The Delusion of Immanent Justice

I refer to my previous blog on optimism and pessimism. We would probably be happier if we could get rid of our natural belief in Immanent Justice. Immanent Justice is the idea that the world is somehow fair. If we do our best, we should be rewarded with a good life. If we don't, we don't even deserve a good life. The idea of Immanent Justice also works in the opposite direction: if someone leads a fantastic life, he must have deserved it. And if someone leads a miserable life, he must have deserved it as well. (This has the advantage we don't need to help him any more, it is his own fault.) As Voltaire and Seneca already knew: Immanent Justice is a nice idea, but it is false.

We may think belief in immanent justice stems from animistic cultures or from a medieval view of the world, but even the most enlightened soul will sometimes ask in his life: "Why does this happen to me?" We all think the world should reward our goodness better; in reality however, the world doesn't care. The idea of Immanent Justice is somehow linked to religion in the sense that the 'Providence' was supposed to promote justice, not only in the hereafter but also in this 'valley of tears'. Immanent Justice was God's small counterweight to the big injustice of this world. Otherwise the faithful would lose all hope before they could acquire eternal happiness.

Jewish and Christian religion have promoted, but also contradicted the idea of Immanent Justice. There is the very old and marvellous book of Job, that deals with, but doesn't really answer the question why good people need to suffer. And Jesus points out to his people that neither the blind nor his parents were sinners. He also redefines justice: the workers in the vineyard are rewarded according to their needs, not to their merits. Jesus was essentially against meritocracy.

Of course, diligence and hard work can still be rewarding in life. And this is also a kind of Immanent Justice; we don't want to plead against that. But arbitrary coincidence will still play a major role in our life, whether we are diligent or not.

Picture taken in Grimbergen Abbey church