There once was a man who had done wrong to many people over the course of his life. He was eventually haunted by his memories of wrongdoing and became convinced that he needed to do his best to make restitution to everyone he had harmed.
He spent months tracking down and approaching the people he had wronged. Some were grateful for his restitution, but most did not even know he had wronged them or were in denial. A couple of people told him that without his mistreatment, they would not be as happy or successful as they had become. They were actually grateful that he had wronged them and would have been greatly disappointed had he not! Some people became very angry with him and told him to leave. Most didn’t want anything from him except to be left alone.
In his attempts to make things right with the people he wronged, he found that some of the people had died before he could make things right, so he tried to make things right with their family members. Most of the relatives of those he had wronged were confused and didn’t want anything to do with him. Some actually threatened to call the police.
The man was disappointed and lamented about the treatment he had received at the hands of his victims and their descendants. He was confused and disappointed because he was trying to do right by people and received a lot of grief for his sincere efforts to help.
In a quiet moment after his complaint, he heard a voice say, “My child, you not only found a way to create bad situations, but you actually found a way to make them worse. Open your heart to Love and act upon the inspiration you receive. Allow that same Love to give you and everyone you wronged exactly what is needed.”
Secrets of the Story
As I have gone through my own process of learning about the harm I have caused myself and others over the course of my life, I have wanted to make things right. If I had to do what the man in the story tried to do, I believe it would be pretty unpleasant for me and for everyone else involved.
Most of the times I have apologized to people for what I have perceived to be errors, they have been genuinely confused. What to me was an egregious error, was nothing as far as they were concerned.
Part of the irony of the story is that the man thinks he needs to do these things for the people he has harmed, whereas he is actually doing it for himself. I have found it helpful to apologize as soon as possible when I feel I have wronged another. Most people tell me that as far as they were concerned I had done nothing wrong and/or that there was nothing to forgive. Others have done their best to ignore my efforts to acknowledge my errors.
As I have engaged in this practice over the years, I have realized that I am doing this for myself. That doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. It’s just important for me to understand why I am doing what I am doing so I can be honest with myself about it.
Another irony of the man in the story is that he believes he has somehow taken or damaged something that belonged to someone else but then desires to receive appreciation for his efforts to make things right. But since he is unwittingly taking these actions for him own sake, he is actually seeking to take more from those he has wronged in order to prop up his image of himself as the kind of person who takes responsibility for his wrongdoing and makes things right.
The man has also deceived himself in another way. He believes that he can undo or significantly mitigate the consequences of his errors. Most of us have knowingly and unknowingly caused harm with our thoughts, feelings, and actions over the course of our lives. We are mostly unaware of our impact upon others and the world – both for good and for ill. Hidden threads connecting who we have been and what we have done are woven throughout the vast fabric of the cosmos. Trying to pull or cut any of those threads will likely do more harm than good.
Many of us will eventually desire to undo the harm we have caused even though we have almost no awareness of our true impact upon others. The solution to this dilemma is given in the final paragraph of the story. There is a power that can give each and any every soul exactly what is needed to solve every problem regardless of its origin. It is available to everyone – those who have done wrong and those who have been wronged. Most of us fall into both of these groups. It is the only power with the ability to completely dissolve the connections that bind humanity in a complex web of pain and suffering. It is also the only power that can weave a new tapestry of true wholeness and goodness. Each soul that receives and lives according to this power becomes a place where light replaces shadow and pleasure supplants pain.
In the Power of Divine Love, we come to know that every situation and circumstance is actually an opportunity to experience more of this supreme power for the transformation of our individual lives and the lives of all with whom we share this beautiful universe. There are not a multitude of answers to the multitude of problems we have created. There is one answer for them all, and it is available to each and all for the sake of all – right here…right now.