Picture: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mother Hamilton once said that America produced two great God-realized souls, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Emerson wrote a very interesting article entitled “Compensation.” Emerson studied the texts of India as well as the Bible and makes reference to both as he discusses the law of compensation, which includes the law of karma, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Another topic in the writing is that the whole is embedded in every part. If a part does not exhibit the whole, then it is implied and will eventually be manifest.
He writes, “This law writes the laws of cities and nations. It is in vain to build or plot to combine against it. Things refuse to be mismanaged for long…Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist, and will appear. If the government is cruel, the governor’s life is not safe. If you tax too high, the revenue will yield nothing. If you make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will not convict. If the law is too mild, private vengeance comes in…These appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles. Every thing in nature contains all the powers of nature. Every thing is made of hidden stuff…The world globes itself in a drop of dew…The true doctrine of omnipresence is that God reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb. The value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point. If the good is there, so is the evil; if the affinity, so the repulsion; if the force, so the limitation.
“Thus is the universe alive. All things are moral. The soul which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is the law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength. ‘It is in the world, and the world was made by it.’ Justice is not postponed. A perfect equity adjusts its balance in all parts of life. The dice of God are always loaded. The world looks like a multiplication table, or a mathematical equation, which, turn it how you will, balances itself. Take what figure you will, its exact value, nor more nor less, still returns to you. Every secret is told, every crime punished, every virtue rewarded, every wrong redressed, in silence and certainty. What we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears. If you see smoke, there must be fire. If you see a hand or limb, you know that the trunk to which it belongs is there behind. Every act rewards itself, or, in other words integrates itself…”
Hidden within any part is the whole. No matter the appearance of things the balance is implied. We look about us at the terrible things that happen in this world and we can despair. However, the evil that Adolf Hitler perpetrated must be balanced by the same amount of good. The good that St. Francis enacted will have been preceded by some great calamity. Those we know in this world who seem devoid of wisdom or goodness must have that within them, and the time will come when virtue comes forward; it is the law of creation.
However, this world is not just about balance scales. The dark density of matter is but a shadow of the transcendent Light. In creation light cannot exist without shadow, but the pure Light of God needs no opposite; it is Self-existent. Our eternal, true nature exists outside of dual forces. The dissatisfaction that ignorance creates must then propel us to enlightenment. Papa Ramdas tells us that the worse things look in this world, the greater will be the impetus to return to God.
There is no doubt that it is much better to stand up straight and walk to the door of Divine Consciousness in wisdom rather than get dragged to that same door with bleeding hands and knees. But return to it we will—for the Divine is part and parcel of our nature and it cannot be forever hidden. It is true for ourselves and for all creation. So, take heart for this world; within each part is the whole of creation, and also that which is beyond creation—the supreme and infinite Creator. We may affirm the song’s lyrics with all of our hearts, “We all come from God, and in Him we all return. Like a drop of rain, returning to the ocean. Like a ray of light, returning to the sun. Yes, we all come from God.”
Health Update: Friday I go in for surgery to remove a tumor and part of the liver, as well as the gall bladder. The surgery will be at 7:30 a.m. and will take three to four hours. The surgeon estimates that I will be in the hospital for three to five days and more complete recovery will require five to six weeks. I continue to feel the power of your prayers, and you are in mine as well. God has given us the great privilege to go to Him together. For that unique opportunity my heart is filled with loving gratitude.