Late last year, Matt posted his theory that everything we do—and everything we do not do—makes ripples in the universe.
In response to this, a reader asked Matt what actions he personally did and did not take, that had the most ripples in the universe.
Matt responds:
One thing that stands out in my mind that I didn’t do was this:
Many decades ago I had the occasion to meet Mother Theresa. At the time, I owned a gold watch that was made for me by a great friend of mine. It had diamonds encrusted in it that had belonged to my father and grandfather.
At the time, that gold watch was who I was. I was “Mr. McDick”: the biggest, the baddest, the bestest in all the world!
When I went up to greet Mother Thersa, the Spirit was pounding in my head: Give her the watch... She can have it sold... The money from it could feed a lot of people in a small town in India.
I didn’t do it, and I regret that to this day. I don’t even know where that damn watch is now, and I don’t care, but I do so regret that I didn’t do it.
Probably it teaches me that people such as myself can change. At least I realized what opportunity I lost.
What did I do that changed the universe? I really and truly don’t know.
That’s a much harder question, because I think the things we do, which sometimes are the most inconsequential, are the most important because they don’t affect us, they affect others. What we might consider a very small, generous word or gift, might come just at the right time for someone who is starving for affection or recognition.
I have a friend who twice a year would go through his Rolodex, write down 5 names, and call each one of them during the week, spend some time with them, and say at the end of the conversation, “I’d really like to congratulate you for what you’re doing.”
Some of the time, he may not have known what they were doing. But none of them said, “I’m not doing anything.” Everyone was doing something, and probably most other people didn’t even notice it.
I don’t know if we really know when we’re doing things right. We probably do know when we’re doing things wrong, because it’s apparent when we think about the outcome later.
With the watch incident... maybe ten kids in India died from malnutrition because I didn’t give the watch. Who knows? I’ll probably find out on the other side. The spirit will say, “Where’s the goddamn watch?” and give me a good kick in the ass.
Matt