We can never hope to be free as long as any part of us struggles with, or suffers over what others are doing, have done, or won’t do with their lives. If we could remain aware of the often-compromised state of our own character, that is, how we still do those things to others that we don’t want to do, this awakened conscience would stir in us a new need. Rather than worrying about whether so-and-so gets his comeuppance for being the kind of person he is, our attention would be elsewhere. It would be focused fully upon being in the Now of our own life where we would be actively attending to what we must do to let go of old resentments that won’t let go of us!
A great part of our inability to release this conflict-bred sense of feeling ourselves to be a hostage of how others behave is born of a mistaken perception. In our ignorance, we believe we must fix those who have done us wrong, otherwise justice won’t be served. But, as we are about to thankfully discover, the truth is far from this popular view and the chain of victims it serves to create.
There are great Eternal powers at work around and within us all the time. And as we awaken to realize that these same perfect principles are already in place to empower us, this same understanding puts us in relationship with a whole new order of freedom.
Freedom is not a creation of ours. It is not something attained by making life line up with our wishes; it is a system already in place, needing only our awareness of its abiding reality to realize its power as our own.
These same invisible laws hold true when it comes to justice for all. We’ve all heard the phrase, “What goes around comes around.” This principle of karma, that what we give, we will receive in return, is a mathematical law whose root runs through the heart of reality. Our present problem is that we don’t understand this principle in operation because we can’t always see with our physical eyes its unfailing fruition. But be assured, what is evil in nature never goes without its reward, just as what is good is always rewarded in kind. With these truths in mind, how many of us spend our precious time and energy fuming over what others may have done to us?
Unseen in the steam of our heated emotions and churning thoughts is the one inescapable fact that we are the secret prisoner of anyone we wish to punish. And the more we would punish this person, the less freedom we have to be at peace with ourselves. Here’s a beautiful lesson in invisible justice, followed by an explanation that will help you let go of any revenge-filled, self-tangling thought. We need never concern ourselves with whether or not some wrongdoer will get his just due. Here’s why: any person who does wrong to another is already punished. More correctly stated, anyone who acts unjustly in life instantaneously ensures that he or she will be corrected by the celestial laws that govern all such trespasses. It doesn’t matter one bit that you or I don’t see this law enacted to our satisfaction. The fact remains: an invisible justice system already exists. This means we need never judge anyone, nor wish some sentence of suffering upon him or her.
This understanding is a gift of great freedom known only by the true few. And we can count ourselves among these liberated ones if we are willing to learn what we must. Here are a few vital facts about this unseen system that ensures equality for all.
Around and within us reside invisible and powerful laws that rule over reality in all its infinite forms. These forces of instant righteousness, or perfect balance if you prefer, are always at work. Nothing escapes their imperceptible presence; everything yields to the weight of their judgment.
One reason many of us fail to recognize the existence of this celestial justice always acting upon us in the Now—or find solace in its perpetual sovereignty—is because of our conditioning: we just aren’t comfortable with the idea of any other order of rectitude apart from exacting the proverbial pound of flesh. But here is just one small example of how these perfect laws—in one even motion—sentence those who trespass, while liberating those who realize them: All pretense punishes the pretender. Here is proof of this truth. The smallest act of cunning on our part always starts with secret self-conflict. Other truths that are the foundation of justice are all around us if we know where to look within ourselves. For example, Any embraced hatred festers the heart of the one holding this sickness. Here’s another principle governed by these same laws, a principle that allows us to pity those who blindly accumulate power or possessions at the cost of a greater good: the seed of any greed always lies within some self-compromising fear, so that nothing can be won by its actions that doesn’t frighten us further.
These next truths are also part of this same system of justice. It is our growing insight into these incorruptible laws that shows us the wisdom in the timeless idea of letting go and letting God.
The love of God transforms all things bitter into something better. Self-correction is instant self-elevation. @guy_finley (Click to Tweet!)
All of these truths—along with their exciting implications—prove the existence of a great and universal system of invisible justice that upholds the laws of the Invisible Eternals. And if we look deeper still into the heart of these new discoveries, we will find within them the promise of this welcome relief: we are forever relieved of the conflict and misery of wanting to penalize those who may have caused us pain. We can let go of all forms of lashing out at others because we see the truth of how things actually work. Getting wrongly caught up in the conflict of wanting to fix the bad behavior of someone else only opens the door and invites other problems and pain into our own life! Now we can leave these people alone to their own trials and torment, for we have seen that their negative nature is one and the same as their punishment; and further we have seen that whatever weight we would try to add on to their backs only falls onto our own. To act from this higher self-awareness not only helps free us from the initial pain born of a negative reaction to what others have done to us, but it also keeps us from wrongly investing ourselves in trying to correct what is already in the throes of being corrected! And once we stop locking ourselves up with wasted judgments and their attendant, never-ending worries, we find that not only are we free, but that there’s no power in the universe capable of holding us captive again.
(Excerpted from Let Go and Live in the Now, Red Wheel/Weiser, 2004)
Director of the non-profit Life of Learning Foundation in Merlin, Oregon, Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization and higher success. His works have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into 24 languages. For information about Guy Finley’s books and audio programs visit http://www.guyfinley.com where you can also sign up to receive a free, weekly Key Lesson.
Image courtesy of Becca Tapert.
