The principles of nonjustice first appeared in the book entitled Suing For Peace: A Guide For Resolving Life's Conflicts (Without Lawyers, Guns or Money), by James P. Kimmel, Jr., J.D. (Hampton Roads Publishing, April 2005). In this book, the author, a successful Ivy League attorney who had devoted his life to the pursuit of justice, recounts the story of his unsettling discovery during his legal career that the more justice he won for his clients, the less happy he and his clients became. As he explored this paradox over the course of fourteen years, he came to the conclusion that the pursuit of justice and the pursuit of happiness are locked in an irreconcilable conflict, and that this conflict afflicts all humanity, producing profound suffering as we continue to pursue justice in the misguided belief that it will secure our happiness.
The conflict between justice and happiness placed Mr. Kimmel's career as a lawyer at odds with his desire to lead a happy, peaceful life. To resolve this crisis, he embarked upon a legal and spiritual journey lasting more than a decade that lead him through the justice teachings of the world's religions, produced a novel and a children's book, and, finally, in Suing For Peace, yielded five astonishing new teachings about justice and happiness that resolved the crisis and have the potential to restore peace and happiness to all humanity. These five teachings are set forth below.
The Five Teachings About Justice And Happiness- Seeking justice is the cause of human suffering in our world, not the cure. "Seeking justice" has become a phrase used to excuse acts of vengeance, retribution, and payback, creating a society that condones and encourages revenge-seeking by confusing the true meaning of justice, which is fundamental fairness and equity for all people. As a result, we now live in a world where school children kill each other to get justice, where adults engage in every form of malice in the name of justice, where terrorists indiscriminately massacre thousands of people under the delusions of justice, and where nations go to war waving the blood-red flag of justice. All hurtful acts are motivated by the pursuit of justice. Hence, justice is the primary cause of human-inflicted suffering in our world.
- We are addicted to seeking justice against our enemies. Despite the suffering we inflict upon ourselves by pursuing justice, we continue to pursue justice anyway because we are literally addicted to it and see no viable alternative. Like a narcotic, the pursuit of justice offers us fleeting intense bursts of pleasure that only leave us feeling worse and wanting more. Like a narcotics pusher, the justice system encourages us to pursue more and more justice, producing an insatiable demand for itself and leaving a trail of suffering in its wake. The only alternative to pursuing justice, forgiveness, seems either naïve or impossible, offering us no meaningful way of resolving our conflicts short of capitulation.
- The most important trial of our lives each day is the trial of the people who wrong us. During this trial, we must choose between justice and happiness. If we choose to pursue justice against our enemies, we inevitably cause ourselves only more suffering and unhappiness. If we choose not to pursue justice against our enemies, we end our suffering and restore our happiness. Thus, it is our freedom that is at stake during this trial, not the freedom of the people who wrong us. The outcome of this trial will determine our health, happiness and peace of mind; it will affect our relationships, family, job, nation and world.
- The secret to resolving any conflict and restoring your happiness is to stop pursuing justice against your enemies...and start practicing nonjustice. Between Gandhi's teaching of nonviolence and Jesus' teaching of unconditional forgiveness lies a Middle Step. This Middle Step is called nonjustice, meaning "to abstain from the pursuit of justice." Even when we are unable to forgive our enemies, we can break the justice addiction and restore our happiness by taking the less difficult Middle Step of practicing nonjustice and not further harming ourselves. By abstaining from the pursuit of justice, we end the cycle of self-inflicted suffering and convert the affirmative act of forgiveness from theoretical possibility to spiritual certainty. Nonjustice thus presents a third alternative to responding to conflict.
- The secret to practicing nonjustice is Suing for Peace. This is accomplished by submitting your disputes to The Nonjustice System. If you sue your enemies for justice, you will win only your own suffering. But if you sue your enemies for peace, you will win your happiness. Between our secular justice systems and our religious traditions lies an alternative to the justice system that contains 9 simple but powerful steps for resolving conflicts and restoring peace and happiness. By combining jurisprudence with spirituality, The Nonjustice System enables us to win the most important trial of our lives without lawyers, guns or money.