For any soul, the role they play after being reincarnated—what their role is in this life—what family they are born into, and what their life is like are closely related to their past life. All kinds of people come into the world of man, and the roles they play are different, as are the tasks they carry out. And what tasks are these? Some people come to repay a debt: If they owed others too much money in their previous life, they repay a debt. Some people, meanwhile, have come to collect a debt: They were scammed out of too many things, and too much money in their previous life, and so after they arrive in the spiritual world, the spiritual world will give them justice and allow them to collect their debt in this life. Some people have come to pay a debt of gratitude: During their previous life—before they died—someone was kind to them, and in this life they have been given a great opportunity to be reincarnated and so they are reborn to repay this debt of gratitude. Others, meanwhile, have been reborn into this life to claim a life. And whose life do they claim? The person who killed them in their previous life. In sum, every person’s present life bears a strong relationship to their previous life, it is inseparably connected. Which is to say, every person’s present life is hugely affected by their previous life. For example, before he died Zhang cheated Li out of a large amount of money. So does Zhang owe Li a debt? If he does, is it natural that Li should collect his debt from Zhang? And so, after they die, there is a debt to be settled between them, and when they are reincarnated and Zhang becomes human, how does Li collect his debt from him? One means is that Li collects his debt by being reborn as Zhang’s son, with Zhang as his father. This would be what happens in this life, in the present life. Li’s father Zhang earns lots of money, and it is squandered by his son, Li. No matter how much money Zhang earns, his son Li “helps” him by spending it. No matter how much Zhang earns, it is never enough, and his son, meanwhile, for some reason always ends up spending his father’s money through different ways and means. Zhang is mystified: “What’s going on? Why has my son always been a hoodoo? Why is it that other people’s sons are so good? Why does my son have no ambition, why is he so useless and incapable of earning any money, why do I always have to support him? Since I have to support him I will, but why is it that no matter how much money I give him, he always needs more? Why can’t he do an honest day’s work? Why is he a loafer, eating, drinking, whoring, betting—doing it all? What on earth is going on?” Zhang then thinks for a while: “Is it because I owed him something in the past life? Ah, it could be that I had a debt to him in the past life. Well then, I’ll pay it off! This won’t end until I pay it in full!” The day may come when Li really has recouped his debt, and when he’s forty or fifty, there will be a day when he suddenly comes to his senses: “I haven’t done a single good thing during the first half of my life! I’ve squandered all the money my father earned—I should be a good person! I’ll steel myself: I’ll be someone who is honest, and lives properly, and I’ll never bring grief to my father again!” Why does he think this? Why does he suddenly change for the better? Is there a reason for this? What is the reason? In fact, it is because he has collected his debt; the debt has been repaid. In this, there is cause and effect. The story began long, long ago, before the two of them were born, and thus this story of their past life has been brought to their present life, and neither can blame the other. No matter what Zhang taught his son, his son never listened, and never did an honest day’s work—but on the day the debt was repaid, there was no need to teach him; his son naturally understood. This is a simple example, and there are, without doubt, many other such examples. And what does it tell people? (That they should be good.) That they should do no evil, and there will be retribution for their evildoings! Most unbelievers, you can see, commit much evil, and their evildoings have been met with retribution, right? But is this retribution arbitrary? All that is met with retribution has a background and a reason. Do you think nothing will happen to you after you’ve cheated someone out of money? Do you think that, after having tricked them out of money, there will be no consequences for you after you’ve taken their money? That would be impossible: What goes around comes around—this is totally correct! Which is to say that regardless of who they are, or whether or not they believe that there is a God, every person must take responsibility for their behavior, and bear the consequences of their actions. With regard to this simple example—Zhang being punished, and Li being repaid—is it fair? It is fair. When people do things like that, there is that kind of result. And is it divorced from the administration of the spiritual world? It is inseparable from the administration of the spiritual world. Despite being unbelievers, those who do not believe in God, their existence is subject to such heavenly edicts and decrees from which no one can escape; no matter how high their position in the world of man, no one can avoid this reality.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique X