– A guide for how to solve conflicts and handle issues with the law.
Natural law consists of an unspoken understanding of what is right and what is wrong. This understanding reflects local communities and traditions but is also a more general understanding of how we can interact and settle discords on an international level.
To act with honor is a key to the natural law. A man or woman who acts with honor is able to listen to complaints and respond to them with reason, as well as express her own complaints in an understandable and factual way.
Common law is a method on how we can come to shared interpretations on how to apply natural law in our communities. This process is guided by a jury of peers that are selected from the community by the community. The outcomes from these Common Law Courts are then used as references in future cases.
One of the basic ideas behind the Common Law is to offer a system to solve disputes by creating a structure for communication so that all parties can be heard and understood. The idea of honor is key in the Common Law procedures. To remain in honor you need to follow a specific way of communicating that will help to create an understanding and find a resolution.
To speak in honor is thus not only a method for communication in a courtroom but a way to communicate in your daily lives that honor the natural laws. This is not merely a procedure using a structure with specific words and semantics, but rather a way to be in line with our inner truth and act as responsible beings towards ourselves and toward all life.
Most of our communication will be outside the courtroom and with the knowledge to speak and act with honor we will avoid conflict on many levels. A man or woman that acts with honor will not easily get into disputes as he or she will create trust and friendship with whoever she encounters.
If a dispute does happen, it can often be settled outside of court if one of the parties is able to act with a degree of honor. Naturally, the degree of honor that any man or woman can produce is in accordance with the inner development that she has experienced and the intuitive understanding of natural law that results from it.
Even as a dispute is going to a higher level where officers of the law or other governing institutions are involved, the conflict can often be settled without a Court by remaining in honor. To act and speak in honor is thus always important and should be refined by those who want to serve their communities and their own personal development.
In a courtroom there are several rules that describe the method of remaining in honor, it is important to understand that these rules are only a subset of behavior that defines true honor. True honor can not be quantified and is a quality that preseeds even words and actions as a way of staying true to the Natural Law.
In a legal process, you at all times must be in honor. If not, you are acting in dishonor and can eventually lose the right to present yourself. The Court can find you incompetent and you will be appointed a guardian to represent you and that will of course also reflect negatively on your case.
There are procedures for a Common Law Court to stay in honor and I will present my understanding of this. As I have not studied law in depth this presentation will only be able to act as a guiding principle.
In court, there are two parties the Plaintiffs who present a claim and who have suffered some loss or hurt, and the defendant who will answer to that claim. The Plaintiff needs to present evidence to prove her claims while the defendant only needs to respond. If the Plaintiff fails to present that evidence she risks falling in dishonor and can be charged with causing defamation. Defamation is a false statement about another that unjustly harms their reputation, also known as libel or slander.
The dialogue is then carried out by one party making a presentment towards each other. A presentment includes a claim and a demand. The respondent can choose to answer in three different ways to remain in honor.
1) Accord and satisfaction – The defendant accepts the presentation and offers to satisfy whatever is demanded.
2) Conditional Acceptance – The offer is accepted with some conditions. This is in effect a counteroffer and a new presentment is given back.
3) Rejection without dishonor – The presentment is rejected on the basis that the claim is erroneous and there is no liability in evidence.
There are also two ways of dishonor the presentment.
1) Argument – The presentment is rejected without offering an argument that has direct relevance to the case. Many times by presenting irrelevant comments on the other party.
2) Silence – No comments are made and thus the presentment is dishonored.
In many situations where you do not accept the claims made it is a recommended practice to answer with conditional acceptance. This can for example be when a police officer asks for your identification. You can answer that you will give it to them when they present evidence that they have jurisdiction over you and the laws give them the right to demand it.
From these simple rules, you can see that you must never make a claim without having proof. You can not answer by starting an irrelevant argument and you can not ignore the claim. These are a good golden standard to apply in you general life to make sure you act with honor.
