A Letter to Neale

Reader Question:

Dear Neale....I have a question that concerns consequences or punishment. I read in your books that punishments are not the natural (best) way for someone to experience a consequence of a crime that a person committed. That it will not do any good to anyone to punish someone by the law (our own made up consequences).
 
I can understand that in many of the cases, but what happens if a person could be very dangerous to others during the time when he waits to experience the natural consequences? As most of us are not experiencing the higher reality yet, how could we defend the (potential) victims if we did not "capture" the criminal—although we knew what he was capable of? Like continuous and serious violence against women? Should we not report the abuse to the police? Or are some human laws necessary, to show that we do not tolerate certain behavior that can harm other people for the rest of their lives?
 

Kind Regards...Lizette H.

Neale Responds

My dear Lizette…Eliminating "punishment" from humanity's experience of life does not mean eliminating "consequences." Putting someone in jail may be a consequence that our collective society agrees is appropriate and necessary to reduce serious crime—and, as you suggest, to prevent future serious crime. But what we do with that person once we place them in jail is the question.
 
Have we put them in jail as a punishment, or as a consequence? If we have put them in jail as a punishment, we will do very little to help them. We will do very little to assist them in re-creating their lives. We will do very little to rehabilitate them. We will, in short, treat them as animals, for they are, after all, being punished. So we will put them in tiny cells, with thin-as-cardboard mats on which to sleep, providing them with the worst food they have probably ever eaten, and requiring them to live in conditions not much better than dogs in a kennel. (Have you ever visited a prison?)
 
On the other hand, if our intention is to rehabilitate them, with the ultimate goal of returning them to the outside world as productive members of their society, the way we treat them while they are in jail will be much different, indeed.
 
Our human society has much to learn about changing the undesirable and criminal behavior of certain individuals. We have only just begun to look at this question seriously. In fact, in some states and in some nations I am not sure that we have even begun. Yet a humane, evolved, and civilized society would address those questions immediately, fully, and with great love and care. Do you experience your society doing that? I think that is the real question.


I send you Pure Love,