This post is part of a series. Please to visit the series index for more thoughts on the writings of Charlotte Mason.
Everyone has Justice in his heart; a cry for 'fair play' reaches the most lawless mob, and we all know how children torment us with their, 'It's not fair.' It is much to know that as regards justice as well as love there exists in everyone an adequate provision for the conduct of life: general unrest, which has its rise in wrong thinking and wrong judging far more than in faulty conditions, is the misguided outcome of that sense of justice with, thank God, we are all endued.
-Charlotte Mason, v.6 p.60
The first thing that jumped at me was the connection between that and the scripture:
And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil.
-2 Nephi 2:5
That verse has always kind of mystified me. People certainly don't always act like they've been "instructed sufficiently" to know the difference between wrong and right. Isn't that what parents are for? To teach our children about good and bad, about faith and baptism? I didn't understand this verse.
Everyone has Justice in his heart; a cry for 'fair play' reaches the most lawless mob, and we all know how children torment us with their, 'It's not fair.' It is much to know that as regards justice as well as love there exists in everyone an adequate provision for the conduct of life...
I don't know why that makes more sense to me, but it does. Sometimes I'm like that. I'll hear a thing again and again, and it won't click. Miss Mason really said the same thing, and it's not phrased too terribly differently "in his heart... there exists in [ ] an adequate provision" vs. "instructed sufficiently that they know" are not tons different, but the idea that this instruction, it exists within us, independent of either us or the teaching we've had in this life, it really made things come into focus. And I love that she's named it Justice. That fits so beautifully.
So she goes on to talk in a unique way about several different types of Justice:
Truth: justice in word
Integrity: justice in action
Sound Opinions: justice in thought
Sound Principles: justice in motive
The whole three page passage is fabulous. Well worth the time to go and read it, if you haven't already, before you read my ramblings. I'm going to share some highlights, but there is a lot in this section. There's so much possible application here, so many things that could be said, so many topics addressed {universal principles are like that}, but this is an educational treatise I am reading, and I'm writing a blog series on educational thought and practice inspired by it, so I'm going to attempt to stay on topic. We'll see well I do; education touches all facets of life.
Truth: Justice in Word
"What is truth?" that's what Pilate asked, and it's a tough question. I know it when I see it - when I feel it, because the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. The Holy Ghost and Reason are powerful tools for finding truth. But to pin it down, define it with words, I couldn't have done that. Miss Mason's done an admirable job, though:
Young people should leave school knowing that their thoughts are not their own; that what we think of other people is a matter of justice or injustice; that a certain manner of words is due from them to all manner of persons with whom they have to deal; and that not to speak those words is to be unjust to their neighbors. They should know that truth, that is, justice in word, is their due and that of all other persons; there are few better equipments for a citizen than a mind capable of discerning the truth, and this just mind can be preserved only by those who take heed what they think.
-vol. 6 p61
My first reaction to this paragraph was pretty rebellious, actually: What? My thoughts are not my own? Says who? Of course they are! The privacy of my mind is absolute!
In the next heartbeat, this came to mind:
God knows. Even our thoughts; He knows. And if thoughts can condemn us, then it is possible to have wrong - unjust - thoughts. I caught myself at this this afternoon, actually. I had some unflattering thoughts about a woman I am somewhat acquainted with, but then quickly realized that if the same measure was applied to myself, I would not fare so well. Banishing thoughts is not so easy. I stopped that line of thought, but you can't un-think an unjust thing. Being just is not so simple. Now that I'm thinking about it, the fact that our Heavenly Father is perfectly just, and perfectly just all of the time, is amazing. Astounding. Awe-inspiring. I start to measure myself against that standard, and the reasons why the prophets describe the division between the righteous and the unrighteous as an "awful gulf" become dauntingly clear. As does the reason why people sing about Amazing Grace.
