Lesson
13 Spiritual
Cause
and Effect
LIFE
is the constantaccumulation of knowledge -
the storing up of the result of
experiences. The law of cause and effect
is in constant operation, and we reap what
we sow - not as a matter of punishment,
but as the effect following the cause.
Theology teaches us that we are punished
for our sins, but the higher knowledge
shows us that we are punished by our
mistakes instead of for them. The child
who touches the hot stove is punished by
reason of the act itself, not by some
higher power for having "sinned." Sin is
largely a matter of ignorance and mistake.
Those who have reached the higher plane of
spiritual knowledge have borne upon them
such a convincing knowledge of the folly
and unwisdom of certain acts and thoughts,
that it becomes almost impossible for them
to commit them. Such persons do not fear
there is some superior being waiting to
strike them to the earth with a mighty
club for doing certain things, simply
because that intelligence has laid down an
apparently arbitrary law forbidding the
commission of the act. On the contrary
they know that the higher intelligences
are possessed of nothing but intense love
for all living creatures, and are willing
and ready to always help them, so far as
is possible under the workings of the law.
But such persons recognize the folly of
the act, and therefore refrain from
committing it - in fact, they have lost
the desire to commit it. It is almost
exactly parallel to the example of the
child and the stove. A child who wants to
touch the stove will do so as soon as he
finds an opportunity, notwithstanding the
commands of the parent, and in spite of
threatened punishment. But let that child
once experience the pain of the burn, and
recognize that there is a close connection
between a hot stove and a burnt finger,
and it will keep away from the stove. The
loving parent would like to protect its
child from the result of its own follies,
but the child-nature insists upon learning
certain things by experience, and the
parent is unable to prevent it. In fact,
the child who is too closely watched and
restrained, usually "breaks out' later in
life, and learns certain things by itself.
All that the parent is able to do is to
surround the child with the ordinary
safeguards, and to give it the benefit of
his wisdom, a portion of which the child
will store away - and then trust to the
law of life to work out the result.
And
so the human soul is constantly applying
the test of experience to all phases of
life - passing from one incarnation to
another, constantly learning new lessons,
and gaining new wisdom. Sooner or later it
finds out how hurtful certain courses of
action are and discovers the folly of
certain actions and ways of living, and
like the burnt child avoids those things
in the Future. All of us know that certain
things "are no temptation to us," for we
have learned the lesson at some time in
some past life and do not need to re-learn
it - while other things tempt us sorely,
and we suffer much pain by reason thereof.
Of what use would all this pain and sorrow
be if this one life were all? But we carry
the benefit of our experience into another
life, and avoid the pain there. We may
look around us and wonder why certain of
our acquaintances cannot see the folly of
certain forms of action, when it is so
plain to us - but we forget that we have
passed through just the same stage of
experience that they are now undergoing,
and have outlived the desire and ignorance
- we do not realize that in future lives
these people will be free from this folly
and pain, for they will have learned the
lesson by experience, just as have we.
It
is hard for us to fully realize that we
are what we are just by the result of our
experiences. Let us take one single life
as an example. You think that you would
like to eliminate from your life some
painful experience, some disgraceful
episode; some mortifying circumstances;
but have you ever stopped to think that if
it were possible to eradicate these
things, you would, of necessity, be forced
to part with the experience and knowledge
that has come to you from these
occurrences. Would you be willing to part
with the knowledge and experience that has
come to you in the way mentioned? Would
you be willing to go back to the state of
inexperience and ignorance in which you
were before the thing happened? Why, if
you were to go back to the old state, you
would be extremely likely to commit the
same folly over again. How many of us
would be willing to completely wipe out
the experiences which have come to us? We
are perfectly willing to forget the
occurrence, but we know that we have the
resulting experience built into our
character, and we would not be willing to
part with it, for it would be taking away
a portion of our mental structure. If we
were to part with experience gained
through pain we would first part with one
bit of ourselves, and then with another,
until at last we would have nothing left
except the mental shell of our former
self.
But,
you may say, of that use are the
experiences gained in former lives, if we
do not remember them - they are lost to
us. But they are not lost to you - they
are built into your mental structure, and
nothing can ever take them away from you -
they are yours forever. Your character is
made up not only of your experiences in
this particular life, but also of the
result of your experiences in many other
lives and stages of existence. You are
what you are to-day by reason of these
accumulated experiences - the experiences
of the past lives and of the present one.
You remember some of the things in the
present life which have built up your
character - but many others equally
important, in the present life, you have
forgotten - but the result stays with you,
having been woven into your mental being.
