The idea of justice on this Earth is illusion. All of sleeping humanity belongs to a tiny planet which is a kind of lunatic asylum. There is no justice, no spiritual justice.
The Classical Understanding of Justice
“Plato’s four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, temperance and justice.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p165
Letter VIII of the Tarot is Justice. “She says: ‘I am seated on the seat which is between the individual will of beings and the universal will of the supreme Being. I am the guardian of equilibrium between the individual and the universal. I have the power to re-establish it each time that it is violated. I am order, health, harmony, justice.'” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p174
“The word conscience (‘con-science’) contains the idea of balance, for it implies ‘simultaneous knowing’, i.e. knowledge of the facts of the two scales suspended at the extremities of the beam of the balance. Conscience is neither a product nor a function of character. It is above it. And it is here—and only here—that there begins and there is found the domain of freedom. One is not at all free when one judges or acts according to character or temperament; but one certainly is when one judges and acts according to the balance of Justice, or conscience. But Justice, the practice of the balance, is only the beginning of a long path of the development of conscience—and therefore of the growth of freedom.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p196
The Limitations of Human Justice
“[Ouspensky] was talking about our idea of justice and was emphasizing how what we call justice has nothing to do with justice. He said: ‘Justifying yourself is always from your own idea of justice. For example, everyone justifies their negative states.’ He meant that everyone has a sense of what is justice for them and finding that life does not correspond to it they cling to this sense of what they think should be justice for them. Consequently we justify our negative states, our internal considering, and our account-making, and if we view the whole thing from the Work point of view we begin to realize that we cannot justify ourselves on our own ideas of justice. We have to act from another sense of justice.” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p851
“In the Work-sense there is no justice on this planet where everything happens in the only way it can happen. How can there be justice in a world of sleeping people—of people who are not yet conscious—of people who are governed by their negative emotions and finally by hate?” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p1240
“Our idea of justice on this Earth is illusion. On this level, all sleeping humanity belongs to a tiny planet which is a kind of lunatic asylum. There is no justice, no fairness. Only if everyone on this Earth became conscious, then the whole story would become quite different. Just notice what is happening here in the world to-day. So instead of referring everything to the idea of fairness and justice it is far better to will what you have to do in everything and try to awaken from your negative emotions. That will give you freedom and inner peace.” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p1316
The Higher Justice of Grace
“The sun shines on the good and wicked alike. Is this morally right? Is it the justice of grace here which is higher than the protective, distributive and punitive justice of the law? This is so. There is the sublime ‘other justice’ of grace, which is the meaning of the New Testament.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p178
“Remember there is no justice under higher laws such as we understand justice. Higher justice, heavenly justice, is to work on yourself so that when you die you have no accounts. The question only is then—in spite of all these difficulties you may mention: ‘What have you done beyond yourself?’ So it is said elsewhere: ‘Ye shall be judged every man, every woman, according to your work.'” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p1090
“If a man begins to act from the Good of what he does and the love of Good itself, he will serve Good and be a servant of Good, and all ideas of authority, place and position, and all ideas of being superior to others, all rivalry, all personal envy and jealousy, and all human ideas of justice and injustice will become non−existent for him. For Good is not a person, and to act from seeing the Good of what one does and taking pleasure in it is to act beyond anything personal.” Maurice Nicoll, The New Man, p84
The Inner Dimension of Justice
“The Kingdom of Heaven can’t be an external political state. It can’t be a realm of justice and compassion externally on the earth if, internally, we are violent, if we are uneasy, if we are judgmental or frightened ourselves. Frightened citizens can’t make peaceable kingdoms. It’s a no-brainer, actually, and yet we keep trying to do, we talk this rhetoric of this peaceful kingdom, this justice kingdom. Jesus was talking about, the kingdom of heaven is a state of consciousness. It’s a way of seeing. It’s a way of seeing the world, of seeing our place in it, of seeing God at work in it.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Awakened Mind Awakened Heart, 2:56 disc 2 track 6
“So as you return to your home and make some choices, if you realize that our psychosensitive beings are very, very interactive with what we eat, and if you want to grow in joy, gentleness, faithfulness, truth, justice, the classic time-tested way is to put yourself in their proximity. Gulp them down, understudy them, learn them, invite them to come and nest in your being and see what happens. It’s a classic way.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Rebuilding Trust Feb 2022, 30:34 Day2.1-Creating-Sun-In-Myself.
The Reconciliation of Justice and Mercy
“Giving is receiving is the energetic frequency upon which our universe is aligned: The core principle by which human beings move from being frightened and timid and self-hating to being confident and connected. The core principle by which the poor are fed and the blind see and the lame walk. What if it is the core principle around which peace and justice can finally be made to reign on Earth.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Divine Exchange, disc 3 track 2.
“Living it out of that chiastic center, that center that knows what we have given, what we have rejected is given to us anyway, and what we have accepted, it all comes to us because mercy and justice have kissed. It’s a profound message. It’s Christic love in action. It’s a bleed through of world 12 into World 24 into world 48, rescuing everybody from world 96. And you know, I sometimes wonder, I have to say, I suspect that the resolution to the crisis we’re in right now is going to have that kind of a chiastic property to it. I haven’t spotted the epicenter.
“But I think something will shine through that illumines and harmonizes and radiates and makes whole these hopeless fragmented bits and pieces of despair and disillusionment that we’re all shouldering through right now, as what it looks like is broken dreams and broken promises and dashed hopes. The universe is holy, compassionate, and coherent.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Imaginal Wisdom School Aug 2020, 40:00 0818 IWS Tuesday PM Teaching.
Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good;
And our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him,
And shall make His footsteps our pathway.
From Psalm 85
Logion 77
Yeshua says...
I am the light shining upon all things.
I am the sum of everything,
for everything has come forth from me,
and towards me everything unfolds.
Split a piece of wood, and there I am.
Pick up a stone
and you will find me there.
Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll refer to Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Eureka Editions:2020) unless stated otherwise.
Maurice Nicoll, The New Man, Martino Fine Books, Eastford CT, 2019
Quotations from the Gospel of Thomas are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)
Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, Jeremy Tarcher, 1985
Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas
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