I’ll Play My Part, You Play Yours

Justice means ‘things being in their proper place’. To understand this better, think of a musical symphony, played by a skilled orchestra. The musical notes played by the musicians will have greater harmony – and thus greater ‘justice’ – if the musicians pay close attention to the conductor and to their own sheet of music in front of them. As individuals, the musicians do not choose which sheet music to follow: they use the sheet music provided by the conductor. Also, it makes no sense for a conductor to want the trumpets to become good at playing the parts written for the violins, or to let the drums play the parts written for the piano. The conductor wants each instrument to be its absolute best at what it has been designed for, and to be played in harmony with the others to create beautiful, meaningful music. The trumpets should not spend their time condemning the violins for not being trumpets! The violins should not spend time gossiping about how lazy the piano is, while the piano should not mock the flute on account of how little it appears in the symphony. Each musician should focus on his own abilities and limitations, and play only the music that has been written for him. If he focuses on the kind of music he wants to play and thus ignores the sheet music in front of him, he will cause disharmony and the symphony will sound terrible.

To disregard what one is and to attempt to be what one is not, simply because one’s lower self has delusions of greatness, leads to injustice and, in the end, to tyranny. And to want everyone to be the same, regardless of the fact that they are different instruments designed to make different sounds, is to wish not for justice, as most people imagine, but for injustice and, eventually, chaos.

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