Unseen Truth

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is near to hear it, does it make a sound? This is a hollow question. If an evil deed is performed and it is not punished, does it remain evil? Is there a more heart-rending question?! The possibility that an evil act unpunished is not an evil act is nauseating. What a horrible thing existence would be if there is no justice! Would not a sane, concerned, existing individual not snuff out her own life if it was certain that justice was a myth?

For justice to be a myth, it must not obtain universally. Human intuitions about justice include a requirement for absolute enforcement. A single act of injustice that slips by unnoticed, that tumbles into the past, and is forgotten totally and forever is enough to make justice a myth.

The desire for justice that so often resides in the heart does not entail that justice is real. The truth about existence cannot be bent by one's will (although one's will may be bent by it). Does the fact that people pine for justice make it suspicious, though? Is the appellation of 'wish-fulfillment' concerning its reality--if I may put it thus--justified?

A sense of justice need not be taught. However imperfectly, children know it and adults know it. Only sociopaths appear on occasion to be wholly devoid discerning judgment regarding justice. Every person not only knows something of justice, but wants justice to be done--at least when his or her case is in question.

The desire is so entrenched that it often is operative without one's notice. A man, finding faith completely repugnant, disavows all knowledge claims that are irrational. Accordingly, he refuses to assent to the notion that justice is real (i.e., universally pervasive) thinking metaphysics to be solely speculative and therefore irrational. Yet, how easily he takes offense when he has been wronged! When he is the victim of slander, how heavily he slams his fist on the desk and how loudly he demands satisfaction! What could be more satisfying than justice being done? To witness justice, to see an evil act derided for what it is, for merit to win the day: these events energize him. His heart acts on principles his mind rejects.

What could be more frightful than that one of humanity's highest ideals is proved an illusion?