On Crime and Punishment

Then one of the judges of the citystood forth and said, Speak to us ofCrime and Punishment.

And he answered, saying:

It is when your spirit goes wanderingupon the wind,

That you, alone and unguarded, commita wrong unto others and therefore untoyourself.

And for that wrong committed must youknock and wait a while unheeded at thegate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self;

It remains for ever undefiled.

And like the ether it lifts but thewinged.

Even like the sun is your god-self;

It knows not the ways of the mole norseeks it the holes of the serpent.

But your god-self dwells not alonein your being.

Much in you is still man, and much inyou is not yet man,

But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleepin the mist searching for its ownawakening.

And of the man in you would I now speak.

For it is he and not your god-self northe pigmy in the mist, that knows crimeand the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of onewho commits a wrong as though he werenot one of you, but a stranger unto youand an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and therighteous cannot rise beyond the highestwhich is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot falllower than the lowest which is in youalso.

And as a single leaf turns not yellowbut with the silent knowledge of thewhole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannotdo wrong without the hidden will of youall.

Like a procession you walk togethertowards your god-self.

You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he fallsfor those behind him, a caution againstthe stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him,who though faster and surer of foot, yetremoved not the stumbling stone.

And this also, though the word lie heavyupon your hearts:

The murdered is not unaccountable forhis own murder,

And the robbed is not blameless in beingrobbed.

The righteous is not innocent of thedeeds of the wicked,

And the white-handed is not clean in thedoings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victimof the injured,

And still more often the condemned isthe burden bearer for the guiltlessand unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from theunjust and the good from the wicked;

For they stand together before the faceof the sun even as the black thread andthe white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, theweaver shall look into the whole cloth,and he shall examine the loom also.

If any of you would bring to judgmentthe unfaithful wife,

Let him also weigh the heart of herhusband in scales, and measure his soulwith measurements.

And let him who would lash the offenderlook unto the spirit of the offended.

And if any of you would punish in thename of righteousness and lay the axunto the evil tree, let him see to itsroots;

And verily he will find the roots of thegood and the bad, the fruitful and thefruitless, all entwined together inthe silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,

What judgment pronounce you upon himwho though honest in the flesh yet is athief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slaysin the flesh yet is himself slain in thespirit?

And how prosecute you him who in actionis a deceiver and an oppressor,

Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?

And how shall you punish those whoseremorse is already greater than theirmisdeeds?

Is not remorse the justice which isadministered by that very law which youwould fain serve?

Yet you cannot lay remorse upon theinnocent nor lift it from the heart ofthe guilty.

Unbidden shall it call in the night,that men may wake and gaze uponthemselves.

And you who wouldunderstand justice, how shall you unlessyou look upon all deeds in the fullnessof light?

Only then shall you know that the erectand the fallen are but one man standingin twilight between the night of hispigmy-self and the day of his god-self,And that the corner-stone of the templeis not higher than the lowest stone inits foundation.