The ‘Iron Law’

Bob Johnson celebrates the iron law of irresponsible consequences

by Bob Johnson 20th January 2012

Exasperation would drive my mother to exclaim ‘“I-Don’t-Care” was MADE to care’. She was looking for an Universal Moral Law to counter some egregious act that had caught her eye. Happily, I was more successful. In my early twenties, thrashing around to fathom my own egregiosity, I uncovered a gem in the gap between David Hume and Immanuel Kant: Quakerism. Fifty years later it offers a hundred per cent cure for all insanities, including violence. Hard to believe? But so is the sublime notion of managing a Society with no written creed, or the airy-sounding but invaluable Quaker Testimonies of Peace, Integrity, Equality, Simplicity, and here especially, Environment – this gem reinvigorates them all.