Every Act Rewards Itself by Dr. Napoleon Hil

"Every act rewards itself." That is Emerson speaking. We shall visit with him soon. You realize, I am sure, that the reward of any act may not be a "reward" as such, but rather a penalty if that is what the act deserves. The act rewards itself, not you in the sense that is meant here, and so the "reward" is fitting.

This, you may say, is nothing but old-fashioned morality. Indeed it is. It is modern morality as well, valid when man invented the wheel, valid when, perhaps, man will invent the means to duplicate himself in a test tube. And it is more than morality. I have shown you the Law of Compensation at work in my life in the hope that you will stop and think of ways it has worked for you. You will see these ways as manifestations of cause and effect. You performed some action and that "got the ball rolling." But can it be an accident that thousands of years of commentary refer to the fact that the act of giving invariably precedes the act of receiving? That when we "cast bread upon the waters" it does come back?

We see the Law of Compensation as it brings us a better job, a sum of money, an opportunity to fulfill ourselves, a meeting with someone who turns out to be a lifelong partner in love and there is much we do not see. Unseen, silent forces influence us constantly. Some are good for us, some are harmful. This volume speaks on many pages of the solid, bread-and-butter aspects of life; but it speaks as well of the unseen and the omnipresent. As I show you how to be rich with peace of mind I also show you how to choose the friendly, invisible forces rather than the unfriendly, and how to make the favourable forces your allies.

Now let us sit down with Mr. Emerson by candlelight in his book-lined study:

Every act regards itself, or, in other words, integrates itself in a two-fold manner first in the thing, or in real nature; and secondly, in the circumstance, or in apparent nature. Men call the circumstance the retribution. The casual retribution in the circumstance is seen by the understanding; it is inseparable from the thing, but is often spread over a long time, and so does not become distinct until after many years. The specific stripes may follow later after the offense, but they follow because they accompany it. Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that unsuspected ripens within the flower of pleasure which concealed it. Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end pre-exists in the means, the fruit in the seed.

"There is a third silent party to all our bargains." Remember that! The Sage of Concord continues:

Men suffer all their life long, under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself, as for a thing to be, and not to be, at the same time. There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in you debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.

Source: Grow Rich With Peace of Mind. Pgs. 143 & 144. Ballantine Books. 1967.