Clute's Compassionate Revolution

Clute’s Compassionate Revolution
A Call for a Compassionate Revolution
Beyond Vengeance: Beyond Duality
(Hampton Roads Publishing, May 2010)
By Sylvia Clute

Reviewed by Libby Comeaux

Once you read the two stories at the heart of Sylvia Clute’s new book, you will never doubt the practical importance of the philosophy of law that occupies her mind.

Sylvia Clute, former trial attorney, presents a coherent brief in plain English that will win you over to a new foundation for law and governance. She calls the foundation “oneness.”

Through piercing images of trial scenes and client encounters, she outlines the limits of the dualism buried deep in the plaintiff/defendant structure of judicial process. Carefully she shows how these win/lose beliefs embed themselves in our thoughts and legal process. The two stories reveal that when we move through these limitations and boldly address societal problems from the stance of our fundamental inter-connectedness, we achieve the hoped-for-results that have eluded us.

Some have argued that dualism is simply a feature of human nature. We experience night and day, when we walk we step right-left, right-left; there is an up and a down. One of her most helpful insights is the distinction between this polarity, a fact of nature, and the attribution of value that she calls “dualism.”

Recognizing the native spark of life known as male/female, for example, is a far cry from calling one better or more privileged than the other. When we introduce a value not found in nature, we distort the lens through which we design approaches to societal tensions. A dynamic such as this often keeps the truth from guiding our choices.

You will find an intriguing exploration of the problem of evil, a fresh look at the separation of church and state, encounters with updated science, and many more intriguing essays ripe for fruition in the public sphere. I especially liked her emphasis on discernment as a process that comes into its own where judgment falters. She also offers a fascinating account of the dance of forgiveness in the open spaces left behind by causality.

These topics come to life with fact-based accounts of two different philosophies of law applied to prison life. Since U.S. prison populations are expanding disproportionately, serving as veritable boot camp and college campus for life in society, take heed!

Well beyond metaphor, the prison of the mindset that locks us into a type of legal inhumanity needs to be seen for what it is. Thank you, Sylvia Clute, for handing us a key to our freedom!