Looking Over One's Shoulder

From the Daniloff Tarot, the Seven of Swords; from the Kuan Yin Poems, Verse 11:

Stealing is basically taking what is not given, either without the knowledge or without the consent of the owner. ― Nathan Strait

How many times have we thought to ourselves, "I hope no one notices." It may have been when we stuck a handful of sweetener packs in our pocket at the cafe, switched a store sticker from a cheaper product to a more expensive one, let the cashier give us more change than we're owed, or borrowed someone's wisdom and claimed it as our own. We try to convince ourselves that it won't hurt anyone, yet it does. And it damages us as well, imprinting on us a habit that is hard to shake. The Kuan Yin verse reads:

It is strange to achieve something in the middle of a battle.

As if by magic, what seemed like bad luck turned to good.

Our mind often tells us things like, "No one will care or miss this. It's not a big deal." It can be a battle not to act on those thoughts, but when we avoid taking what is not given, we don't have to waste our life making excuses or looking over our shoulder all the time. There is freedom in that.