VOLUME VI, CHAPTER 5, SECTION 9

VOLUME VI, CHAPTER 5, SECTION 9

One Lock, Four Systems Save Together, Law Lights It, Culture Warms the Heart, the Economy Draws the Firewood, Politics Dissolves the Knife

The last section set up the first step, to save first the people inside the legal system. This section tells what to save them with. The same as the fourth chapter, this lock cannot be undone by law alone. It is the dead letter, the human heart, the pressure to earn, and coercion, several strands twisted into one hard lump, and it takes culture, the economy, politics, and law, four systems, four strengths, brought at once. This time law is the main force, and the other three come to help, so that the one illiterate in the law cannot, does not want to, need not, and dares not, go on harming people lawfully. Cannot, do not want to, need not, dare not, these four are the frame of this section, hold them first, and let me break them open, strand by strand.

Let me say the plain thing first. To save these people forged onto the chain, to cut this chain that harms the people lawfully, resting on law alone will not do it. Look back at the fourth chapter's ninth section, the same reasoning. This chain is not a simple thing, one snip and it breaks. Take it apart, and see which strands it is twisted of.

The strand of the dead letter, that thought in the hand, toward the dead letter and away from the intent, is one strand. The strand of the human heart, that heart to the person under the pen, ground numb by the education, no longer feeling the weight of a life, is one strand. The strand of the pressure to earn, and to rise, for in that machine, whoever handles more cases, closes them faster, by the dead letter, is counted able and rises, and whoever stops to weigh the intent, to protect the person, is counted slow and is crowded out, this too is one strand. And the strand of coercion, that whole set behind the law, of arresting, fining, holding down, the fourth chapter said ought not to exist, one strand. The dead letter, the human heart, the pressure to earn, coercion, this chain is these strands twisted into one hard lump. Undo only one strand, and the others stay taut and draw it tight again. It takes the four systems, four strengths, brought at once.

This leads back again to that great claim of the whole book, the systems of this world are four, culture, the economy, politics, law, the five fingers on one hand, completing and checking one another, and a hard lump takes the four brought at once. Only, this time, the main force changes. The fourth chapter's lock, the strand of power was thickest, so politics was the main force. This chapter's chain, the thing at the root is the thought toward the dead letter and away from the intent, and setting that thought right is the law's own business, so this time law is the main force, and culture, the economy, politics come to help.

Let me tell how the four strands are used, one at a time. The first strand, law, lights it. This is the main force. What is the root of this chain? It is the thought in the hand, holding the dead letter, losing the living intent. So the first thing is to light that intent up, to shine it out, plain, bright, before every one who holds the law, so that he can no longer, hiding in the murk of the dead letter, forget the intent. How is it lit? The first section set the yardstick, the intent of the law is to protect the people. Take this yardstick and hang it high, and lay down plain, at the head of every law, that the intent of this law is to protect the people, that to read it you read the intent and not the letter, that any ruling has to answer one thing, has it protected the person or harmed the person. Light this intent up, hang it high, and that one holding the law can no longer only pick at the dead letter, he has to lift his eyes to that intent hanging high, protecting people, and measure his every ruling against it. This is law lighting it. Light up the intent that the dead letter covered over, and that thought in the hand can no longer hide in the murk. This is called making him cannot, he can no longer, under a lit-up intent, quietly harm people by the dead letter and call it by the book.

But lighting the intent alone is not enough. Light it, and that one still may, in his heart, be numb to the person, still be pressed by the machine to close cases fast by the dead letter, still have that coercion in hand to fall back on. So it takes the other three strands, brought alongside.

The second strand, culture, warms the heart, so he does not want to harm people. That one illiterate in the law, in his heart there is a thing ground numb, that weight of feeling toward the person under his pen. What the strand of culture means to do is, with character education, the second chapter's leg, to warm that numb heart back, to set again before his eyes the living person at the end of his ruling, to let him feel again that under his pen is not a case number but a living person's road to life and death. The heart warmed back, and he of himself no longer bears to harm people by the dead letter, of himself lifts his eyes to the intent, to the person. This is that leg of the second chapter, character, come down onto the one who holds the law, the deepest strand, warming the heart from within, so he does not want to.

The third strand, the economy, draws the firewood from under the pot, so he need not. In that machine, why is he pressed to close cases fast by the dead letter? Because the machine counts ability by how many cases closed, how fast, and rising, and keeping the post, and the pay, all hang on it. And under it there is that old fear, of things not being enough, of the post lost and the family with no bread. But the third chapter set up that enormous thing, there is, for the first time, enough, the non-labor share returned to the public, every person a floor under living and working in peace. That one holding the law sees that his keep, his family's, all have a floor, and he need no longer, for the post, for the pay, race to close cases by the dead letter, need no longer, for fear of things not being enough, harm people to keep his place. The firewood drawn from under the pot, and he need not. He can slow down, weigh the intent, protect the person, and not starve for it.

The fourth strand, politics, dissolves the knife, so he dares not, and need not, fall back on coercion. That strand of coercion behind the law, arresting, fining, holding down, is what lets the one holding the law harm people so hard, so unafraid, a charge pressed and the coercion follows, and you can do nothing. The fourth chapter set up that this coercion ought not to exist, that a law-enforcement apparatus is dissolved into administration and the raising of people. This is politics dissolving the knife. Take that knife of coercion out of the hand of the one who holds the law, and dissolve it into administration, settling people, and the raising of people, leading them back to keeping themselves in check, and then even if a thought to harm stirs in him, there is no knife in his hand to carry it out with, and the harmed are no longer forced down by that coercion with no room to turn. The knife dissolved, and his hand, even wanting to harm, has lost the blade.

Put the four strands together and look. Law lights the intent, so he cannot hide in the dead letter to harm people. Culture warms the heart, so he does not want to harm people. The economy draws the firewood, so he need not race by the dead letter and harm people to keep his place. Politics dissolves the knife, so even wanting to, he dares not, and cannot, force people down by coercion. Cannot, do not want to, need not, dare not, four strengths, lighting the intent from above, warming the heart from within, drawing away the pressure from the root, and taking the knife from the hand. These four brought at once, and that hard lump twisted of the dead letter, the human heart, the pressure to earn, and coercion, loosens, strand by strand, and that thought in the hand turns back, from the dead letter to the living intent, and the ruler in the hand turns back, from a knife that harms people to a ruler that protects people.

And look back, and of these four strengths, not one goes to bring that one illiterate in the law down. Law lights the intent for him, culture warms his heart, the economy draws away the pressure that forced him, politics takes the knife from his hand, all of it turning that thought in his hand back, reforging him, saving him out, and not one of it dragging him out, striking him. This is that use-the-pen-not-the-knife, undo-the-lock-and-save-people, come down onto this chain that harms the people lawfully, in the concrete. And it is again that great claim of the whole book, no hard problem is undone by one system alone, culture, the economy, politics, law, always used together, matched together, completing and checking one another.

This is what this section sets up, save first the people inside the legal system, the four systems saving together, law lighting it, culture warming the heart, the economy drawing the firewood, politics dissolving the knife. The method of saving is these four strengths, cannot, do not want to, need not, dare not, brought at once, to turn that thought in the hand back, to save the person, not to strike him. But that biggest knot in your heart is still there, you save him, turn his thought back, then what he harmed people with in the past, how is it handled? Turned back, is he to go on sitting in the position, holding that ruler? This knot, the next section tells, oversight, putting that thought under the sunlight, and to save him is to save him from going on harming people lawfully, and the section after gives you the iron, barred for life.

Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.