These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
Agree with thine adversary quickly,
–KJV, Matt 5:25-26
whiles thou art in the way with him;
lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge,
and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee,
Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
These Words have relevance in the context of our ongoing exploration of how spiritual activity shapes the visible material world, and how we eventually reap materially what we have sown spiritually.
We have been dealing with spiritual processes from the perspective of an individual’s actions. With this in mind, we should expect that when two (or more) individuals interact, there will be an outcome depending on the interaction of their inner spiritual activity.
No man is an island. The vast majority of things that happen to “us” are simultaneously being experienced by others, from their own perspective.
If a family member is experiencing an illness as pain, other family members are likely to be experiencing the same illness as sorrow. If a thief experiences “success”, then the owner of property is probably experiencing “loss”. Decisions made by a national leader based on his personal experiences will result in experiences for millions of his countrymen. And so on.
So we are all contributing to and witnessing a joint global experiencing, and the Infinite Wisdom and Love contained in God’s Living Laws so guides the affairs of men that each one reaps what he has sown, and experiences what he needs for his spiritual development, within this unified experience.
The Word provides insight into the fact that our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions do not have impact only on us as the originating individuals, but also impact other human beings, positively or negatively, in both a spiritual and physical manner:
Agree with thine adversary quickly,
whiles thou art in the way with him;
In cases of individual conflict, each person holds on to his “right”. In most cases our sense of “right” is imperfect and somewhat selfish. So there are always three perspectives – our perspective, the other’s (probably imperfect) perspective, and the perspective of The Word – Truth.
Our goal in such situations should be to put aside our “own” perspective and seek a perspective that aligns with The Word. Such a perspective will always reflect love and selflessness; it will always present a bigger picture.
If we attain this perspective, it will be easier to agree with our adversary quickly.
This “agreeing” does not mean wholesale acceptance of the demands of the other. It means conducting ourselves in such a way as to minimize the risk of bad feeling from the encounter. This is not to say it will be possible with every “adversary”, but we must make it our goal, as demanded by The Word.
Failure to do this puts us in danger of being guilty of injustice, and we shall have to reap a corresponding harvest, as shall be discussed in more detail in the next essay.
To practicalize agreeing with thine adversary quickly is to develop many valuable abilities.
- We must develop self-control, in order to control our emotions so as to manage the situation with spiritual maturity.
- We must develop patience, in order to put in the time and effort to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement or compromise with the adversary.
- We must become better listeners, in order to understand our adversary’s viewpoint.
- Above all we must develop faith in The Word, Whose Power can help us in any situation as long as we have acted in alignment with It.
As already discussed: The Word is living. The only way to actually understand it is to put it into practise. Putting it into practise, as we have seen from this example, bestows experiences which lead to spiritual knowledge.
In the next essay we deal with the implications of failing to agree with our adversary quickly, from the perspective of sowing and reaping.
Today’s Resolution:
- We shall strive to keep the “bigger picture” of The Word in mind in all our dealings, so that we can always be perfectly fair to our fellow-men.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 