Huna Article

Huna International

Energy and Justice
by Jim Brinkley

In our litiginous society, anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time! It has happened to me. The first time, I was sued by a friend's ex-wife. In the early 1990s, a friend of mine went through a painful divorce. Even more painful was the property settlement, which took over ten years. He and his ex-wife spent many days in court, countless hours with their respective attorneys plotting strategy, and many thousands of dollars in their battle over who should get what. The problem was that they didn't have much. Their financial status had been hard hit by a loss of high tech jobs at the beginning of the decade. My friend's ex knew this but couldn't accept it. She believed that my friend had secreted away a large amount of money, possibly millions, before their separation. He only wished that it were true.

Because I had business dealings with this friend, his ex somehow assumed that I must be hiding this imagined money. Over the years she sued me on four different occasions. She also spread many malicious rumors about me, some of which portrayed me as a hateful, abusive person, which I am not. Although each of the suits was totally groundless, I was forced to defend myself.

She lost every case. At the conclusion of the last case, the judge sanctioned her attorneys for harassing me and ordered them to pay me damages. The amount was negligible: just a token to convince the lawyers to leave me alone in the future. It did not begin to reimburse me for my costs in time, money, and stress. So, although I "won," I was out many thousands of dollars and wasted much valuable time. I felt cheated and believed that "justice" had not been done.

Some years ago we had an employee who started out her service with our group in an exemplary manner. She was bright, dedicated, highly technically trained, and had a strong work ethic. After a few years, personal problems began to plague her and ultimately they began to affect her work. She began arriving to work late, forging her time card, leaving early without permission, shifting duties that were rightfully hers to other employees, and refusing to instruct the junior people she was assigned to train. We had numerous private discussions with her, attempted to obtain counseling for her, and tried to help her in any other way possible. However, each time we approached her about her deteriorating work performance, she became more and more angry and resentful. She virtually dared us to fire her and threatened us with legal action if we did.

So it came as no real surprise when, about eight months after we had let her go, I received a letter from an attorney stating her intention to file a lawsuit if we did not immediately pay her an exorbitant sum of money. The letter, which contained about sixteen serious but completely falsified accusations, was turned over to our legal counsel. She was very conscientious in reviewing our employee records and in taking detailed statements from me, my partners, and all of our employees. When she had completed this work, our attorney concurred that the allegations were absurd and so stated in a letter to the opposing counsel, threatening a counter-suit.

Our attorney also said that she knew the opposing law firm well and that if their threats did not succeed they would wait until two years later, just before the statute of limitations was due to expire, before actually filing suit. Sure enough, a week before that date, legal documents arrived confirming that our former employee had filed suit. This time there were only four false accusations. Within days, our attorney had convinced the opposing counsel to drop three of them, rather than risk counter-suit and possible legal sanctions.

The fourth false accusation the opposing attorney would not drop. He realized that although it was false, it was not blatantly or obviously so. He knew that we could prove it false in court but that didn't matter to him. His goal was to reach a settlement and never go to court. He had a fee fixed in his head that he knew he could get; if not through settlement, then through legal fees, even if he lost the case.

When my attorney proposed that we settle the case, I was very angry. I stated that there was no way I would reward false accusations with a monetary settlement. Even after she was able to whittle the amount of the settlement to be accepted by the plaintiff to less than a fifth of the original asked for amount, I refused to consider settlement. She persisted, pointing out that it would cost three or even four times the amount of the proposed settlement to defend the case in court. I would have to spend many hours of my time and endure the discomfort and unpleasantness of being cross examined. I would also have to face the possibility, however remote, that we might lose the case because the jury would sympathize with the employee, simply because she was the employee. So, I allowed my attorney to settle. Even though the stress was over, I felt that I had been cheated and I believed that "justice" had not been done.

Then I began to think about these two cases from the Huna point of view. Your world is what you think it is. Instead of thinking of my friend's ex-wife's lawsuits as a wedge that might drive us apart and destroy our business, I began to think of them as a challenge that would bring all the members of our group closer together, which is exactly what happened. Instead of thinking of my payment to our former employee as a legal settlement, I began to think of it as a bonus for those early years when she did such good work for us.

Huna teaches us that everything is energy, so there is an unlimited supply of energy. The third principle states that, "Energy flows where attention goes," so we can tap into the unlimited supply of energy at any time and redirect it to produce prosperity, whether it be financial prosperity or any other kind. Over the ten years that my friend's ex harassed us, she gained a massive amount of weight, became bankrupt, alienated her only child, and became virtually friendless. Every attorney in the county knew about her false accusations and when she attempted to sue a fifth time, no attorney would take her case. She eventually gave up and moved to another part of the country. Meanwhile, in the years since she had left our employ, our former staff member had become impoverished, lost her home, lost two jobs, and been involved in several disputes with her neighbors.

On the other hand, our group was thriving. We had replaced our former staff member with other technically expert people, employee morale had vastly improved, and our business was booming. My own personal finances had improved dramatically. At the same time, my personal life had soared to new heights, and I had become happier than I had ever been.

While these two individuals had been directing and focusing all their energies on hatred and revenge; my friend, our employees, and I had been directing and focusing our energies on building personal relationships, financial prosperity, and career satisfaction. And we had succeeded.

I came to see that "justice" is better measured in terms of how one's overall life is progressing, rather than by a court room verdict or a check written. The universe has been very just to us and compared to that, what do the actions of a few individuals matter? So I began to pray for prosperity and success in whatever new endeavors our former employee might choose and for peace and love to replace her thoughts of hatred and revenge. Similarly, I prayed for my friend's ex to find a better life in her new home. I went on several vision quests on behalf of each of them. Each of those quests left me feeling satisfied and at peace.

Where your attention goes is where your energy flows, and where your energy flows determines what you get. In other words, you get what you think about. If your thoughts are filled with revenge, anger, distrust, fear, and hate, those are the very things you will draw to you. If they are filled instead with peace, harmony, joy, prosperity, and love, those are the benefits you will attract. It has been said that we should be careful what we pray for, because we will probably get it. But every thought is a prayer! So be careful what you think about. You will probably get that, too.

Copyright Huna International 2001