Seeking justice has become a national obsession in the United States. We employ 700,000 lawyers-but only 36,000 clergy. We file 36 million lawsuits each year. We confine over two million people in prison. We have a justice system that costs us over $650 billion annually. We have waged two wars since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001-pursuing justice.

Society insists that this is the best way, indeed the only way, to resolve conflicts. But in Suing for Peace, respected attorney James P. Kimmel, Jr. shows us why seeking justice never leads to peace or happiness and only makes our conflicts worse. Just as physicians have now discovered a connection between spirituality and medical outcomes, so Kimmel has now discovered a connection between spirituality and legal outcomes. That connection is this: The more we seek justice, the more bitter and spiritually impoverished we become. Winning an argument, a lawsuit, or a war at the expense of our emotional and spiritual well-being cannot be considered a victory by any measure. The secret to resolving life's conflicts is to stop seeking justice against your enemies and start suing for peace by practicing what Kimmel calls "nonjustice."

In this uncommon book of legal and spiritual wisdom, Kimmel shows you how to break the justice addiction that only fuels anger and suffering. His Five Principles of Nonjustice shatter our most basic assumptions about justice and happiness, and his proven "Nonjustice System" guides you through nine practical steps you can take right now to resolve your conflicts and restore your happiness immediately. Whether you have been injured emotionally, physically, or financially, Suing for Peace gives you everything you need to win the most important trials of your life-without lawyers, guns, or money.

The Five Principles of Nonjustice

1. The pursuit of justice is the cause of human suffering in our world, not the cure. We live in a world where school children kill each other to get justice, where adults engage in every form of malice in the name of justice, where terrorists indiscriminately massacre thousands of people under the delusions of justice, and where nations go to war waving the blood-red flag of justice. All hurtful acts are motivated by the pursuit of justice.

2. We are addicted to seeking justice against our enemies. Like a narcotic, the pursuit of justice offers us fleeting intense bursts of pleasure that only leave us feeling worse and wanting more. Like a narcotics pusher, the justice system encourages us to pursue more and more justice, producing an insatiable demand for itself and leaving a trail of suffering in its wake.

3. The most important trial of our lives each day is the trial of the people who wrong us. During this trial, we must choose between justice and happiness. If we choose to pursue justice against our enemies, we inevitably cause ourselves only more suffering and unhappiness. If we choose not to pursue justice against our enemies, we end our suffering and restore our happiness. Our freedom is at stake during this trial, not our enemies'.

4. The secret to resolving any conflict is to stop seeking justice against your enemies...and to start practicing nonjustice. Between Gandhi's teaching of nonviolence and Jesus' teaching of forgiveness lies a Middle Step called nonjustice, meaning "to abstain from the pursuit of justice." Even if we are unable to forgive our enemies, we can break the justice addiction and restore our happiness by practicing nonjustice and not further harming ourselves.

5. The secret to practicing nonjustice is Suing for Peace. This is accomplished by submitting our disputes to "The Nonjustice System." Between our secular justice systems and our religious traditions lies an alternative to the justice system that contains nine simple but powerful steps for resolving conflicts and restoring peace and happiness-without lawyers, guns or money.

About the Author

Attorney James P. Kimmel, Jr. is the founder of the Nonjustice Foundation and a leader in integrating law and spirituality. An Ivy League lawyer, he has appeared before courts across the country on behalf of a wide variety of clients, from indigent families and abused prisoners to some of the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations in the world.

Kimmel's rich and varied spiritual life has included experiences in evangelical Christian churches (where his grandfather was a preacher), two near misses at becoming an Episcopal priest himself, attending Buddhist meditation retreats, and stops along the way to study Hinduism, Taoism and Judaism. He is a scholar of the world's religions and justice systems, a peace witness, homeless advocate and a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

In addition to teaching and writing about the principles of nonjustice, Kimmel maintains a private nonjustice law practice in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He lives in the country with his wife (also a lawyer) and their two children.

"I had learnt the true practice of law. I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men's hearts. I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder. The lesson was so indelibly burnt into me that a large part of my time during the twenty years of my practice as a lawyer was occupied in bringing about private compromises of hundreds of cases. I lost nothing thereby--not even money, certainly not my soul."