HEALING THE TORMENT OF GUILT

The great evil which afflicts humanity lies in the bankruptcy of conscience of the vast majority of human beings. The rampant worship of “god-money" defeated all moral considerations. Good is what gives money; great is what gives millions - it is this disgraced mindset that prevails nowadays.

As long as man does not undergo a profound inner reform, the external reforms imposed as a law by governments are precarious and inefficient.

However, inner reform supposes something that is not in our codes of laws, nor is it taught in any school. It presupposes a knowledge of oneself and an inexorable fidelity to that higher and divine Self in man because it imperatively demands equivalence between what is received and the service rendered to others. Whoever receives a salary and does not render the service corresponding to what he received, is a thief, is an exploiter, is guilty of injustice, whatever his position in any institution. Even in the case where human laws absolve this defendant, but before the justice of the Universe he is guilty.

Every injustice a human being commits is a degradation of the individual, whether human law approves or disapproves it. The individual who commits injustice loses a portion of its value, ending in some time in complete moral bankruptcy, although it may have materially enriched itself with the product of its robberies. If this thief is illiterate in matters of self-knowledge and self-realization, it will be almost impossible to make it comprehend its sad moral state; has become a millionaire at the expense of the sweat of others, but who will be able to prove that it is a disgraced?

However, this impossibility of proving this fact and placing before it the true picture of the evil produced does not invalidate the fact of this evil, for ignorance does not exempt anyone from guilt.

This man accumulates within himself, ever greater debts, a moral debt that must be neutralized, according to the inexorable justice of the Cosmic Constitution. The neutralization of this debt accumulated in years of abuses against other people and institutions will inevitably cause suffering, whether in the present world or in future lifetimes. No one will go unpunished until the debt is paid off. The Cosmic Constitution is a fact, not a fantasy. No one can overthrow the Himalayas banging the head against that massive rock! No one can transgress with impunity against the eternal laws of Truth and Justice!

The parasitic and exploitative human being has only one way of redeeming itself: to be conscientious and to render to its fellows the portion for which it is obliged to the Cosmic Laws, and to restore to it the product of previous robberies, according to the example of Zacchaeus of Jericho, who, recognizing his exploitative behaviour and consequently his sad moral state declared: "If I have defrauded anyone, I restore four times more, and I give the poor half of my fortune."

All sacred books call the unjust and sinful man "foolish," and these books are right! For it is foolish to come into conflict with the eternal laws and to have to pay huge debts because of a few immediate advantages! Lie, fraud, injustice, any sin or crime, almost always give a certain immediate advantage, and it is precisely because of this advantage that the delinquent practices evil. If the sinner, mocking the eternal law and profiting from an immediate advantage, could go unpunished forever, definitely; if, after pocketing the result of theft, no evil should happen, no suffering awaited on the part of the Divine Court - then - it would be a good thing to be bad, unjust, dishonest, exploiting others.

But the Universe is a "Cosmos," a system of order and harmony, not a "chaos" of disorder and uncertainty. The Cosmic Constitution of the Universe imperiously demands the practice of Truth, Justice, Love, Solidarity, and Honesty. It is certainly possible for the free creature to circumvent this law; however, the consequences of this infraction turn infallibly against the offender, in the form of suffering of any kind. Suffering is the automatic echo of any violation of the Cosmic Law. And no one knows how many years, decades or centuries correspond to every violation. What is certain is that this painful punishment exists - just as surely as the Universe is a Cosmos.

It is, therefore, foolishness to provoke enormous sufferings, though perhaps remote to enjoy a small immediate advantage, and, on the other hand, it is real wisdom to forego a momentary advantage and thus not cause future suffering.

No one can escape the inexorable law of Cause and Effect; once the cause is set, the effect is followed with inevitable necessity and perfection. The Universe automatically rebalances itself - but this rebalancing is painful for the offender.

Being good, just, honest, true, is also painful because of the false environment of human life created by our pseudo-civilization over centuries of collective karma. But in any case, being good, just, honest, true, is ultimately to be happy, even though that inner happiness is momentarily surrounded by suffering. Fundamentally, being good is being happy, and being mean is being unhappy. We can deceive men - but no one can deceive the eternal law and its own conscience.