Your Life. Bruce McArthur

spirit involved. “Like begets like” could be translated as follows:

       The spirit in which I act will create and return to me in the same spirit.

      If I cheat someone out of money or love, what is the spirit involved? Isn’t it the spirit of self-first or selfishness? This can come back to me in many forms, such as others acting in a selfish manner by ignoring me or leaving me out or thinking of themselves first. The acts are different, but all result from the same spirit.

      Also, when we are selfish, we are cheating or taking from another. At a deep level, we recognize the nature of our act and realize that we have set in operation the law that will eventually create conditions in which we will be cheated or deprived or robbed in some way. The result is doubt and fear that grow in us.

      However, because we know the law is impartial, we also should consider the good situations that happen in our lives: being loved, praised or appreciated; others sharing with us, giving us recognition, or including us in happy occasions. The spirit that comes to us in these situations is of sharing, of love, and of thinking of others. For this spirit to come in any form, it must have been created by us sometime in the past. Be thankful and keep living, being, and doing in that spirit!

      In his book Universal Law, Natural Science, and Philosophy, Walter Russell, a talented composer, artist, architect, and author in science and philosophy, shows one way to make the law work for you. He writes:

      If you do not like your work, it gives back to you what you give to it; you become fatigued and devitalized. There is no task which manifests God which is not beautiful—if you make it so—for beauty is not in any task; it is in you. If you have to sweep the floor, do it gloriously; the floor must be swept. If it falls to you to do it, do it perfectly—with love—and it will bless you.¹⁰

UNWISE USE OF THE LAW

      There are many ways we can use the law to our own detriment. Two unwise uses frequently cited in the readings are: being judgmental and faultfinding. These create a dilemma for us in application of this law because we all have developed, for very good reasons, the ability to judge and to detect faults. We, therefore, need to explore further how, when, and where we can use these abilities without creating difficulties for ourselves through this law.

WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE TO JUDGE OR FIND FAULT

      Are there times we should find fault—say, in business? Supervisors of employees have a responsibility to make certain that standards of quality and efficiency are upheld. This requires that errors or faults be called to the attention of the employees. The following excerpt from the readings acknowledges this fact, but cautions against doing it too often. The excerpt also suggests that it be done in a loving manner—that is, in the right spirit.

      An office supervisor was given advice by Cayce about better methods of handling her work and was told: “… don’t find fault so often … Be sincere. Be patient. Be gentle, be kind.” (254-115)

      This is not a discrepancy in the law; such faultfinding will come back to us, as every supervisor knows, most probably from the boss! But as long as you are dealing with your employees in the right spirit and for the right purpose, the criticism will come back to you in that spirit and for that purpose. The key is that you have agreed to a responsibility which requires that you exercise judgment and correct faults for the mutual good. This is far different than taking on faultfinding of others for whom you have no responsibility and aiming to straighten them out “for their own good.”

      Dealing with employees in business is somewhat similar to parents dealing with children. Parents have a responsibility to guide and correct children, always in a loving manner, and to practice what they preach because “like begets like.”

      In our dealings with others—as people together in business, as families, or friends, or any one of many possible relationships—we may need, in the course of affairs, to analyze, evaluate, and discern what others do based on the effect with regard to the purpose of the relationship. So far so good—as long as we accept them as they are without judging or finding fault with them as individuals; that is, without deciding that they are guilty, deficient, or less than we are. We do not have to agree with them. Each one of us sees truth differently; some in very strange ways, I’ll admit! But the way they see it is indeed their truth, and by that consciousness they live and act and have a perfect right to that understanding as we do to the way we see the truth.

      The Bible also warns against judgments on our part and affirms the operation of “like begets like”: “Pass no judgment, and you will not be judged. For as you judge others, so you will yourselves be judged …”¹¹

      We should not, however, suspend judgment entirely. It can be beneficial to judge or find fault with things; it is detrimental to judge people. We need to judge possessions and other items to make certain they are serving us well, so we have a wide range for use of our abilities to judge.¹²

      We have the right and responsibility to keep our own creations in decency and in order, and to decide when they are right or wrong or effective for us in accord with our purpose. To put it more specifically, if you have a washing machine, its purpose is to wash clothes. If it is broken, that is contrary to its purpose. Get it fixed.

WHEN IT IS DETRIMENTAL TO JUDGE OR FIND FAULT

      Modern psychology today recognizes our need to analyze and evaluate, discern and compare, but it also verifies how destructive certain judgments and faultfinding can be when we make what it terms “value judgments.” Dr. Robert Anthony explains this in his statement on “The Destructive Power of Value Judging”:

      The basic cause of most inharmonious human relationships is the tendency to impose our values on other people. We want them to live by what we have decided is “right,” “fair,” “good,” “bad,” etc. If they do not conform, we become resentful and angry … There is nothing we can do to alter other people’s values, concepts, or beliefs if their awareness is not ready to accept change. No one is obligated to change just to make the world a better place for you to live in. People may disturb or anger you, but the fact that not everyone objects to their behavior indicates that the problem is yours. You are resisting their reality and desiring to see things, not as they are, but as you would like them to be. This is the point at which you start value-judging. Nothing can destroy a relationship or break off communications faster than value-judging. If you wish to develop a positive self-esteem, it is imperative that you stop all value-judging. This begins with the right motivation: the motivation that all forms of value-judging are disastrous to your well-being. Just discontinuing verbalized value-judgments is not sufficient. If you say one thing and think another, your words are meaningless for your thoughts are equally as powerful. The Scriptures remind us that, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”¹³

SEEING FAULTS IN OTHERS

      What about our friends, spouses, or other relatives whose faults become obvious to us? Sometimes we are tempted to help them by pointing out their faults. The law of “like begets like” tells us that if we point out others’ faults, the same will happen to us—and most of us do not like to hear about our faults from someone else, particularly our friends or close associates!

      Consider one aspect of “like begets like”: like sees like. For example, what you see and dislike in someone else is a reflection of a part of your own nature.

      Fortunately this reflective principle applies not only for our negative characteristics but also for our positive, loving attitudes which others reflect to us as well. We readily accept and enjoy these reflections. But when we see a disturbing fault in someone else, we are not apt to agree or even consider that we also have that flaw in ourselves. However, the fault in another would not disturb or upset us if we did not have that same defect. This is a concept most of us find hard to deal with and accept.

      But stop and consider. You are aware that a particular flaw in someone else may be upsetting to you but others may not notice it at all, or if they do it may not disturb them. Or vice versa, what troubles someone else may not bother you at all. Obviously there must be some reason