To act with honor is of course a much broader field than these simple rules. To act with honor is something that can be perfected during the cause of a lifetime where the aim is to respect all life and act with grace.
Another tool for communication that is helping people to act in honor is by communicating with empathy. In this method, we also include the inner realm of feelings and needs to further express our situation. I will quote from my book “speaking with an open heart”.
“In this model, we break down want we want to say into four parts to express it clearly. The four parts are called: Observation, Feeling, Need and Request. Observation is to describe a situation clearly and objectively without personal values and interpretations [the proof]. The feeling is about expressing and taking responsibility for what you feel. Needs is about understanding and expressing your basic needs. The request is to express clearly what you would like someone else (or yourself) to contribute to meet your needs. When you have gained an understanding of these four parts they will serve as useful tools that will allow you to get your needs met as well as creating deep connections with other people.”
The observation is thus the evidence that you present. It is crucial that all the evidence is indisputable or you will risk having your presentation rejected without dishonor. To express your feelings are important to create a further understanding of why you claim to be hurt. It is relevant for other parties to understand you and relate to your cause. It is also a way to express your truth without risking making any counterclaims or arguments. Your feelings are yours to present as you like and can not be discarded as false. To express your longings are also in the same way a means to express your truth and to create a further understanding of what you desire. This is a way to settle the case by finding alternative routes that can cause mutual satisfaction. Finally, the request is [often] in the form of a counterclaim. That is a clear proposition of what you can accept to find satisfaction.
The procedure of learning to speak in honor is thus not only a formal legal proceeding but rather a way of life and something you need to practice and apply in all aspects of your life. I recommend you to read my book “speaking with an open heart” that you can find as an ebook online. (https://uniteawake.com/news/speaking-with-an-open-heart/). Then you need to actively practice your skills for a prolonged time for them to fully integrate with your language. I recommend you to find a group of friends interested in the subject and meet regularly to practice. This can be as a role-playing game with one acting as an authority or as a conflict you have encountered anywhere else in your personal life.
The next step to act with honor is to expand your interest not to only your situation and needs but rather include the whole world and especially the party that confronts you. Everyone who makes a claim feels hurt. By understanding the subjective feeling of loss you can act and speak in a way that shows empathy and understanding towards the other party. Even if the same party is making unjust claims towards you, you still have a possibility to understand the source of suffering and offer a way to solve it for everyone.
To do so we need to start listening with empathy and being able to have acceptance of other people acting with dishonor as long as we do not get hurt in the process. The power of showing grace is great and you will find that when you act for the benefit of all beings and not only focusing on protecting your own rights, you will expand your influence and be granted power as a result of the Natural Laws.
The way of listening with empathy is basically to turn the nonviolent communication around and instead of expressing yourself, you begin to try to understand the other party. What has she observed, what she feels, what she needs, and what she can ask for to get satisfaction.
I recommend you to read my book “Listening with compassion” (https://uniteawake.com/news/listening-with-compassion/) to get an in-depth understanding of how you can listen and ask questions to gain trust and respect from others.
In my private life, I have many times been in contact with police as an activist on the streets creating manifestations or as a free man trying to live my life in peace and by doing so choosing not to follow some statues that I deem unlawful.
The first key to act with honor is to see yourself as a sovereign free man or woman with equal rights to everyone else. There is no authority over you and you are the king or queen in your domain. To accept police officers, bosses or anyone else as your authority is not to act with honor and so you must practice acting on the same level as others. You can also not fall into the trap of seeing yourself as higher than others, the police officers are not under your command and you need to honor their equal rights.
As a child, I had to learn this as I always felt compelled to directly accept anything an officer of the law would suggest. It was a revelation when I first understood that I have the same rights as them and that I did not need to follow their commands. One of the first times this happened I was sitting down playing drums in a park. A police officer came and said that we should stop playing as it would disturb other people. I was already on my way when a friend of mine just stood up in front of the officer and with a kind voice said that it would be sad if we were to leave as we were having such a good time and that he did not think that it would be of any disturbance. That simple gesture of honesty and courage was all that was needed for the police to change his mind and we were allowed to continue enjoying our evening.
