Dear Cyndy, You put your finger on it: I'm well aware that my disparagement of the law is unrealistic. I should be more specific. What I wish to subject to critical examination is not so much the law itself, as the idealization of the law, the Kantian belief that the law is ultimately "from God", that human laws are coextensive with the "laws of nature", and that obedience to the law is the source of true freedom. I'm reminded of Goethe's provocative sonnet, which is, of course untranslatable, at least for me, so I'll paraphrase it: Die Sonette Natur und Kunst, sie scheinen sich zu fliehen Und haben sich, eh man es denkt, gefunden; Der Widerwille ist auch mir verschwunden, Und beide scheinen gleich mich anzuziehen. Es gilt wohl nur ein redliches Bemühen! Und wenn wir erst in abgemeßnen Stunden Mit Geist und Fleiß uns an die Kunst gebunden, Mag frei Natur im Herzen wieder glühen. So ists mit aller Bildung auch beschaffen: Vergebens werden ungebundne Geister Nach der Vollendung reiner Höhe streben. Wer Großes will, muß sich zusammenraffen; In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister, Und das Gesetz nur kann uns Freiheit geben. Die Sonette The Sonnet Natur und Kunst, sie scheinen sich zu fliehen Nature and art, they seem to fly apart, Und haben sich, eh man es denkt, gefunden; But sooner than one thinks, are reunited. Der Widerwille ist auch mir verschwunden, My own revulsion has subsided, Und beide scheinen gleich mich anzuziehen. And both seem equally desirable to me. Es gilt wohl nur ein redliches Bemühen! All that's required is an honest effort, Und wenn wir erst in abgemeßnen Stunden and once in calibrated hours, Mit Geist und Fleiß uns an die Kunst gebunden, With diligence and wit to art we're bound Mag frei Natur im Herzen wieder glühen. Then in our hearts Nature once more is free to glow, So ists mit aller Bildung auch beschaffen: That's how all education is disposed, Vergebens werden ungebundne Geister In vain unfettered spirits strive Nach der Vollendung reiner Höhe streben. To the perfection of sublimity, Wer Großes will, muß sich zusammenraffen; Who would great things accomplish must restrain himself, In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister, Self-limitation is the badge of mastery, Und das Gesetz nur kann uns Freiheit geben. And law alone can make us free. The Sonnet Nature and art, they seem to fly asunder, But sooner than one thinks, are reunited. My own revulsion has subsided, Now both seem equally a source of wonder. All that's required is an honest effort, and once in calibrated hours, With diligence and wit to art we're bound Then Nature in our hearts again is free to glow, That's how all education is disposed, In vain unfettered spirits strive To the perfection of sublimity, Greatness achieved requires discipline. Self-limitation is the badge of mastery, And law alone can make us free. I've always interpreted this poem as a camouflaged ode to Metternich reaction and repression, in the guise of artistic and cultural criticism, a reflection of that Teutonic spirit which could never mount a revolution because the would-be rebels were unable to get the police permit they felt they needed. But perhaps I'm wrong. In any case, you take my persiflage of law too seriously. I enjoy the satire and the irony. I write in part for your amusement, to keep you entertained. Beyond irony and satire, I interpret the ineradicable incongruities of the law as reflections of that fundamental characteristic of human nature with which I am obsessed: that each of us is both a separate and a social creature, and that the imperatives of separateness and togetherness, of individuality and fusion in society, are forever irreconcilable. I'm sure I have previously cited Isaiah's account of the individual who did not fit in, and was excluded from society. 1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53 I find an interesting parallel in Plato's constrast between the man who is perfectly unjust and him who is perfectly just. I consider it seminal, and will quote it at length: "Now, if we are to form a real judgment of the life of the just and unjust, we must isolate them; there is no other way; and how is the isolation to be effected? I answer: Let the unjust man be entirely unjust, and the just man entirely just; nothing is to be taken away from either of them, and both are to be perfectly furnished for the work of their respective lives. First, let the unjust be like other distinguished masters of craft; like the skilful pilot or physician, who knows intuitively his own powers and keeps within their limits, and who, if he fails at any point, is able to recover himself. So let the unjust make his unjust attempts in the right way, and lie hidden if he means to be great in his injustice (he who is found out is nobody): for the highest reach of injustice is: to be deemed just when you are not. Therefore I say that in the perfectly unjust man we must assume the most perfect injustice; there is to be no deduction, but we must allow him, while doing the most unjust acts, to have acquired the greatest reputation for justice. If he have taken a false step he must be able to recover himself; he must be one who can speak with effect, if any of his deeds come to light, and who can force his way where force is required his courage and strength, and command of money and friends. And at his side let us place the just man in his nobleness and simplicity, wishing, as Aeschylus says, to be and not to seem good. There must be no seeming, for if he seem to be just he will be honoured and rewarded, and then we shall not know whether he is just for the sake of justice or for the sake of honours and rewards; therefore, let him be clothed in justice only, and have no other covering; and he must be imagined in a state of life the opposite of the former. Let him be the best of men, and let him be thought the worst; then he will have been put to the proof; and we shall see whether he will be affected by the fear of infamy and its consequences. And let him continue thus to the hour of death; being just and seeming to be unjust. When both have reached the uttermost extreme, the one of justice and the other of injustice, let judgment be given which of them is the happier of the two. Plato, Republic III, 2 The justice of the law is unavoidably public, external, objective, hence, according to Plato: perfect injustice. While true justice, which according to Plato is unrecognized, i.e. individual and inward, the individual's perception of and need for justice, receives in public, the stigma of injustice. It's a dilemma, for which there is no solution. I'm tired, and my prose is not up to my standards, but the Goethe sonnet, Isaiah's vision, and Plato's grim view of public and private virtue, should give you something to think about. Maybe in a day or two, I'll be able to do better. Jochen