There’s a scientific law that says you hit something, but only as hard as it can hit you. I am afraid that love works this way. You can love someone with more force than an atomic bomb, but they will only be able to understand and interpret what is in their realm of love. They will only be able to return the parts of love that break through their walls. Anything else is noted, but it is distant.
"Argue your limitations and sure enough they're yours"
You have no obligation, only consideration; there is not a single law, rule, or idea that can restrict you but when defying them, you incur consequences. Newton’s Third Law extends farther than one would think at first, but its reach is generally understood in other ways. The butterfly effect is a good example. Actions have reactions. Doing anything changes something. Everything you do will have consequences, but they will only stop you if you allow them to.
Imagine your dream is to travel the world, but you’re a destitute college student just trying to survive. You don’t have and can’t get the money to travel, or so you think. What’s stopping you from stealing the money? Yes, it’s illegal, but that will only stop you if you fear the consequence of going to jail. There is no true, legitimate restriction stopping you from reaching your goal, only your own deliberation and considering potential jail time less desirable than a trip around the world. It’s not worth it.
Physical law is just as ineffectual as political law in stopping you from achieving. Perhaps you cannot afford a plane ticket, but you can acquire a boat. Then you could sail across the oceans to your destination. You say you can’t, that you’re too weak and it’s too dangerous. Work out and study sailing. If you don’t, it’s because you don’t consider the effort worth the goal. You are by no means obliged to go or stay, but you consider the consequences of each and deem those of your decision worth the sacrifice of the other option.
Even still, you are not bound to your decision and its consequences! If you dislike the effects of what you’ve chosen, then start doing something different! You’ve chosen to achieve or abandon your dream; nobody is keeping you where you are or from where you want to be but yourself. If you think something or someone is holding you back, it is because YOU consider this outside element and accept that the consequences of obedience, even at the cost of your dream, are worth more than the consequences of disobeying.
Your life is defined by your choices, not anyone else’s. I have chosen to go to college 4 hours away from home at the cost of seeing my best friends as often as I used to. I miss them terribly, but I consider the times I have at school worth the distance. I have considered transferring to stay closer to them, but the consequences I foresee are not worth it. Is what you’re missing worth what you’re doing? It’s your call, your consideration, but know that you can choose to do whatever you want, you will simply need to bear the consequences. And if you can do that, if you deem the sacrifice of the inaction you’ve been choosing worth it, then what are you waiting for? Do what you want. Consider YOURSELF. Let go of your perceived obligations and live your dream.
“When you do a loving thing, when you put out positive energy, you feel happy. This is how human beings are wired. So the goal of karma—if there is a goal—is not to put out positive energy in order to get some positive energy back. The goal is to put out positive energy and feel positive about your life. That's where the work is. That's why the true revolution is a personal revolution.”
——Tom Shadyac, Hollywood producer.
Tom participated in Oprah’s “Life Class” on Newton’s Third Law, which I recently learned about during my own night community college night class. Newton’s Third Law states that force of Object A on Object B is equal in magnitude to the force of Object B on Object A. Like many science/mathematical principles, I think this one is applicable to spirituality. I find that the more I invest in other people, the more I feel invested in by others.
Newton's Third Law (Force)
A force is a push or a pull upon an object that results from its interaction with another object. Forces result from interactions.
Some forces result from contact interactions (normal, frictional, tensional, and applied forces are examples of contact forces) and other forces are the result of action-at-a-distance interactions (gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces).
According to Newton, whenever objects A and B interact with each other, they exert forces upon each other.
eg. When you sit in your chair, your body exerts a downward force on the chair and the chair exerts an upward force on your body. There are two forces resulting from this interaction - a force on the chair and a force on your body. These two forces are called action and reaction forces and are the subject of Newton’s third law of motion. Formally stated, Newton’s third law is:
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects.
The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the second object.
Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-reaction force pairs.
For that is what I fear most.
Issac Newton said that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
In theory, that sounds great, right? It makes sense. Makes the world a logical, predictable place.
Buy a thousand-dollar guitar? You have one thousand fewer dollars. Whack a baseball with a bat? The baseball whacks the bat. Eat tasty food? Gain weight. Have fun dancing? Everyone thinks you look like an idiot. pick your nose to relieve that awful itch? You’ll get caught, and no one will let you touch them with that finger ever again.
Make someone happy? You just made someone else sad. You may not know it; you may never know it, but pleasing one person is sure to displease another. Tell me you’re a republican? Congratulations, you just made thousands of friends and just as many enemies. That’s how life works, and that’s how people work.
Old Izzy was right. Everything you do has a consequence. Equivalent exchange. Cause and effect. Love and loss. Life and death.
But how can I predict what the results of my actions will be? Is it better to be nothing, for fear of doing something wrong?
I never thought “Newton’s Third Law” would become my catch phrase. As in, I say the words “Newton’s Third Law” whenever I or someone around me do something that demonstrates Newton’s Third Law (like running into a wall and experiencing pain, something dropping and breaking, high-fiving my sister and both of us experiencing hand pain because of it, etc.) This is possibly the nerdiest catch phrase I can think of.
Catapult Connections to Newton's First, Second, and Third Law.
Newton’s First Law:
The ball is on the catapult’s arm and is at rest. However, when we let go of the arm, the force of the rubber bands caused the arm to swing forward, which caused the ball to launch. Therefore, the ball is no longer at rest and started to move. Gravity also played a role by acting upon the ball, pulling it towards the ground, and caused it to stop.
Newton’s Second Law:
If the ball had a greater mass, it would require a greater force to launch it farther. So if the mass doubled, it would take twice the amount of force to launch the same distance; this is because mass and force are proportional. Also, if the mass doubled, the acceleration would be two times smaller because mass and acceleration are inversely proportional. If more force was applied to the ball, its acceleration would increase with the same amount; this is because force and acceleration are proportional.
Newton’s Third Law:
If nothing is keeping our catapult in place, then the catapult would move backwards with the same amount of force as the force the arm applied on the catapult because of Newton’s third law.