To speak up when you feel that something is wrong is the only honorable way. To stand aside and watch while someone is causing harm is a bigger problem than any other, as this creates an atmosphere where dishonor and shame define us. This has a negative impact on everyone and dishonorable behavior is collectively encouraged in this way.
Another time my friends and I were “squatting” land in a natural park and had an encounter with the local government. Instead of going into an argument, we invited the local authorities to come out to us and have a discussion to solve the issue. They accepted and so we came to sit in my friend’s tepe serving them téa. We had a camera to record the whole meeting. This usually gives a much better environment for discussion as both parties will have the knowledge that any dishonorable behavior will be recorded and can be used both as a judge of our character as well as proof in a court.
Instead of defending our case or in any way rejecting their demands we were starting to ask questions. In this way, we were acting in honor and even showing interest in their presentment. When talking to a representative of authority it is important to understand that they act only as a representative for someone else. When speaking to them we are interested in understanding both the organization they are representing as well as their own ideas about the situation. When we have grace towards them and show interest in their cause on both a professional and personal level, we will gain trust and respect. We will also connect to the individual human that we speak to and can get a possible allay for our cause.
We got answers to all our questions and they had the time to clarify exactly what evidence there were for their case, what they felt about the situation or suspected other people to feel, what they were hoping to accomplish, and what benefits that would bring to the community and finally what their demands where.
After that, we changed our viewpoint and started to express our own situation. It is of great importance to first give the other party the possibility to express themselves. This shows grace and that you are not the needy party who makes demands without proper cause. It also opens the other party to listen as they have been granted that by us and so we by Natural Law are in title to be equally heard. We were well received as we talked about the facts of the matter, our feelings, needs, and finally our request. In short, we expressed that the threat from the police to be removed by force was making us feel uneasy. That we enjoyed being in nature and wanted to continue to do so. Our request was that we would find another solution where everyone involved would feel good about it.
After the discussion ended we never heard from them again. The threat of police coming, or other legal measures were just dropped. This despite that the local government already had a meeting about this and that the authorities were informed about the situation. Our effort to connect and respect the people we met had such a great impact that they probably by their own longing for honor and doing good stood up on our behalf and managed to convince all other involved parties to drop the charges and change their decision.
To create a dispute or an argument there needs to be someone in opposition. If you are not in opposition to anyone but only act in honor trying to get the full picture without bios, you are creating a fluent state that easily can adjust and find a solution for all. When there is no opposition the police can not act against you as they will feel that they are acting in dishonor. Often they act to provoke resistance in someone to give themselves a reason to employ force and create harm. If we can stand in our honor this will be impossible and that is the way for truth to shine through.
In some cases, we will find ourselves in a situation where some other party does not at all feel the need to act in honor and thus is a tyrant. We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt before abandoning the hope to solve the dispute by words. If you meet someone who over and over again acts with dishonor you do best to avoid them and leave it for the courts to handle. It is still equally important that you never stand in dishonor and act shamefully. Even if you encounter someone with foul and harmful ways. There is never any good coming from dishonorable behavior and thus all kind of slander is without cause. Instead, we can try to find empathy for the broken people who act with ignorance.
There is even situations where you need to resort to violence to resolve a immediate threat. This can also be part of a citizen arrest where you both neutralize the offender and restrain him or her. In all cases where violence is needed special care should always be made to not harming more than absolutely necessary for everyones safety. If you use more violence than needed this not only is a dishonorable action, it also can lead to a conviction in a court.
To act and speak with honor is a way of life. It is a way to learn how to handle any disputes, be it in your community, with your friends or with your spouse. To act in honor is the way of improving yourself and to discover the way towards your higher purpose with your life here on earth.
Love and Light
Mikael Ananda Cromsjö
UniteAwake.com
