in who we are as human beings. That is where morality and justice comes from. To be authentically human is to be a moral human being. To be authentically human also means knowing our true nature, our Source, which is the Nondual Reality of the Universe. Nondual Reality is expressed in and through human beings, just like all living beings. Morality is the human expression our true nature. For that reason the greatest spiritual teachers were very moral beings. 

That is also how you can distinguish between authentic and inauthentic spiritual teachers. Jesus called then true and false teachers or true and false prophets.  Jesus phrased it this way, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

So is there an arc of the moral universe and does it bend toward justice? I would call it the moral arc of humans, which is built into us by the universe. That does not mean there is a theistic monarch sitting on a throne in heaven keeping a naughty and nice list like Santa Claus, which will be pulled out on Judgment Day. It does not mean that there is a heaven and hell, where all wrongs will be righted and justice served.  

It does mean that to be authentically human we are to live moral lives of love and work for a society of justice for all humans, as well as care for all creatures on earth. That is in our nature – our human nature. It is the arc of human nature. Because our human nature is ultimately an expression of the divine nature, it means that morality and justice are authentic expressions of Ultimate Being in human beings.