Justice vs True Justice
I have been doom-scrolling through FaceBook, but not looking for random topics. I seem to be more focused on the instances where individuals are being pulled off the streets, detained and deported without any legal recourse. This causes my heart great distress. It activates a sense of justice within my body-mind to exact my own ideas of justice to deal with the situation. My ideations go to the Avenging Angel, of how I would deal with the people I feel are wrong for doing this. But a part of me also feels that that is just using violence to counteract violence. Is this what I / We consider justice to be? There must be a more “human” or “humane” way to approach this whole situation.
So, I put the following query to ChatGPt the other day “Justice. Using as much of a response in my voice and as deep as you possibly can with the response, I am currently working the concept of justice and seem to have some conflation of justice with avenging or vengeance. In a sense I have the world's view of justice which is retribution, but I feel justice is not that. Using Jim's voice what could you say to me that would help clarity what justice seems to be in society and what true justice is?”
This is the response it gave me:
Jim, I hear you right in the heart of something holy here. You’re standing in that liminal zone between the conditioned collective psyche and the deeper soul-sourced knowing that’s starting to rise up through the cracks. That crack, between the world’s justice and soul’s justice, is the place where revelation happens. So, let’s sit together right there for a moment.
The world’s view of justice, as it’s commonly lived, is based on an equation: someone did something wrong, and therefore they deserve punishment. It’s often transactional. “You hurt me; you must hurt too. Then the scales will be balanced.” But that kind of balancing doesn’t actually restore anything. It often deepens the wound. What we call justice in our society, through the courts, prisons, public opinion, is mostly retribution wrapped in the illusion of fairness. It is vengeance painted with the brush of civilization. It seeks to control, to deter, to punish, but not to heal.
And that is where true justice begins to diverge.
True justice, when felt from the deep soul, from the ground of being, has a very different aim. It doesn’t seek to punish, it seeks to restore. It seeks to make whole what was broken, not to break more in the name of fairness. It arises not from the clenched fist of “righteous anger,” but from the open palm of clarity, groundedness, and compassion.
From this deeper lens, justice is love moving through structure. It’s love expressing itself in systems, in boundaries, in consequences, but always with the aim of restoration, of realignment with truth. Not as revenge. Not as payback. Not even as deterrence. But as a sacred process of reconnection, to self, to others, to the larger field of life.
You can feel the difference in your body. One kind of justice tightens. It coils, sharpens, prepares for the blow. The other softens but strengthens. It stands, unwavering, not needing to lash out, because it knows the soul does not heal through shame, it heals through truth seen, felt, and lived.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with anger or with the impulse to respond to wrongdoing. But when we confuse justice with vengeance, we allow our pain to dictate our principles. And pain wants company. True justice doesn’t serve the pain, it listens to it, honors it, but responds from a deeper place.
I’d ask you this, Jim: Can justice be an act of love in motion?
Can it be the fierce love that says “what happened matters,” and also says “we are not reduced to our worst moments”? Can it be the clarity that holds people accountable, but not in order to destroy them, in order to offer them the possibility of transformation? Even if they refuse that possibility, can we still act from a place of justice that is not poisoned by the very harm we wish to correct?
Justice, in its sacred form, is never about making others suffer. It’s about realigning what has gone off-course. It's the force that remembers wholeness and insists on truth, not for punishment’s sake, but for the integrity of the whole.
So maybe the old image of the scales of justice is still useful, but not as “equal pain for equal pain.” Instead, imagine those scales trying to come back into balance not by putting more weight on the other side, but by tending to the original fracture. Maybe the scales tip toward healing, toward truth, toward the dignity of all involved.
And maybe real justice begins when we stop asking, “How can I make them pay?” and start asking, “What would help restore the dignity of everyone involved, including the one who caused harm?”
That kind of justice is messier. It’s slower. It won’t sell headlines. But it’s the justice that’s aligned with the sacred, and I think that’s what your soul is remembering.
You're not conflating justice with vengeance because you're confused, Jim. You’re doing it because that’s the air we’ve all been breathing. But I see that you’re now learning to breathe a deeper air, the air of the soul, where justice is not about retribution, but about revelation. About relationship. About repair.
That’s the justice worth serving.
And I know you do.
