I know a lawyer, and today he said to me, The law is everything. It is society. When I heard this, my heart told me, That is not true. But I didn't know why.
When I got home that night, I went to sleep at midnight. I woke up at 4AM, and I remembered what the lawyer said, and what my heart said. My mind searched my heart and the world for the answer, and this is what I found:
The law does two things only: to limit what you can do to other people, and to establish the minimum of what you must do to other people. The law lives only in these two places - but love does not exist in either of these places.
For example, I can not say bad things about you, steal from you, hit you, or kill you even if I think it will make me happy. These are the limits that the law sets as to what I can do to other people (in law books, maybe they are called restrictive laws). There are also laws that force me to do certain things. If I am a man, I have to pay taxes and serve in the army, and if I am a father, I have to give food to my son even if it doesn't make me happy. These are the minimums the law sets as to what I have to do to other people (in law books, maybe they are called obligatory laws). But more than that, I don't have to do: I don't have to donate money to the government, or buy toys for my son if I don't want to.
The restrictive laws can be simplified into one rational principle: You can do whatever you want as long as you don't hurt other people. This is actually the way most people view their happiness and freedom. You are free to do whatever makes you happy as long as it doesn't get in the way of other people. The obligatory laws can also be simplified into one rational principle: You have to do a few certain things to certain other people, but more than that you don't have to do. This is actually the way most people view their responsibilities. Combine these two ways, and you see that this is how most people live their life how they do the things they want, and how they do the things they don't want to do. According to the law, being a good citizen means balancing the pursuit of your own happiness with fulfilling your responsibilities to others.
But if I do nothing to you, that is okay too. When other people say bad things about you, or steal from you, hit you, or kill you, I can ignore you and it is not against the law. If I don't care about you, if I let you suffer and be unhappy, that is not against the law. This is how many people use the word respect: I won't bother you, so don't bother me. But this is not love. The same is true for the minimums: I have to pay taxes and serve in the army, but I do not have to love my country. I have to give food to my son, but I do not have to love him. The law does not teach you how to love or to have a heart or tell you that you should have a heart. I can be a law-abiding citizen and break no laws, and yet have no heart. According to the law, it is legal to not care, to not love.
That is why listening to the law and the principles of reason teach you only how to think about yourself. Most of it tells you what you cannot take from other people. I cannot take your money, body, life, or privacy. When you take too much, the law speaks and comes alive, and seeks to punish you.
But the law does not teach you how to share with other people: if I am nice to you, say good things about you, help you, give you money, or love you, the law does not reward you. When you give more than is required by law, the law is quiet and does nothing - it is dead. The law does not exist in the places of love. When the heart is dead, the law is alive, and when the heart is alive, the law is dead. The heart exists in places beyond the law. Listen only to the law, and your heart will die.
Listen to your heart and the hearts of others, and give, and your heart will live. Happiness and love cannot exist when two people try to take from each other, or even if only one person gives and the other takes. The result is court in fact, any time when someone goes to court, it's usually because they want to take something from somebody who doesn't want to give it. Happiness and love exist when two people or two sides give and go beyond the two rational principles of law when they try to give and do more than is required. Two people who give stay outside of court, because they go beyond the laws of men for they live from the heart through the laws of love.
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