From the deepest perspective, our national problems have one underlying cause -- violation of natural law [2].
Natural law is the orderly principles -- the laws of nature -- that govern the functioning of nature everywhere, from atoms to ecosystems to galaxies. Over the past several centuries, modern science has identified many of these laws governing physical, biological, ecological, and social systems. Natural law is inherently “life-supporting”: it supports the life and evolution of innumerable species [3].
Natural law is not a new idea in American government. Our founding fathers believed that the rights of every American citizen to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are based on immutable laws of nature. They felt that, through knowledge of natural law, both science and government would promote the goals of freedom and happiness of the people [4].
Human behaviors that promote life, liberty, and happiness are in harmony with natural law. When people live in harmony with natural law, they don’t make mistakes -- they spontaneously uphold higher values, and they enjoy naturally good health and a life free from problems [5]. However, the knowledge of natural law uncovered by modern science -- and disseminated through our educational system -- has been insufficient to enable citizens to live and act in accord with the laws of nature. Thus, the whole population is constantly violating natural law, causing problems for themselves and their communities.
“Violation of natural law” is action that fails to take natural advantage of the laws of nature, or that stimulates them in ways that cause negative repercussions. Smoking is an example of behavior that runs counter to the natural laws that support good physical health.
Violation of natural law causes stress. Stress has consequences for both mental and physical health; the majority of disease is said to be stress related[6]. Stress causes a complex psychophysiological chain reaction in the human body. Chronic stress leads to an out-of-balance biochemistry that has also been linked with anxiety, fear, anger, impulsive violent behavior, and substance abuse [7].
Moreover, the combined stress of all the individuals in society builds up and creates a dangerous, criminal atmosphere in the whole community. This epidemic of stress has rent our social fabric and threatens the lives of Americans everywhere.
The government reflects this social disorder. Government is a mirror of the nation. When the country is full of stress and crime, this chaotic atmosphere has a debilitating effect on the performance of government [2].
To deal with all the problems engendered by social stress, government responds with laws, regulations, and costly social programs designed to protect us from ourselves. Most of the activities of our government -- and most of our tax dollars -- are spent compensating for the violations of natural law by the population. Laws and costly programs, however, can’t solve the problems.
We can have a smaller, more efficient and effective government, one that is capable of solving problems. Such a government would function in alliance with natural law.
THE SOLUTION
The best government is “nature’s government” -- natural law, which governs the universe with perfect order and without a problem. Nations can govern themselves with this same perfection in administration.
The most effective way governments can deal with problems is to prevent them in the first place -- by enabling people to stop violating natural law. How? Not through legislation, but through education that brings the life of every citizen, and the nation as a whole, into harmony with natural law.
How does one learn to think and act in accord with natural law? Understanding specific laws of nature (for example, learning about the health risks of smoking) is helpful. But the laws of nature are too vast and complex to be fully comprehended intellectually. And intellectual understanding alone is not enough to guarantee life in accord with natural law. A new kind of education is needed that will enable every citizen to live -- and every government to function -- spontaneously in harmony with natural law.
The most modern and most ancient understandings of natural law describe a universal level of nature’s intelligence underlying all forms and phenomena in the universe, including the human mind and body. Modern physics has glimpsed this unified source of all the laws of nature. The oldest tradition of knowledge of natural law, the Vedic tradition of India, describes this universal level of nature’s intelligence and states that it can be located -- and accessed -- at the deepest level of the human mind, at the level of pure consciousness[2].
For thought and action to be in tune with natural law, it is necessary to experience and develop pure consciousness. This is not the commonly understood idea of “consciousness-raising” -- becoming more sensitive to or knowledgeable about issues. Pure consciousness is the fundamental level of awareness, the basis of all thinking and behavior. It is the deepest level of natural law in the individual, which is identical with the deepest level of natural law that administers the entire universe. Developing consciousness means connecting individual life with this holistic value of natural law -- with nature’s government.
1. To bring the life of individuals into accord with natural law, education must provide a technique to give them direct access to the holistic value of natural law in pure consciousness.
2. To fully address social problems, governments must reduce social stress by bringing the whole society into accord with natural law.
Society as a whole has a “collective consciousness,” which is the sum of the consciousness of all its individual members. Individual consciousness influences collective consciousness, and in turn is influenced by it [2, 13].
If collective consciousness can be brought in tune with natural law, the whole population will cease to violate the laws of nature. Social stress will be reduced, and problems such as crime and violence will automatically decrease.
3. Government should function with the efficiency and effectiveness of nature’s government.
The Natural Law Party promotes a new definition of government: Government should be able to prevent problems. A government without the ability to prevent problems is not a sovereign government. It becomes crisis driven, a victim of situations and circumstances. Moreover, such a government itself becomes an unwieldy and costly problem for the nation.
To fulfill its highest goals, every government should create and maintain a group professionally engaged in creating coherence throughout society. Such a group would quietly bring the support of natural law to national law; solve problems at their basis in individual and collective consciousness; and promote the highest level of efficiency in governmental administration.
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