For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
-Alma 12:14
So the challenge is to monitor our own behavior, and to strive to constantly make it reflect the ideal more and more. After all: our children pay more attention to what we do than they do to what we say. They see our efforts to become just, to speak justly, to think justly, and that is more powerful than 100 lectures or Family Home Evenings. Although we'll probably utilize that type of teaching as well, we can count on it not taking if it's not something that we are, ourselves, living, becoming, to the best of our ability.
... the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.
-Dallin H. Oaks, The Challenge to Become, Oct 2000, emphasis original
We need to become the type of person who can treat others as we ought to treat them, remembering that the root of ought is to "owe"-- that which we ought to do, is something that we owe. And Miss Mason isn't just pondering esoteric theological points; she outlines a specific relationship to education in the development of the character of the student:
They should know that truth, that is, justice in word, is their due and that of all other persons; there are few better equipments for a citizen than a mind capable of discerning the truth, and this just mind can be preserved only by those who take heed what they think.
Integrity: Justice in Action
When I was in the Young Women's program (our youth ministry for girls from 12-18), one of the values we learned about was integrity, but even after completing the program, I was still pretty fuzzy on what, precisely, integrity is. Some kind of amped up honesty, that's deeper - honest actions, as well as honest words. And that's good, as far as it goes, but I think Miss Mason's explanation is better:
It's always interesting to me to see how the various things I study always seem interconnected, especially if I ponder them for any length of time, and justice is proving to be a topic that touches many things. Yesterday, I read this:
So, if we take the two, Miss Mason and Bastiat, and learn from them both, we may conclude that when we are developing integrity ourselves, or encouraging it in our students, then what we are doing is learning to be just in our actions toward all people, regardless of status or any other consideration; we are learning to exclude injustice from every action, large or small, visible or invisible: real integrity doesn't care if anyone is watching. We will set our children's feet on this path, but I think that we all will be very old before we have truly mastered this task in all its possible facets.
More in Part 2.
Integrity doesn't do right or say right just when someone is watching; integrity happens when that honesty becomes part of who we are. At some point, acting with justice is going to be more that just a little inconvenient, it will be hard. Integrity finds a way to get it right under pressure as well as when it's smooth sailing. I've heard it said, and I believe it, that honesty -integrity- isn't developed in the big moments, it's the sum of the small ones, the innumerable practice runs, that give us the depth of character to be able to act justly when the stakes and the opposition are high; we cannot wait until we need good character to begin to develop good character!
If justice in word is to be duly learned by all scholars still more is integrity, justice in action ;integrity in work, which disallows ca'canny methods, whether those of the artisan who does as little as he can in the time, or of the schoolboy who receives payment in kind - in his support, the cost of his education and the trust imposed in him by parents and teachers. Therefore he may not scamp, dawdle over, postpone, crib, or otherwise shirk his work. He learns that "my duty towards my neighbor" is "to keep my hands from picking and stealing," and, whether a man be a workman, a servant, or a prosperous citizen, he must know that justice requires from him the integrity in material which we call honesty; not the common honesty which hates to be found out, but that refined and delicate sense of values...
-Charlotte Mason, volume 6 p 61
It's always interesting to me to see how the various things I study always seem interconnected, especially if I ponder them for any length of time, and justice is proving to be a topic that touches many things. Yesterday, I read this:
It ought to be stated that the purpose of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning. In fact, it is injustice, instead of justice, that has an existence of its own. Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.
-Frederic Bastiat, The Law (emphasis original)
So, if we take the two, Miss Mason and Bastiat, and learn from them both, we may conclude that when we are developing integrity ourselves, or encouraging it in our students, then what we are doing is learning to be just in our actions toward all people, regardless of status or any other consideration; we are learning to exclude injustice from every action, large or small, visible or invisible: real integrity doesn't care if anyone is watching. We will set our children's feet on this path, but I think that we all will be very old before we have truly mastered this task in all its possible facets.
More in Part 2.
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