And though you may remember but little, or
nothing, of your past lives, the
experiences gained in them continue with
you, now and forever. It is these past
experiences which give you
"predispositions" in certain directions -
which make it very difficult for you to do
certain things, and easy to do others -
which cause you to "instinctively"
recognize certain things as unwise or
wrong, and to cause you to turn your back
upon them as follies. They give you your
"tastes" and inclinations, and make some
ways seem better than others to you.
Nothing is lost in life, and all the
experiences of the past contribute to your
well-being in the present - all your
troubles and pains of the present will
bear fruit in the future.
We
do not always learn a lesson at one trial,
and we are sent back to our task over and
over again, until we have accomplished it.
But not the slightest effort is ever lost,
and if we have failed at the task in the
past, it is easier for us to accomplish it
to-day.
An
American writer, Mr.Berry Benson, in the
Century Magazine, of May, 1894, gives us a
beautiful illustration of one of the
features of the workings of the law of
Spiritual Evolution. We reprint it,
herewith:
"A
little boy went to school. He was very
little. All that he knew he had drawn in
with his mother's milk. His teacher (who
was God) placed him in the lowest class,
and gave him these lessons to learn:
[missing text]
is
seen to be well worth even the great price
paid for it.
If
you ask the Yogis what is one's duty
toward God (meaning God in the grandest
conception of Him) they will answer "Love
Him, and the rest will be made clear to
you - and to know him is to Love him,
therefore learn to Know Him." And if you
ask them what is one's duty toward his
fellow-men they will answer, simply: "Be
Kind - and you will be all the rest."
These two precepts~ if followed, will
enable one to live the Perfect Life. They
are simple, but they contain all that is
worth knowing concerning one's relations
with the Infinite Power and with one's
fellow-men. All the rest is froth and
sediment - the worthless rubbish which has
accumulated around the Divine Flame of the
Truth. We mention them in this place,
because they sum up the idea of the
consciousness which all the race is
striving hard to acquire. If you are able
to make them a part of yourself, you will
have made great progress on the Path -
will have passed the Great Examination.
The
doctrine of Spiritual Cause and Effect is
based upon the great truth that under the
Law each man is, practically, the master
of his own destiny - his own judge - his
own rewarder - his own awarder of
punishment. That every thought, word or
action, has its effect upon the future
life or lives of the man - not in the
nature of a reward or punishment (as these
words are generally understood) - but as
the inevitable result of the great Law of
cause and effect. The operation of the Law
in surrounding us with certain sets of
conditions in a new birth, is influenced
by two great general principles:
(1)
The prevailing desires, aspirations, likes
and dislikes, and longing of the
individual at that particular stage of his
existence, and (2) By the influence of the
unfolding Spirit, which, pressing forward
eagerly for fuller expression and less
restraint, brings to bear upon the
reincarnating soul an influence which
causes it to be governed in its selection
of the desirable conditions of its new
birth. Upon the apparently conflicting
influences of these two great forces rests
the whole matter of the circumstances and
conditions surrounding the rebirth of the
soul, and also many of the conditions
surrounding the personality in the new
life - for these conditions are governed
greatly all through life by these
conflicting (or apparently conflicting)
forces.
The
urge of the desires, aspirations, and
habits of the past life, is strongly
pressing the soul towards incarnation in
conditions best fitted for the expression
and manifestation of these likes, tastes
and desires - the soul wishes to go on
along the line of its past life, amid
naturally seeks circumstances and
surroundings best fitted for the freest
expression of its personality. But, at the
same time, the Spirit, within the soul,
knows that the soul's unfoldment needs
certain other conditions to bring out
certain parts of its nature which have
been suppressed or not developed, and so
it exerts an attraction upon the
reincarnating soul, drawing it a bit aside
from its chosen course, and influencing
that choice to a certain degree. A man may
have an overpowering desire for material
wealth, and the force of his desire will
cause him to choose circumstances and
conditions for a rebirth into a family
where there is much wealth, or into a body
best suited for the attainment of his
desires, but the Spirit, knowing that the
soul has neglected the development of
kindness, will draw it a little aside, and
cause it to be brought into the sweep of
circumstances which will result in the man
being made to suffer pain, disappointment
and loss, even though he attain great
wealth in his new life, to the end that he
may develop that part of his nature.
