irrefutable, unchangeable, immutable, and cannot be avoided.
It operates whether we are aware of it or not.
The law applies in our lives as well as in nature.
It assures that whatever we hold as an attitude or emotion in any situation will at some later time come back to us.
It operates impartially, working for both positive or negative, constructive or destructive, spirit, thoughts, words, or actions.
“Like begets like” puts us in charge. As we use it for good or for ill each day, we are indeed the pilots, the directors of our lives.18
Chapter 3
Laws of Increase
The laws that are the topic of this chapter deal with greatly multiplying a particular condition. For that reason I have termed these the laws of increase. They are extremely important and basic to our lives. The first law is:
… AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP.
(1529-1)AR (cf. Galatians 6:7)
This is one of the most understandable of the laws because we have clear examples of it in nature. Each time we plant a garden or see new growth from what were barren fields, we see this law in operation. More important, as we work with nature through this law by planting and harvesting, we experience—in the physical realm—the contributions of the Creative Force that enable us to accomplish our goals. As we study and observe what takes place in this growth process, we gain a deeper understanding of how the law works in our lives and how we can best work in accord with it and with the Creative Forces.
THE INCREASE
My wife has a greenhouse and a green thumb.
She plants several tiny seeds.
In a few months we are eating huge, delicious, fresh ripe tomatoes.
She sowed only several tiny seeds.
She was patient.
She gave love, care, consideration, food, water.
She reaps not just a few seeds—but wonderful, nourishing, beautiful fruit and hundreds of new seeds.
The miracle in this law is one of abundance and joy and beauty, wherein you reap not only what you sow, but far, far more—multiplied many times—when the right kind of seed is nurtured with the spirit of love and cooperation. The harvest is abundance.1
We reap abundantly in our gardens and in our lives according to the seed we sow. The prosperity comes through the operation of the law of increase. The operative power behind that law is not just our efforts but is explained by the readings as: “God alone gives the increase.” (3660-2)AR
THE LAW IN OUR LIVES
We all know or have experienced the pleasure of planting a seed and waiting to see the first green shoots. We have marveled at the growth of the plant, cared for it, and eventually reaped the harvest in the beauty of a flower or food from our garden. We, therefore, can conclude that “as you sow so shall you reap” is a basic, organic law which works in nature. We know that a large part of our food supply is dependent on the operation of this law. We can also conclude that it must indeed be a Universal Law because, under the proper conditions, it works for anyone, anywhere, all the time, and has apparently been an inherent part of our world since the beginning of time.
Equally important, however, is the fact—recognized in ancient literature and teachings—that this law applies in our lives as well as in nature. We, through our words and acts, sow seeds which will grow, and we will reap the results in our lives. Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way: “Let a man learn that everything in nature goes by law and not by luck and what he sows he reaps.”
As with the farmer, it can take some time for those seeds to grow and mature, but they inevitably seem to do so. The Bible speaks of the law in this manner:
Make no mistake about this: God is not to be fooled; a man reaps what he sows. If he sows in the field of his lower nature, he will reap from it a harvest of corruption, but if he sows in the field of the Spirit, the Spirit will bring him a harvest of eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8, NEB)
Another important point is that we sow these seeds not only by spoken words or acts toward others, but also by thoughts. Our thoughts are basic to our creative power; we use them to direct our energy. We can consider a thought as the seed that carries all the potential of that thought, just as a wheat seed carries all the potential of the plant it will produce. Cayce’s source defined thoughts as deeds that may become crimes or miracles!2
Frank Laubach, in his book Prayer: The Mightiest Force in the World, writes:
If you shout, your voice carries barely fifty yards. But when you think, your thoughts go around the world, as far and as fast as the radio … Every thought tends to become true in proportion as it is intense and as it is long dwelt upon. Thoughts result in deeds and deeds make history. Our thoughts leap across space and appear again in other minds, in proportion as they are intense and long dwelt upon. Thoughts are contagious. “What you whisper in secret,” said Jesus, “shall be shouted from the housetops.” Yes, even your thoughts shout though others may not know it is you who are shouting … Our thoughts are the threads weaving the garment which the world tomorrow will wear. You and I created a piece of tomorrow in our thoughts today.3
So, you and I with our thoughts are gardeners of the world; we are continually planting seeds. What happens in our lives are the fruits springing from those seeds.
THE NATURE OF THE SEEDS
The character of the seed within the thought is determined by the spirit which we put into it. That spirit determines the fruits that will be produced in our lives, just as the apple seed contains the spirit or nature of apples.4
When in the spirit of love you think a loving thought about someone, such as, “She is a wonderful person,” you plant a seed of love by the energy of your thought. That seed, planted in the realm of thought, will grow until another person is moved to think a loving thought about you. You will pick up that feeling of love, and it will make your day brighter—all of this without a word being spoken. In fact, many such loving thoughts of you may be generated and come back to you from different persons because, as in the case of planting a physical seed, it is multiplied many times.5
LAW OPERATES ON ALL LEVELS
In addition to your original loving thought, let us suppose that you act in a loving way toward the person mentioned above. Perhaps you call or send a gift. You have now planted the seed in both the world of thought and in the world of action. It will grow and come back to you in both forms, as someone is moved to think and to act with a loving nature toward you. Remember:
What we do in the physical we meet in the physical, what we do in the mental we meet in the mental, what we do in the spirit we meet in spirit. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”6
The readings tell an intriguing tale of both deceit and bravery for one individual who, in a previous life, was a member of a tribe about to be driven out of its country. He made an agreement with the opposition leader by which his people could stay, but he did it in a deceitful manner. This, he was told in the reading,
