What is Law?

Hard Law

We have laws in the western world to govern our societies. Often referred to as ‘hard’ law, the legislation is put in writing by nations to govern the people and the use of the land. Laws are by their very nature an abrogation of our determination of our values (and thereby our decision making) to the state. National and international laws determine and impose upon us what behaviour is acceptable and unacceptable (for instance, until the abolition of slavery, blacks in chains were an acceptable commodity), and the breach of a law gives rise to a penalty. The call for a Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights was a call for international law to prevent various damaging practices, for instance pollution (The Right Not to be Polluted). However, without identifying the intrinsic values to shape our lives and the lives of others as individuals and communities, hard laws will never be enough.

Soft Law

In some (non-western) communities, laws do not exist on paper. Instead they are self and community determined by way of collectively agreeing to certain values, values that are passed on generation to generation, by word of mouth and action. An indigenous person does not point to an article of a treaty written and passed by the state to demonstrate a breach. That person has in place a self governance that shapes their decision making and interaction with other beings on their patch of the planet. The laws that shape their world are the inherent laws of the universe. Such laws are sometimes referred to as soft laws, ones that are not written down but are commonly understood. We in the western world, the so-called developed world, have lost that understanding. The Declaration of All Beings is a Peoples’ Declaration because it contains the soft laws for us all to apply – if we choose.

Life = intrinsic value

To view the planet and the many million of species that inhabit this world as mere ‘things’ is a failure to acknowledge the living world. Science demonstrates that the planet is not inert, dead matter. Tectonic plates shift, seas have tides, plankton grows and dies. Where life exists, then that life has intrinsic value – values that transcend monetary worth. The last 200 years brought great advancements, but it also mainstreamed the concept of viewing non-human life as a commodity. That approach has generated enormous problems. It has allowed us to justify the polluting and destruction of much of the living world, the taking without concern for the consequence. Climate change and the escalation of human made emissions to unstable levels is an outcome of our loss of the intrinsic value and loss of relationship with the wider community. Instead we have created markets.

The planet has become enslaved. With slaves in the 18th Century, we ignored those peoples’ intrinsic value as human beings. Instead we placed a monetary value on their use. They were in effect bought and sold as energy commodities, so that we did not have to use our energy, whether it be to carry or clean etc. Now we have a parallel situation. We have ignored the intrinsic value of all beings, and instead placing a price on their use. A market has been created to trade the planet’s resources, generating enormous amounts of extraction for our energy demands and as a consequence pushing other beings to their very limits. Ecosystems are failing as a result. This is one problem we cannot resolve by trade. The planet has become enslaved.

A Declaration of All Beings: a unifying document that transcends all religions

The 3 core values set out in the Declaration provide the context to determine our duties and responsibilities for a better world, and in turn shape the rights and freedoms that all beings have.  The result is a ‘soft law’ declaration – a tool providing guidance for life, one that governs our duties and obligations to all beings.  It is a recognition that ‘hard law’, whilst it has its place and importance, is not definitive. 

It is up to us to determine what values will shape our decision making and our thoughts. We are each of us co-creators of our worlds. The new world – the future that we bring into the present by making it a reality – is ours for the making, but it depends on what values we put in place as the bedrock. It is the values that we import that give literal, spiritual and physical shape to outcomes.

We can determine our own governance, by dint of application of our own non-legally imposed values which in turn shape our responsibilities, rights and freedoms.  Indigenous peoples and our ancestors understand that self governance is the very crux of life.  Life is then purposeful, not accidental, imposed by others. Only when certain values are embedded from the outset that reflect the true relationship between ourselves and the planet, starting with a recognition that we are all interconnected and interdependent, will we successfully co-create the new world. Failure to address values is failure to address life itself.

Postscript: The Universal Declaration of All Beings is not intended to be definitive. It is not a dogma. It is proffered as a suggested solution, as an enabling tool, a way of being that will bring a better world. We each have choice, it is for you to choose to uphold or reject what is presented here, take that which agree with. It is your life after all, you choose which route you want to take. We each create the reality we want. It is for you to set your intention. This is but one reality – an exciting joyous one, one filled with abundance. What do you intend your reality to be?