Pondering Justice, Reincarnation, and Wyrd

To be honest, I don't feel that I can answer Matt's questions at this time.  There are too many questions and theological concepts that I would need to explore and come to understand -- both individually and in terms of how they relate to one other -- before I could hope to answer the particular questions Matt raised.  So rather than answer those particular questions, I will begin to do the necessary reflection and exploration that I believe must come first.  This post is my first attempt to try and record that process of exploration in a way that someone might be able to at least follow even if they don't completely understand it.

I have taken some time to consider my understanding of justice as it applies to the here and now.  As such, I will choose that as my central starting point and work outward from there.

The heart of the concept of justice is the idea of right order.  As the universe continues to unfold, there are certain directions and ways in which this unfolding takes place that is deemed good and proper.  I would characterize this right order by saying that when it is followed, the basic dignity and well-being of all living things is honored and upheld.  Justice is the process or collection of processes by which this right order is maintained.  It also includes the process by which that right order is restored when it has been violated.

Injustice, by comparison, would include any act or series of acts which lead to the violation or break-down of this right order.  In practical terms, it would mean a situation in which the basic dignity or well-being of someone is violated or denigrated.  The examples of such action are countless and can vary by the particular nature and general degree of deviation from right order or the injury of the victims' dignity and well-being.

The just response to injustice is to restore the right order.  This involves helping the victims of injustice to restore their dignity and well-being.  It also means taking right action in regards to the purveyor of injustice.

That last statement deserves some consideration.  What is the right action in regards to those who would visit injustice upon others?  The most obvious answer is that they should be prevented from doing so.  This is especially true if there is reason to believe that they are inclined to intentionally(1) continue to act as an agent of injustice.  In such a case, potential future victims must be protected, possibly by isolating the agent of injustice from them.

Ideally however, agents of injustice should also be restored to the right order of things as well.  After all, they are as much a part of this creation as anyone else.  And in many ways, this restoration of an agent of injustice is about healing as much as helping their victims reclaim their dignity and well-being is.

Truth be told, disrupting the right order of things and hurting others -- especially when done intentionally and repeatedly -- does terrible things to a person.  This includes soul-injury and the lessening of themselves a human being.  A proper understanding of justice cannot ignore this fact, nor can it refuse to offer those who have degraded themselves in such a way an opportunity to heal this damage they've done to themselves.(2)

Ideally, injustice is dealt with as soon as it happens.  The victims are identified as well as how they were injured so that those around them can help with the healing process.  Those who are responsible are also identified and prevented from doing further harm.  If possible, those responsible are also healed and restored so that they may again become a part of right order and agents of justice.(3)

Unfortunately, as Matt points out, justice doesn't always happen in the lifetimes of those involved -- victims and offenders alike.  So it's natural to wonder if there is such a thing as justice beyond this (or the current) life.  And this is where I delve into shakier (for me at least) territories, surrounded by partially answered and unanswered questions.

Does an act of injustice live beyond the deaths of those involved?  Once those involved are dead, is there anything left that can be and must be restored?  Does the damage done to the victim somehow remain beyond death to be healed?  Does the damage the purveyors of injustice caused themselves remain beyond death to be healed?  Is there such a thing as restoring someone to the right order posthumously?  Is it necessary?

I don't ask these questions rhetorically.  Matt's questions assume that the answers to some or all of those questions are yes.  If the answers to those questions are all no, there's no point in talking about what happens when people don't find or are brought to justice before death.  So I find it necessary to search for answers to those questions myself.

So what happens when we die?  Personally, I'm inclined to believe in reincarnation.  I believe that our soul is infinite and continues beyond death, being born again in a new body with a new identity and personality.  I also believe that this is a virtually endless cycle, with the rebirth in a new body being the desirable outcome.(4)

Since the soul continues beyond death, it is entirely possible and even likely that some of the damage caused by injustice may live on in that soul.(5)  I have implied as much when I used the term "soul-injury" earlier to describe the damage that an agent of injustice does to their own soul through their actions.  Such damage to a soul would manifest itself during subsequent incarnations.  As they surfaced, they could be healed, remedying the consequences of the injustice.

Bonds between souls may also suggest a way that injustice may still need to be resolved beyond the deaths of those involved.  Injustice often creates an unhealthy sort of bond between victims and those that hurt them.  This is why forgiveness and restoration of the agent of injustice is so important.  These acts provide a method for healing or dissolving that unhealthy bond in the here and now.  If that process does not take place in the lifetimes of those involved and those bonds are on the soul level, they may be carried over by those souls into future incarnations.  When this happens, they may create problems in those subsequent lives.  Again, these bonds can then be identified and healed or dissolved at that time, remedying that consequence of injustice.

A consideration of how wyrd relates to justice and injustice is also appropriate.  Every act contributes to wyrd, continuing to build and shape our reality.  As such, an act of injustice gets woven into wyrd and the very fabric of our reality.  This suggests both another avenue for injustice to continue and a method for bringing it to resolution in lifetimes beyond the one that introduced it.

It is entirely possible that the wyrd one weaves directly effects the soul's future incarnations.  This could mean that two souls may not be bound by an unhealthy soul-link forged in a previous life, but by a wyrd-link forged in a previous life, or both.  Again, this may require addressing the past injustice in terms of once again removing this intertwining of two soul's respective parts of the fabric of wyrd.

