Newton’s 3rd Law
There is one particular speaker who made the point that physical laws (that we study in physics) are a pale reflection of similar laws on the spiritual plane. The law of gravity, he said, by which every material object pulls every other material object to itself, is a reflection of that other law of love by which God draws all spiritual things to himself.
Enter Newton. He has 3 laws that seek to explain motion in material objects. The third one states, “To every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.” Push against a wall with 10 Newtons, it “resists” or “pushes” back at you with an equal 10 Newtons.
This law as well applies analogously on the spiritual plane. Every action you carry out or fail to carry out, has an equal and opposite reaction on you. In other words, everything you do or fail to do, affects the kind of person you are (becoming). If you speak a lie (outward directed action), that untruth has an equal and opposite reaction: it makes you a liar (inward directed reaction). You are not the same person after speaking the lie. And the greater the lie you tell, the greater the liar you become. The same applies to any other sin or vice you care to think of. They all have an equal and opposite reaction on us; they all necessarily mould us. Sometimes the reaction-moulding is physically visible – as with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, or as with drug/alcohol addicts. Many times the deformity is invisible, but just as real. And the saddest part about this dark side is that in the case of humans, it is possible to become so deformed, that you become less than human, that you become inhuman. (Dogs, grass, rocks and so on can never become less than they are. Dogs are always doggy, grass grassy, and rocks rocky. Only man can cease to be manly and in fact become so depraved that he is both unmanly and inhuman.)
The same is true on the positive side: every act of grace and virtue we carry out, has an equal and opposite reaction on us. And this reaction is constructive, perfecting, “man-ifying”, divinising even! Every single act of grace and virtue that you carry out in body, in mind or in soul, whether great or small, moulds you into more of a man in equal measure. And this is the encouraging thing about this bright side: the small instances to live grace and virtue are literally abundant in our ordinary day-to-day life. Like obeying your mum or your girlfriend even when you’re tired, keeping cheerful after you lost in FIFA again, getting out of bed on time, sticking to your work despite feeling bored… They’re all small and perhaps unnoticeable, but each contributes in an equal and opposite measure to your becoming more manly.
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