Natural law: boring and irrelevant, or life-changing?

(And what even is it anyway?)

The other day my 15-year-old and I were talking, and she asked a great question. Why do you have to do work for things over time, usually not-fun or annoying work, to eventually get to where it’s worth it? This is the case you’re talking about practicing piano or cleaning your room or learning a language or how to knit. Why does the world work that way? And I said (and she chuckled): natural law.

The chuckle was because I talk about natural law a LOT these days. It’s probably been the single most interesting and valuable thing I’ve learned about in the past couple years.

So what is it?

Natural law is the set of universal truths, derived from nature and common to all humans, that’s discovered through reason. It shows us that clear, knowable goods exist, and that we can use reason to know and act on them. When we do, we flourish. The tenets of natural law have been articulated by thinkers, jurists and philosophers for more than two thousand years (Plato being the first), and today we have a record of this wisdom. For centuries it was foundational to how humans thought and acted.

OK. But who cares?

I care. And you should too if you want to live well. Attending to the realities of natural law leads to a life of flourishing. Disregarding them creates less flourishing and more floundering – disappointment, frustration, heartache. Which do you want?

Here are the main things natural law makes clear.

—There are six basic goods, things are good in and for their own sake (always better than the alternatives), and when you pursue them, you flourish over time. The goods are: life, beauty, knowledge, friendship, play, and practical reasonableness. They just are good; they can’t be proven. We just all know this.

—You show up in the world in ways you didn’t choose, and there are parameters of your life that are necessarily outside your control. You didn’t create yourself or the world. Accepting the way the world and humans are is necessary for flourishing. Certain “given” things about your life – the place, time, family, and body you were born into – cannot be changed.

—Humans are made up of three components that are inextricably linked: the body (“embodied nature”), the spirit (“animal nature”), and the mind (“rational nature”). Every item or object in the world – a tree, a lemon, a girl – has a BODY (the physical thing that houses it). Every animal – squirrel, dolphin, ant – has both a body and a SPIRIT (instinct, appetite, drive, emotion). Only humans have body and spirit and MIND. The mind is what allows humans to reason – to think, plan, choose one course of action over another one.

—For flourishing to occur, all three components of the human person must be taken into consideration– the body, the spirit (emotional and instinct-driven aspects), and the mind (mental and rational aspect). The three aspects work together seamlessly. Healthy embodiment, healthy emotional lives, healthy minds and reasoning practices all matter.

—Because humans alone have reason, humans hold a unique place and role compared to other objects and creatures in the world. This gives them a special kind of dignity that doesn’t extend to other components of the natural order (simply by being human), regardless of their age, capacity, faculties. Their dignity comes just by virtue of being human.

—To flourish over time, you use your reason (not appetites) to pursue actions that lead to the good (that is, you act in favor of the basic goods). This often isn’t easy because you get quicker hits of pleasure by doing things that aren’t linked to the goods. Your passions, appetites, and drives often cause you to prefer actions linked to short-term pleasure… even though these usually don’t lead toward goods or create whole-person flourishing. Pleasure is often an unhelpful guide.

—When making choices, do two things: determine what actually IS (note facts) and see how “what is” fits with what’s objectively GOOD (make judgments). Engaging with these two steps is the only way to behave in ways that lead to long-term flourishing.

—“Reasonable” means “according to reason.” To act reasonably means to engage reason to do things that help things go well with you (and others) over the long term. It means considering what you’re about to do – now or next week – and asking, “does this thing move me toward life, friendship, knowledge, play, beauty, and practical reasonableness?” If yes, go for it. (DO it - passivity is often an enemy.) If no, don’t do it.

—Character accrues inside us as we take actions that move us toward the basic goods; the things that crop up in as we do are called “virtues.” Negative traits accrue in us as we take actions that move us away from the basic goods; these things are called “vices.” Over time, virtues and vices both become habits in us of their own accord. Virtue-filled people experience more flourishing in their lives and vice-filled people experience less flourishing (poor outcomes and more frustration, heartache, disillusionment) in their lives.

—Intention matters. Intentions are at the core of your behaviors and key to evaluating what you choose and do. If you kill someone by mistake – her car pulled in front of yours when you were going 65 – it’s different than if you intentionally murder her. Undesirable things happen that you don’t intend. But your ability to achieve basic goods in your life, and ultimately to flourish, relate to what you intend – as well as what you do.

—Humans are necessarily interconnected, and this matters to flourishing. We don’t exist in a vacuum but from conception are tied to others. We aren’t and can never be fully autonomous. Relating to others in ways aimed at the good is a big part of flourishing for individuals and communities.

—There are no shortcuts. Flourishing cannot be jury-rigged. You can’t ChatGPT your way to knowledge of truth that resides in your soul. You can’t look at a cell phone snap of a sunset rather than the sunset outside and cultivate beauty within. You can’t have 700 Facebook “friends” and reap the gains of friendship. You gain the goods by pursuing the goods, one intention and one action at a time. That’s it.

—There is no ideal state, for anyone. We’re limited, finite beings and it is impossible for us to achieve all the goods in all measure. Your pursuit of knowledge – say you read 100 books this new year – means you have less time to pursue friendship. You can’t visit 100 friends and travel to 100 countries and read 100 books and run 100 road races concurrently (you get my point). Our job is simply to keep the goods before us and choose to pursue them, time and again, as best we can.

At the end of your life, will you be able to say, “That was a life well lived”? This the core question behind the realities of natural law. If, during your days on this earth, you pursue life, friendship, beauty, knowledge, play, practical reasonableness (that is, the basic goods) – you will see and know the fruits of these. It will be evident to you and those around you. And this is true for any person in any place at any time at any income level.

Here, then, is to lives well lived. Mine, yours, and ours.