On Spiritual Law
Cause & Effect, Will, Love, Success, and More
I.
Deep Stuff
When I talk about spirituality and being spiritual, I am describing an attitude toward God and the inner journey of enlightenment. I am speaking of expanding the godlike qualities of love, forgiveness, kindness and bliss within ourselves.
Wayne Dyer, Your Sacred Self (1996)
From a material standpoint, we are all made of star stuff. The most widely accepted theory for the origin of the universe is that everything began as one extremely hot and dense singularity which violently exploded 13.8 billion years ago, creating all the “star stuff” we know today. Matter, elements, stars, planets, fundamental forces, and even space and time are all believed to have originated from this one big cosmic event.
From a spiritual standpoint, we are all made of spiritual stuff. By “spiritual stuff,” I mean nonphysical stuff: consciousness, intuition, dreams, supernatural forces, a metaphysical dimension beyond/behind/between the physical. While there’s no single widely accepted theory for the spiritual side of things, people of every religion and culture seek to connect with a deeper reality through meditation, prayer, ritual, devotion, yoga, wu wei, and whatnot.
When humans tinker with physical matter, they learn that the physical universe is governed by physical laws: gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear forces, conservation laws, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, etc. And when humans explore spirituality, they learn that the spiritual dimension is governed by supernatural laws: the Law of Attraction (i.e., the Law of Action), Cause & Effect, Will, Love, Success, and many more.
II.
Law of Cause & Effect (Karma)
But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation… His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.
Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions (1954)
Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When a rocket expels hot gases downward (action), the gases push back with equal force, propelling the rocket upward (reaction). When a rower pushes water backward with an oar (action), the water pushes the boat forward (reaction). This principle highlights the interconnected nature of all forces in the universe, demonstrating a fundamental balance and symmetry that underpins our physical reality.
While it’s obvious that action and reaction govern our physical world, what’s not so obvious is that it also applies to the nonphysical (mental and emotional) domain. Let’s call this phenomenon the Law of Cause and Effect, or, put simply, karma.
In everyday life, we witness the Law of Cause and Effect in action when we act hostile towards another person and the feeling is immediately reciprocated. But the effects of karma don’t always happen instantly. If we gossip about another person, they may not discover it until days later and then compensate by treating us poorly. In some cases, karma plays out over a much larger time span—for example, if we quit a job in bad faith years ago and find out that a former colleague we wronged is now in charge of hiring at our dream company.
Karma operates on its own timeline, and if we’re not mindful, it may seem as though the universe is random and all nonphysical interactions act in isolation from one another. But everything is connected. Just as Newton’s third law ensures that physical forces are always met with an equal and opposite reaction, karma teaches us that every thought, word, and deed we send into the world will eventually return to us. The consequences may not be immediate, and they may not unfold exactly as we expect, but they always come back in equal measure.
III.
Law of Will
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.
Plato, Laws (~350BCE)1
According to spiritual law, humans are free moral agents in complete control over our thoughts, emotions, speech, and actions. But it doesn’t always seem that way. That’s because the different aspects of our being—our bodies, emotions, minds—each have a “will of their own.” When we’re hungry or restless, our bodies crave a snack. When we see someone with something we want, envy rises within us. When we allow our minds to wander freely, intrusive and unproductive thoughts emerge.
We share the same instinctual drives—the same bodily “will”—as all other animals in the animal kingdom. But, as humans, we’re higher spiritual beings who possess the ability to exert conscious, reasoned willpower over them. If we wish to wait to delay eating to preserve our appetite for dinner, we can exert conscious will over our body’s desire to eat now. If we wish to acknowledge feelings of envy without allowing them to take control, we can exert conscious will over our emotions by choosing calmness and peace. If we wish to be productive and focused, we can direct our conscious awareness on a specific task rather than let it roam aimlessly.
Every feature of our behavior is ultimately determined by the aspect of our being with the strongest willpower—be it body, mind, or higher self. The more we strengthen our conscious will through intentional effort and practice, the easier it becomes to break the habit-formed will of the body and mind. And, in doing so, we become more advanced spiritual beings. Though easier said than done, we possess the strength and willpower to take control of ourselves and our lives.
IV.
Law of Love
Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the relinquishment—or unlearning—of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts. Love is the essential existential fact. It is our ultimate reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life.
Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (1992)
There are thousands of entire books written on the subject of love. So attempting to distill it into one short, pithy idea is no small feat. But I think this passage from Marianne Williamson sums up what we need to know quite well. Love is a reawakening, a relearning, a remembering. That’s because, at our fundamental core, we are Love.
The journey back to Love begins within. Before we can love others, we must first love and accept ourselves. I believe that every aspect of our being—our bodies, minds, interests—are things that we intentionally chose before we arrived on Earth. We choose to incarnate at a particular time and space to learn a particular lesson. We choose the sex, race, country, and family that would offer us the greatest opportunity for spiritual growth—knowing damn well that all the greatest lessons in life result from the greatest hardships. We choose a hard life because we’re here to learn and grow. We’re not here to spend our time resenting our choices or criticizing ourselves. Life is about learning how to love the predicament we’re in and make the most of it.
Once we learn to love ourselves, it becomes so much easier to love others. We can learn to love our family members because we understand that they, too, chose a hard life. We can love all other beings because we recognize that no life is without struggle. When we live through Love, we see that everyone is just trying to do the best they can with what they know. We all struggle, we all make mistakes, and we all pay the price. Though our individual journeys differ, we share an essential existential fate. And our shared essential existential fact is that we must find our way back to our core, our spirit, our Love.
V.
Law of Success
A “wish” is a desire without energy. After a wish may come “intention”—the plan to do a thing, to fulfill a wish or desire. But “will” means: “I act until I get my wish.” When you exercise your will power you release the power of life energy—not when you merely wish passively to be able to obtain an objective.
Paramahansa Yogananda, The Law of Success (1944)
We control our own bodies, but we do so in accordance with physical laws. We control our own destiny, but we do so in alignment with spiritual laws. The Law of Cause and Effect reminds us that every action carries consequences that return to us in equal measure. The Law of Will affirms that we can rise above the habitual patterns of our body, emotions, and mind through conscious willpower. And the Law of Love reveals that Love is the fundamental truth of existence.
But what about the Law of Success?
Success comes from the Latin successus, meaning “a good result, happy outcome.” It doesn’t mean status, wealth, or power. Instead, the Law of Success asks us to find happiness in life. And the way we do that is by discovering what fulfills us.
Each of us is born with a specific vision for our lives. The vision has always been there, quietly surfacing in our thoughts and dreams, but we haven’t always claimed it as our own. (Perhaps that’s because it’s not the vision of our parents, ego, or society.) However, when we love and accept ourselves for who we are, our vision becomes clearer. By prioritizing it and directing conscious attention towards it, we advance in its direction. When we take action, we become like the rocket which expels hot gases downwards and is subsequently lifted off the ground. The more action we take, the more momentum we create.
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