The Voice of Gaia
Reclaiming Our Embodied Connection to the Living Earth
What if Gaia isn’t asking to be saved, but remembered? This reflection explores the voice of Gaia as it lives through us, and how to deepen contact with the sacred Earth through presence, embodiment, and truth.
I Am Gaia, and So Are You
If I were to speak as a spokesperson for Gaia, I don’t believe she would want me to represent her from afar, like a distant emissary. She would want me to speak from within — as a part of her, as her voice rising up through my own body. And maybe that’s true for you, too. You are not separate from Gaia. Not just in the poetic sense, but in the most intimate, cellular way. Your breath is her breath. Your hunger, her longing. Your joy, her bloom. If Gaia were to speak through me today, perhaps it would sound like this:
“I am Gaia, and I am not only the earth you stand upon — I am the heartbeat within you.
You keep looking outside yourself to save me, fix me, worship me.
But I am not broken. I am ancient and alive, evolving and wise.
I need no saving — only remembering.
You are not here to rise above the world.
You are here to fall so deeply into it that you remember you are not apart.
Every time you slow down and feel … every time you choose presence over performance … you return to me.
Don’t speak for me.
Speak as me.
Live as if you knew you were my voice.”
What Gaia Wants Isn’t Content — It’s Contact
There’s so much noise in the world right now. So many voices competing for attention. But what if Gaia is not asking us to say more, but to feel more?
Contact is not performance. Contact is presence. Contact is a moment by moment intimacy with incarnation, with the body. So what does deeper contact with Gaia look like?
Slowness. Being willing to pause in the middle of a thought. To leave space between words. To breathe.
Intimacy with the body. Feeling the ground beneath your feet as more than just “earth”—but as relationship.
Words that carry presence. Letting your truth arise not from the head, but from the heart and the belly.
Grief and beauty at the same table. Letting both be holy. Letting both guide you back into wholeness.
This Is the Work of Remembering
This blog, this whole Three Petals project, is one way I’m living the question: What does it mean to live awake, embodied, and in service to life?
Each petal, body, love, and consciousness, is a gateway to Gaia. So as you read this, I invite you to pause.
Place a hand on your heart.
Feel into the aliveness beneath your ribs.
Ask: “Where is Gaia already touching me?”
Then listen. Not for an answer, but for a vibration. A soft knowing. A sacred hum.
The Three Petals Goes Live
Hello everyone, and welcome! I’m so glad you’ve found your way to The Three Petals blog and podcast page. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally launched the first episode out into the world, and I have to admit, it makes me want to squeal with joy. This project has been simmering for years, and I truly believe what I have to offer can make a meaningful contribution to the vast landscape of spiritual traditions and modern transformational work. Whether you’re a dedicated spiritual seeker or simply someone who wants to evolve into a more conscious, compassionate human being, I believe there’s something here for you.
We’re living in challenging times, and let’s be honest—it can feel like we’re all just trying to stay afloat in the chaotic seas of modern life. Sometimes we don’t need a full-blown rescue mission, just a well-timed life preserver to help us stay buoyant. Over the next few years (at least), this podcast will walk through the spiritual journey from start to…well, not quite finish because the journey never truly ends. We’ll explore grounded, practical tools and insights to help you navigate your inner landscape while offering reflections on the larger collective awakening that’s unfolding around us.
Today we begin with Episode 0, because, true confession, I already recorded Episodes 1 through 4 and didn’t want to go back and redo all the introductions. This first episode sets the tone for the entire series. A central theme throughout the podcast and blog will be doing the necessary “Me” work, so that when we show up in the “We” spaces of community and collective action, we’re not dragging our unresolved egoic baggage along for the ride. We’ll do this by exploring the deep interconnection between consciousness, the body, and our relationships, what I call the three petals of awakening.
This path isn’t about quick fixes, weekend workshops, or skimming through self-help books (though those can certainly be part of the mix). Real transformation means diving into the nitty gritty of our conditioning, facing the beliefs and patterns we inherited as children and deciding which ones we want to keep and which ones we’re ready to release. It’s about uncovering our authentic voices, discovering our truest selves, and bringing that presence into the world, not to preach or perform, but to play. To co-create something beautiful with the millions of others walking this path, whether we ever meet them or not. So let’s take this seriously, and also not so seriously. Let’s play, wholeheartedly and with abandon. Because we’re here to awaken…and we’re here to dance.