The Critical Link between the Constitution's Trial by Jury and Natural Law
July 21, 2023 at 2:20 pm,
7 comments
 | The degree of freedom we experience is connected to the degree by which we can be trusted to exercise our own conscience. |
Our key concern is our state of freedom: our ability to exercise freewill without coercion and punishment from those who confuse morality with legislation. We are all sensing a loss of liberty in our everyday lives.
However, let’s dive straight into an observation one can make about the universe and its relationship with human societies both past and present: the state of freedom that we experience is in direct proportion to the standard of morality.
Freedom is simply the expression of self-mastery: our ability to take full responsibility for our own actions. Put another way, the degree of freedom we experience is connected to the degree by which we can be trusted to exercise our own conscience.
People who cannot exercise moral conscience, clamour for rules. When rules are followed instead of one’s conscience, you are suspending your human moral faculties. That is irresponsible, is not acting as a self-master with sovereignty and is not tolerated by the Universe!
Following rules allows us to suspend honesty. Legislation is merely a safety net for those who haven’t yet matured enough spiritually to conduct themselves within a spectrum of vaguely acceptable standards.
A society that is largely based on legislation, is one whose citizens are broadly following orders through fear of punishment - not because you feel that the suggested course of action is necessarily moral. And therefore, merely doing what you are told is not virtuous - and yet many of the children of our community are brought up to believe that it is so.
Our society is currently based on legislation because we can’t trust ourselves to act morally according to our own principles. But allowing your society's Rule of Law to become dominated by legislation is both a cause and an indicator of society spiralling downwards. Legislation is a protection mechanism that kicks-in when a society has sufficiently veered off-track, but, painfully, will also accelerate that deterioration.
Our loss of liberties and the over-reliance on legislation should be a wake-up call or alarm clock to remind us of our responsibilities and the dire need for self-reflection and shadow-work.
There is a self-fulfilling prophecy in this. An inability to use our moral compass results in less practice at doing so, which, in turn, causes society to drift further out of alignment with Universal Law.
Our Common Law Constitution was set-up with the central pillar being that of Trial by Jury. This is the way in which the people govern themselves - but crucially, it has within it the very seeds for learning to do exactly that, by focussing on moral principles! Being a juror requires us to be honest with ourselves, and face our own prejudices and biases. But the especially clever thing about this mechanism, is that, although it can trigger emotions and resistance, our own ego (that would often hinder or prevent this process) is, to some extent, by-passed because we are focussing our judgement on someone else - the defendant. The jury is society’s shadow-work workshop - in which we learn to call-out wrong-doing, but at the same time, remain understanding. It’s about judging the conduct itself and not the individual - remembering that we also could be judged at any point.
The Universe is intolerant of our inability to recognise, call out or acknowledge wrong-doing. It will keep providing us opportunities from which to learn these lessons of contrast, and each time we fail, we will descend further into a state in which control becomes the key feature of our lives.
A self-master doesn’t require that 'belt-and-braces', outer control of rules because they can do it from within. A society of people that clamour for the restoration of Trial by Jury and its preservation (the Natural Law Tribunal), is one that places moral clarity at the centre and is wishing to become spiritually mature. Proving that we have that level of moral responsibility is what our physical lives on this plain are all about.
Hence the journey begins inside each of us.
WJK
7 comments - The Critical Link between the Constitution's Trial by Jury and Natural Law
Paul Jackson - July 24, 2023 at 7:31 pm
I have been thinking, researching, and writing about democracy for a decade. I started with research into Athenian democracy. Then, I discovered Etienne Chouard's work in France. Finally, I read and understood how the key was in my very constitution, the Magna Carta. When you write about Trial by Jury in philosophical terms like this, I understand completely. Once you see it as the basis of personal responsibility and moral growth, everything that is wrong with our society is laid bare. Trial by Jury brings us back to personal accountability for our actions and our thoughts. It's important to keep exploring this as you are. When people get it, it's liberating.
John Lock - July 29, 2023 at 7:16 am
Great essay Will! Vital concepts expressed very succinctly. I'm forwarding to as many as I can.
Melanie Barron - September 5, 2023 at 1:48 pm
Fantastic! Thank you for your work. Namaste 🙏
mazy - November 20, 2023 at 10:55 pm
this has made me really opened my mind and made me see how we are all behaving.. well done and thank you
NIgel Howitt (Lawful Rebel) - March 25, 2024 at 8:07 pm
Great post!
Morality has indeed been replaced by legislation, because our culturally dominant morality of altruism leaves a moral vacuum. It calls for people to sacrifice, but offers no actual guidance as to how to live—which is what a proper moral code is supposed to do. That is the purpose of morality, to be a code of values to live by.
Freedom requires a morality of rational egoism, NOT self sacrifice. I consider political freedom to be something of an intellectual achievement, in that it requires a level of maturity, knowledge, and commensurate responsibility, hallmarks of relatively enlightened individuals.
At the fundamental level, there cannot be self-mastery and responsibility without rationality, in any individual, or in any civilisation. In other words, there cannot be freedom without reason being culturally dominant
Legislation is a substitute for a rational morality. A rational morality will one day be the achievement of a genuine culture of reason. Unfortunately, the renaissance never achieved a rational morality, one of rational egoism. Altruism remained dominant, and thus, we have seen the historical slow slide away from a greater degree of freedom (the establishment of the USA in 1776) towards the collectivism that is fast approaching today.
I love the way you have shown us trial by Jury for what it really is. But it saddens me to think that what is needed to make use of it, is an enlightened and rational populace.
Morality has indeed been replaced by legislation, because our culturally dominant morality of altruism leaves a moral vacuum. It calls for people to sacrifice, but offers no actual guidance as to how to live—which is what a proper moral code is supposed to do. That is the purpose of morality, to be a code of values to live by.
Freedom requires a morality of rational egoism, NOT self sacrifice. I consider political freedom to be something of an intellectual achievement, in that it requires a level of maturity, knowledge, and commensurate responsibility, hallmarks of relatively enlightened individuals.
At the fundamental level, there cannot be self-mastery and responsibility without rationality, in any individual, or in any civilisation. In other words, there cannot be freedom without reason being culturally dominant
Legislation is a substitute for a rational morality. A rational morality will one day be the achievement of a genuine culture of reason. Unfortunately, the renaissance never achieved a rational morality, one of rational egoism. Altruism remained dominant, and thus, we have seen the historical slow slide away from a greater degree of freedom (the establishment of the USA in 1776) towards the collectivism that is fast approaching today.
I love the way you have shown us trial by Jury for what it really is. But it saddens me to think that what is needed to make use of it, is an enlightened and rational populace.
William Keyte - May 10, 2024 at 8:45 am
Thanks Nigel - apologies for the slow approval!
And thanks for the conversation we had recently. I've had nice comments back from people over that.
W
And thanks for the conversation we had recently. I've had nice comments back from people over that.
W
"We lived up to our expectations and demands of ourselves, as individuals and a team. It's not what you get; it's what you become."
I've admired Stokes for a long time; he's a true leader, but it was terrific to hear such a rare pearl of wisdom amongst all the trite cliches that get trotted out from sporting celebrities.