Standing Alone on Judgement Day
“A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and the bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or to the Supreme abode.” ~ Chanakya, Ancient Indian Teacher and Philosopher
Hmmm, perhaps we have more to learn from Sir Isaac Newton than the laws that govern the dynamics of motion.
I don’t remember much from five years of high school physics. It was never my strong subject. The natural sciences appealed to me but the mathematical foundation of physics rubbed me the wrong way.
There is, however, one principle of physics that did stick in my brain – Newton’s third law of motion. The popular, simplified version goes like this:
“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”
I found it reassuring to believe that there is a fundamental balance to the world. I didn’t think it through any deeper than that in my younger days. I simply held onto it as a constant that made the deep mysteries of life seem a little bit less intimidating.
Now that I’m on the other side of 50, I’ve begun to expand my understanding of that principle. I now see a point of convergence between physics, philosophy and religion. It seems to me that the principle of karma – that one’s actions bring upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad – is both consistent with and supportive of Newton’s third law.
And so, I am able to be more philosophical about those things which for many years have made me want to bang my head against a wall. For instance:
To the individual who is relentlessly bombarding my blog with spam 150+ spam comments a day for self-serving reasons which I won’t speculate upon…
To the guy who recklessly ran the red light on Dixie Road this week, while I was waiting to turn left, putting both our lives in jeopardy…
To the malcontents who have hacked my blogs in the past, for the pure twisted pleasure of it, causing me major headaches and frustration…
To the unscrupulous predators that make their living from scams and cons which cheat innocent people out of their hard earned money…
To the religious and political extremists who believe the end justifies the means even when the means is the taking of innocent lives…
In short, to any and all who believe they are above or exempt from the law or moral principles or common decency, or simply don’t give a damn…
Consider Newton’s third law of motion as a metaphor for the ponderous mountain of karma that is building up against you. You will have to pay the piper one day. And when that day comes, you’ll be staring it down all on your own. For that, I pity you.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog . Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.
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