“Justice should become cheap and expeditious. Today it is the luxury of the rich and the joy of the gambler.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, v. 4., p. 182

Sigh. It has been a long “today.” Here the lawyer, Gandhi, is citing an important example of a general rule that Socrates adduced nearly 2500 years ago (it’s been a very long “today” indeed!): that every profession has both its particular use and its corruption. The use differs from one profession to the next, the corruption is always the same: greed. The purpose of healthcare, for example, is to enhance human health, not to register profits for insurance companies or anyone else. Likewise the function of law, he discovered, is to “bring together parties that are riven asunder,” because the supreme Law is always and everywhere the law of unity. We all benefit when this is recognized and practiced; no one really profits when justice becomes a commodity for sale, for even exploiters suffer inwardly, as science has now begun to confirm.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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