I was reading through my personal notes and found a message that I had written to myself. My personal notes are like diary entries in direct reaction to a particular thought or situation at the time. As I went through them, I came across one that was interesting. No, it wasn’t anything saucy or secretive. I’m keeping those pages to myself! Rest assured anyhow, this one will be worth more of your time. I refer to it as “Amending the Law of Reciprocity”.

What is the Law of Reciprocity?

The Law of Reciprocity states that we give and take mutually or that, when we receive, we exchange something of like kind. This is one of the basic laws of our lives and, of course, we should not ignore it. As usual, ignoring the law gets us into trouble! Just imagine what would happen to you if you decided to ignore the laws of the road while driving your car and go when the light turned red! You’d be gambling your life.

Misunderstanding the Law of Reciprocity is similarly dangerous. The danger resides in the poorly aligned expectations that result from the misunderstanding. Unlike driving on the road, the potential damage from its misunderstanding is moral and emotional rather than physical. This is due to a commonly believed myth about this important law.

The Myth and the Reality

The myth that we often believe is that there is only a material reciprocity. Even though material reciprocity does happen the Law of Reciprocity is not confined to materiality by any means. It occurs at a much deeper level even if a material exchange is what appears to have happened.

My amendment to the Law of Reciprocity removes the law from being confined to the material myth. The amendment opens it up to giving something of sincere value and receiving something of sincere value even if it is materially different than what was originally given or not material at all. For example, instead of;

Giving Money    ——->        Receiving Money

The amendment includes exchanges like this:

Giving Money       ——->        Receiving Respect

Giving money for money confines the law to materialistic expectations. Amending it invites the inclusion of intangible wealth principles, such as respect.

There are often high expectations in receiving mere material exchanges – money for money, holiday gift for holiday gift, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. By amending the law, I am destroying the myth of confining the law to mere material exchange and reminding us of the real law of reciprocity – value for value.

Below is the original message from my diary entry. Enjoy!

“In both material and immaterial realms the Law of Reciprocity is firm. The evidence of this Law is revealed in multifarious ways and the law’s effect is ubiquitous. Yet, as with any other law… this law can be misunderstood.

The Law of Reciprocity is echoed in the phrase “Give from the heart and you shall receive two-fold.” The principle in this phrase holds unwaveringly true.  And, despite this unwavering truth our partiality and myopia can hinder the complete revealing of this Law to ourselves.  Often, there is an inclination to look for mere material returns as reciprocal for giving. The desire for purely material gain can obfuscate our true enlightenment to this principle.

Therefore, giving money may not necessarily be reciprocated with the return of money from the receiver or anyone else for that matter.  In general, the giving of anything may not be reciprocated with the return of that thing.  Yet, the giving of one’s true self - however expressed - will be reciprocated because we only attract that of which we are, not that of which we want.  We attract the elements of ourselves.

It is the person that holds dear to the love of other people and expresses it because it is in the natural order of his being that will be reciprocated love.  The one that holds dear to spiritual riches and expresses it because that is in harmony with his being is the one that will be reciprocated spiritual riches from the Divine hands that hold them. Harmonious and natural expressions sow the seeds of their kinds, and its sower shall reap the fruits of their kind. Likewise, disharmony and unnatural expression sow the seeds of their kinds, and its sower shall reap the fruit of its kind as well.

For example, the individual that holds dear to hate and expresses love unnaturally and in disharmony with his or her true being will never attract true love.  He or she will only attract a sentiment equivalent to the depth of their expression.”