One Apple A Day #827 - consequences
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences."
Robert G. Ingersoll
I found this quote on a sign at the beginning of a path, leading into the woods. I was having a long walking brainstorming with a friend and, like everything we met, also these words weaved into our conversation.
But they stayed with me long after we wrapped our conversation and waved goodbye.
And I still go back to these words almost every day.
This morning they sneak in my morning meditation.
Nature carries no judgement.
That was my first thought.
In nature, there are no good or bad, right or wrong; just things that happen.
We add these labels to behaviours and events.
Because most of the time, we are self-centred and short-sighted.
It is in the short space and time around us that we may feel there rewards and punishments. But in the infinite game of the universe, there are only consequences. Some are visible and local, other invisible and non-local.
That also means that everything we do have consequences, even when we can't see them.