Emmet Fox says, “For every unkind word that you speak to or about another person, an unkind word will be spoken to or about you. For every time that you cheat, you will be cheated. For every time that you deceive you will be deceived.”(Sermon On The Mount, p. 111)
No. Close. But no. That is NOT what it means. It means that every time I deceive, I, myself am deceived because I am deceiving myself; that if I cheat, I am cheating myself right then in that moment; that my unkind words - my words themselves - speak ill of me…to me. It’s not some future payback. It’s just the way if it - NOW. My world is what my mind projects.
It means that all good and evil are created in the mind and the mind experiences its creation.
If I create “good,” well, then I’ll have as much good as I created and I will find exactly that amount of good in the world since I put it there.
And if I create “ bad,” well, then I’ll have as much “bad” as I put there.
If I create pizza, then I will have exactly as much pizza as I put into the world.
It’s not like I make pizza and then some cosmic force evaluates that pizza, then sends me some other future pizza to reward (or punish) me for my past pizza. It’s all happening NOW. And it’s all me. It’s just the pizza I created.
If I create a scary guy then I will be exactly as scared as the amount of scariness I put into him. It’s not payback. It’s just the person I created.
If I create a kind, caring person, then I will be exactly as cared for as the amount of kindness I put into him. It’s not payback. It’s just the person I created.
And everything I create is created by my belief in a thought.
So it’s not about deeds. It’s about thoughts believed. An “unkind word”is just the natural and inevitable result of an “unkind thought” believed.
When I clear up what I’m believing about what I’m thinking, my words inevitably clear up.
And when my beliefs are clear and kind, I find that everybody else’s words are clear and kind too.
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“Law of retribution” p. 111
No. There is no retribution.
Is it “retribution” when my bowl is suddenly full of cereal after I pour cereal into it?
Is it “retribution” when my relationship is suddenly full of animosity after I pour animosity into it?
No. It’s just Reality’s kindness allowing everything I create to be just as I made it.