Joel S. Goldsmith
This very clear text of Joel Goldsmith reminds us of what could very well be the basic law of the universe: “We reap what we sow.” This is true not only in personal relationships, but also in our relationships with the environment, international relations and virtually every area of life. When we really understand this, it makes life so fluid and above all wonderfully simple, especially in the area of laws and ethics. This is why we are, in a sense, all creators of the existence we live. This is an incredibly empowering understanding which makes any claim of « victimitis » (feeling victim of situations) impossible.
What am I going to reap today?
Pierre Pradervand
The law is that the bread that you cast will return unto you, multiplied. If love is not being returned to you, that is not the bread that you are casting upon the waters. If understanding, forgiveness, abundance, and sharing have not come to you, it is because you have not cast that bread upon the water. And, if you have not, it cannot return to you. All the bread on the water is earmarked, earmarked for return to the person who placed it there. Whatever the name or nature of the bread that is cast upon the water – the sweet bread of love and life, or the sour bread of envy, jealousy, malice, resentment, and persecution – that is the nature of the bread that returns. Life is like a checkbook. And, the person who tries to draw out what he has not put in, sooner or later, is in trouble.
“There is no love in this world; but there is love in you and in me. There is no hate in this world; but there may be hate in you and in me. If we send that love or that hate out into the world, it is there to multiply and return.
“I have traveled in practically every country of the globe during the past fifty-three years. And, although I have met with much love, I have never yet met with hatred, resentment, or bigotry. I have never known any of these to be aimed at me, or to reach or touch me. I have spent many years in countries where bigotry and class distinction were rife; but, I have never experienced or known these.
“This is not because of any virtue on my part. I was born and brought up in New York City. And, in such an environment, a person grows up side-by-side with white, with black, and with yellow, with Jew and with Gentile, with Protestant and with Catholic; and, usually, he is not aware of any distinctions until he is too old to have it make any difference to him. It is a blessing to be born and brought up in a city like that and to be educated in the public schools where the boy or girl sitting next to you may be the child of very wealthy parents, and the one on the other side of you may live across the way on the wrong side of the tracks. Because of this circumstance in the formative years of my life, I grew up without any knowledge of bias or bigotry; and – therefore, in all my travels – I have not experienced these, but have had returned to me only that which I have carried with me.
“Since those early days – and, because of whatever measure of enlightenment has come to me – I know that, wherever I travel, I will meet what I carry with me. And, so – whether I have to go into a business office, a church edifice, or a customs station at the border – I carry with me the recognition of the indwelling Christ, the realization that every individual, in his true identity, is the child of God. When the Master taught, “Call no man your father upon the earth; for, one is your Father, which is in heaven,” he was not talking only to his particular followers in the Holy Land. He was talking to the world! There is but one Father – the heavenly Father.
“Consciously carry with you, wherever you go, the realization:
I have but one Father. And, he is not only my Father, but the Father of every person I meet – be he white or black, yellow or brown, Jew or Gentile, friend or enemy. Regardless of his background or present status, I know that we are brothers. For, there is but one Father; and, we are all children of that one Father. Whether anyone else knows it or not, I know it. And, that makes everyone I meet of the household of God.
“When you carry that in your consciousness, it is felt by those you meet.”
Source: Man Was Not Born to Cry
(from his 1962 letters), by Joel Goldsmith,
Chapter 5: Pages 78-79
