Here is another in the series of teachings by Hazrat Inayat Khan on the subject of the art of personality.  The previous post in this sequence may be found here.  This time, the quality under consideration is justice.  Paradoxically, although many are quick to denounce injustice, there are not so many who behave justly.

After having acquired refinement of character, and merits and virtues that are needed in life, the personality can be finished by the wakening of the sense of justice. The art of personality makes a statue, a fine specimen of art, but when the sense of justice is awakened that statue comes to life; for in the sense of justice lies the secret of the soul’s unfolding. Everyone knows the name of justice; but it is rare to find someone who really is just by nature, in whose heart the sense of justice has been awakened.

What generally happens is that people claim to be just, though they may be far from being so. The development of the sense of justice lies in unselfishness; one cannot be just and selfish at the same time. The selfish person can be just, but only for himself. He has his own law most suited to himself, and he can change it, and his reason will help him to do so, in order to suit his own requirements in life. A spark of justice is to be found in every heart, in every person, whatever be his stage of evolution in life; but the one who loves fairness, so to speak blows on that spark, thus raising it to a flame, in the light of which life becomes more clear to him.

It is the one who judges himself
who can learn justice.

There is so much talk about justice, so much discussion about it and so much dispute over it; one finds two persons arguing upon a certain point and differing from one another, both thinking that they are just, yet neither of them will admit that the other is as just as he himself.

For those who really learn to be just, their first lesson is what Christ has taught: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ One may say, ‘If one does not judge, how can one learn justice?’ But it is the one who judges himself who can learn justice, not the one who is occupied in judging others. In this life of limitations if one only explores oneself, one will find within oneself so many faults and weaknesses, and when dealing with others so much unfairness on one’s own part, that for the soul who really wants to learn justice, his own life will prove to be a sufficient means with which to practice justice.

Again, there comes a stage in one’s life, a stage of life’s culmination, a stage of the soul’s fuller development, when justice and fairness rise to such a height that one arrives at the point of being devoid of blame; one has nothing to say against anyone, and if there be anything it is only against oneself; and it is from that point that one begins to see the divine justice hidden behind that manifestation. It comes in one’s life as a reward bestowed from above, a reward which is like a trust given by God, to see all things appearing as just and unjust in the bright, shining light of perfect justice.