It is also noteworthy to consider that wyrd is not individual, but universally shared.  There is not "my" wyrd, "your" wyrd, or "his" wyrd.  There is merely wyrd, the common reality that we are collectively shaping through our individual actions.  The implications of this fact are important when discussing justice and injustice.

When an injustice occurs, it becomes a part of wyrd and therefore a part of everybody's reality.  This means that on the level of wyrd, an injustice ripples outward along the fabric of reality, effecting more than those victims and agents of injustice that are immediately involved.(6) The longer that the injustice goes unanswered, the further those ripples travel.

In order for an injustice to truly be rectified, these ripples must also be addressed.  Until all the negative implications of an injustice have rectified, full justice has not taken place.  This provides another way in which an original injustice may live on after the death of those originally involved.

It is entirely possible that some mechanism could effectively place a reincarnated soul of someone involved in the original injustice in a position to rectify a ripple that has traveled long and far.  This could offer further opportunities for both the restoration of a soul that was previously an agent of injustice and healing for soul that was previously victimized.

Wyrd and reincarnation both offer many ways in which injustice may outlive those who were involved in it.  They both also offer ways in which the reincarnated souls involved in a past injustice could be healed, restored, and otherwise involved in the process of ultimately rectifying all aspects of the injustice.  I do not claim to know exactly which of these mechanisms actually come into play or how exactly they work.  That will take much further reflection and consideration.  However, I hope I have described some directions that reflection and consideration may follow.

(The image include in this post is a scan of the cluster-map that I drew out when I originally began to think about this topic.  I included because comparing it to this post may prove interesting and even instructive.)

NOTES:
(1) It's important to note that human beings are imperfect and that even the most well-intentioned, loving person is bound to cause some (hopefully small) amount of injustice at times.  A proper understanding of justice cannot ignore this and focus only on the "big" instances of injustice or even those instances of injustice that were intentional.

However, it's also important to note that a moral person who hurts another even intentionally is most often an effective, willing, and even eager agent of justice in such situations.  That is, they are quick to do what they can to repair the damage that they have done.  This is different from someone who hurts others with no regard for what they've done (sadly, this includes those who would use the fact that they "didn't mean to hurt anyone" to excuse their actions) and would continue to do so.

(2) The thing to remember here is that one cannot heal or restore one who does not want to be healed or restored.  Some people simply want to remain as they are, soul-debilitating pock-marks included.  In such a case, no one can ultimately help them unless and until they change their mind.  It is merely our job as just people to always be open to the possibility that they will change their mind and be ready to offer and even help with their restoration should it ever happen -- protecting ourselves and others from the harm they might bring about in the meantime.

(3) In my opinion, one of the most powerful tools of the restoration process is to actually have those who caused the hurt to help be part of the healing process for those they have hurt.  It is one of the most powerful ways to take responsibility for ones actions and even directly rework the contributions to wyrd they have made through their unjust acts.

As a tangential aside, this is why I often feel there is more real justice in America's civil tort system than in its criminal justice system.  While the latter's only real merit seems to be in separating wrongdoers from society so they can't do any harm, the former gives the opportunity for those injured to get monetary compensation, which can then be used to seek help in emotional healing, pay medical bills, and otherwise try to "pick up the pieces."

(4) Indeed, Gerald Gardner wrote in his books that the central point of the witches' rituals was to influence the reincarnation process, ensuring that those working together would again be reborn in the same time and place as one another.  Personally, I think Mr. Gardner was on to something there.

I do want to take a moment, however, to make one thing perfectly clear.  I find myself with a similar outlook to Gardner and Gardnerians in general on many different topics.  As such, I often reference what he or other Gardnerians have written and said as a way of communicating my own ideas.  However, it would be a mistake for the reader to assume that I am a Gardnerian witch myself -- as some people have in the past.  I am not.  I wish to clear up that possible misconception, as I do have many wonderful Gardnerian friends who I respect deeply, and I would hate for them to hear (however incorrectly) rumors that I am in any way claiming to belong to their tradition.  They have enough people doing that as it is, and I know how angry it makes them -- and understand why!

Also, I also value my own integrity too much to allow people to get the idea that I'm something I'm not, even if unintentionally.

(5) One of the other things that I have considered is the nature of souls.  At times, I often wonder if souls are not quantum units, but pools of an essence.  The latter suggests that one dies, rather than one's whole soul moving onto another body, the pool of essence could actually split into many rivulets and/or co-mingling with other pools and rivulets.  The idea here is that one doesn't have so much a soul as "soul-stuff."

I bring this up because the idea of damage to a soul seems to assume the quantum unit view of souls.  I'm not sure that a pool-of-essence model lends itself as well to the idea of soul-injury.  As such, further consideration of the nature of the soul could require renewed examination of the ideas I'm exploring.

(6) The most obvious examples of this rippling process when one pays close attention to how a person's past experiences color their present choices and relationships.  I know I've personally made some bad choices in life based on unhealed past hurts.  And I have no doubt that those bad choices have in turn affected how other people affected by them have made choices in their own lives.