“The Yogi teachings related to the law of Karma do not teach us that sin is an offense against the Power which brought us into being, so much as it is an offense against ourselves. We cannot injure the Absolute, nor harm It in any way. But we may harm each others, and in so doing harm ourselves. The Yogis teach that sin is largely a matter of ignorance and misunderstanding of our true nature … The Yogis view the sinning soul as the parent does the child who will persist in playing with forbidden things [until he is injured]. The injury is not a punishment for the disobedience … but comes in obedience to a natural law which is invariable. … The parent sought to save the child the pain of the burn, and yet the child-nature persisted in experimenting, and was taught the lesson.” ~William Walker Atkinson
Many people believe that God Himself is punishing us when we do something wrong or something stupid. As Mr. Atkinson points out, that is neither true, nor necessary. God simply has laws, as does nature, and those who insist those laws can be violated quickly find they can’t. An insane person may believe that he can jump from an airplane without a parachute and drift slowly to the ground like a flying squirrel, but the law of gravity says otherwise and I haven’t heard of a case yet where gravity failed to win that argument. I know, of course, that there are a few well-documented cases of people levitating a few feet off the ground, but that is not quite the same as jumping from a plane 5000 feet above the ground. And the person who is levitating, assuming he is not just a clever magician, is not really defying gravity, but rather working with it. He uses esoteric methods to temporarily reduce the weight of his body until he is lighter than air and starts floating in complete compliance with the law of gravity. When he increases his weight again, he quickly descends. Continue reading “God Isn’t Punishing Us, We Punish Ourselves”