"Hope is a slighter, tougher thing even than trust, he thought, pacing his room as the soundless, vague lightning flashed overhead. In a good season one trusts life; in a bad season one only hopes. But they are of the same essence: they are the mind's indispensable relationship with other minds, with the world, and with time. Without trust, a man lives, but not a human life; without hope, he dies. When there is no relationship, where hands do not touch, emotion atrophies in void, and intelligence goes sterile and obsessed. Between men the only link left is that of owner to slave, or murderer to victim.
Laws are made against the impulse a people most fears in itself... (347)
...They were afraid to kill and afraid to die, and called their fear Reverence for Life." (382)
The above is from Ursula K. LeGuin's "City of Illusions" taken from the Library of America edition "Hainish Novels and Stories, Volume One."
So...
If Law is "enforceable rules of order," then the mere thought of this delicate construct affirms first and foremost that we fear chaos. In chaos, there is uncertainty; and our fear of uncertainty has led us to create an overabundant complexity of legal strands addressing a large majority of our individual impulse control issues. We can untangle some of this with a few broad strokes.
- Crimes against a person show that we fear violence.
- Crimes against a property show that we fear losing control.
- Crimes that aid in the completion of other crimes show that we fear conspiracy.
- Crimes against rules show that we fear for our safety, we fear unfairness, and we fear bad/immoral people.
According to my interpretation of the quoted passage above, all of these fears have aided in creating all of these laws to nurture relationships; which leads to Trust and Hope, which in turn provides possibility for a meaningful Human Life. I am not sure I completely agree; I need to explore. My first (and second and third) time thinking this through, I hopped over relationships. It is important that minds touch; not only other minds, but also other connections, all connections, personal temporal possibility, and all temporal possibility. It is important that hands touch; not only other hands, but also personal contributions, universal contributions, tangible productivity, and tangible possibility. I suppose if laws are the strands of fear, then Trust and Hope are the threads of relationships "with other minds, with the world, and with time." From fear, to laws, to relationships, to trust, to an occasional retreat into hope.
I do not believe that the quantity or complexity of our laws is necessary, though I understand the seeming necessity of the broad strokes. And because I question bureaucracy, I could easily turn this into a forum on the evils of over-legislation; but I will not. Instead I want to focus on the individual struggle to avoid violent and/or nonviolent subservience to an individual, a group of individuals, and/or a system. I too often want to focus on the wall I am beating my head against, thus losing sight of my bruised and bloodied head. When I am able to refocus, I find that I typically make greater progress scaling, tunneling beneath, or circumnavigating the wall; and lacking dynamite, these are better choices.
In the aforementioned story, the protagonist is struggling with his own identity in determining which of two paths to follow; and at the same time he has challenged himself to not be fooled by either a) others who have been fooled or b) Liars. Ultimately he determines that by choosing not to trust, he perpetuates the lie, whether the lie is intentional or not. One without trust must be carried forward by short bursts of hope. I believe that the protagonist has discovered his "bursts" will eventually burn out, requiring either delusion and the end of his meaningful Human Life (living out his remainder as slave or victim), or the actual, physical end of his life. This is harsh; but knowing this brings him closer to Truth.
I trust, I learn, I decide to stay (and trust again) or move on. These are moment-by-moment decisions. I (actively) hope in short bursts between decision and new (or renewed) trust. Hope-burst stamina is limited.
Does this mean I am forced to choose to trust in someone who, (or something that), has yet to earn that trust? I don't believe so. Instead I can choose to trust in my personal learning and growth. Instead I can choose to trust in universal skepticism. Instead I can choose to trust my contributions in this moment to a future that will continue to exponentially learn and grow. Instead I can choose to trust in those with whom I still share a mutual trust, and continue working to find new circumstance (that will replace a recent loss of circumstance), in which trust will come.
I am fortunate to have lifelong relationships that do add meaning through mutual trust. The loss of circumstance mentioned above is a result of being fooled, (I want to believe), unintentionally. Regardless of intent, I was also fortunate to be able to move on, with little more harm than a few physical discomforts. Many are unable to stand on principle, and some of these (may feel they have no choice but to) resort to delusion (possibly as an unwitting victim). This is sad.
But back to my need to explore. In my meandering thought, it appears I have drawn a straight line from fear to trust. Am I truly unable to live a meaningful Life with no trust? Or am I more genuine by recognizing this artificial construct as being built on a foundation of fears, denouncing its insincerity, and trusting in future learning and growth instead of momentary relationships? Wow! This feels like an epiphany. A future "good season" is more important than today's ego. An epiphany? ...this is sad.