We
may see illustrations of this last
mentioned occurrence in some of the very
rich men of America. They have been born
into circumstances in which they have had
the freest expression of the desire for
material wealth - they have possessed
themselves of faculties best adapted to
that one end, and have managed to be
surrounded with circumstances best
calculated to give the freest
manifestations of those faculties. They
have attained their heart's desire, and
have piled up wealth in a manner unknown
to former ages. But yet they are most
unhappy and dissatisfied as a rule. Their
wealth is a weight around their neck, and
they are tormented by fears of losing it
and the anxiety of attending to it. They
feel that it has brought them no real
happiness, but has on the contrary
separated them from their fellow-men, and
from the happiness known to those of
moderate means. They are feverish and
restless and constantly on the search for
some new excitement which will divert
their minds from the contemplation of
their real condition. They feel a sense of
their duty toward the race and although
they do not quite understand the feeling
behind it all, they endeavor to balance
matters by contributing to colleges,
hospitals, charities, and other similar
institutions which have sprung up in
response to the awakening consciousness of
the race to the reality of the Brotherhood
of Man and the Oneness of All. Before the
end comes, they will feel in the depths of
their soul that this success has not
brought them real happiness, and in the
period of rest which will follow their
departure from the physical body, they
will "take stock" of themselves, and
readjust their mental and spiritual
affairs, so that when they are again born
they will no longer devote their entire
energies toward the piling up of wealth
that they cannot use, but will live a more
balanced life, and will find happiness in
unexpected quarters and will develop more
spiritually. This is not because they have
been impressed with the sense of any
special "wickedness" in abnormal money
getting, but because the soul has found
that it did not secure happiness in that
way, and is seeking elsewhere for it, and
because it has lived out the desire for
wealth, amid has turned its attention to
other things. Had the Spirit not exerted
its influence, the man might have been
born into the conditions tending to
produce wealth, and yet not have been made
to see the one-sidedness of such a life,
in which case it would have continued to
be possessed of such an abnormal desire
for wealth that it would have been born
again and again, with increasing power
each time, until it would have become
practically a money demon. But the
Spirit's influence always counteracts
abnormal desires, although sometimes
several incarnations have to be lived
through before the soul wears out its
desire, and begins to be influenced by the
Spirit to a marked extent. Sometimes the
Spirit's influence is not sufficiently
strong to prevent rebirth into conditions
greatly favoring old desires, but in such
cases it is often able to manage affairs
during the life of the man, so as to teach
him the lesson needed to call a halt upon
his unbridled desires, by bringing him
into the sweep of the Law of Attraction
and causing certain pain to befall him -
certain disappointment - certain failures
- that will cause him to realize the pain,
disappointment, failures and sorrow of
others, and to bring upon him a course of
living which will help to unfold his
higher faculties. Many of the sudden
strokes of "misfortune" are really brought
about by this higher principle of the man,
in order to teach him certain lessons for
his own good. It is not necessarily a
higher power which makes a man realize
these lessons of life, but it is generally
his own higher self - the Spirit within
him - which brings about these results.
The Spirit knows what is really best for
the man, and when it sees his lower nature
running away with him, tries to swing him
from his course, or to bring him to a
sudden stop if necessary. This is not as a
punishment, remember, but as the greatest
kindness. The Spirit is a part of that
man, and not an outside power - although
it is of course the Divine part of him -
that part of him in nearest touch with the
great overruling Intelligence which we
call God. This pain is not brought about
because of any feeling of righteous
indignation, revenge, impatience or any
similar feeling on the part of the Spirit,
but is akin to the feeling of the most
loving parent, who is forced to take from
the hands of the little child some
dangerous thing which may injure the
little one - it is the hand which draws
back the child from the brink of the
precipice, although the little one screams
with rage and disappointment because its
desires are frustrated.
The
man or woman in whom the Spiritual Mind is
developed, sees this condition of things,
and instead of fighting against the
Spirit, yields himself or herself to it
without friction, and obeys its guiding
hand, and is thus saved much pain. But
those who know not, rage and rebel at the
restraining and guiding hand, strike at
it, and attempt to tear away from it,
thereby bringing upon themselves bitter
experience made necessary by their
rebellion. We are so apt to resent outside
influence in our affairs that this idea of
restraint is not pleasant to us, but if we
will only remember that it is a part of
ourselves - the higher part of us - that
is doing this directing, then we may see
the thing in a different light. And we
must remember this: That no matter how
adverse circumstances or conditions seem
to be for us, they are exactly what we
need under just the circumstances of our
lives, and have for their only object our
ultimate good. We may need strengthening
along certain lines, in order to round us
out - and we are apt to get just the
experiences calculated to round out that
particular part of us. We may be tending
too much in one direction, and we are
given a check and an urge in another
direction. These little things - and great
things all mean something. And then our
interests arc bound up more or less with
those of others, owing to the laws of
attraction, and our acts may be intended
to reflect upon them, and theirs upon us,
for our mutual development and ultimate
good. We will have more to say on this
subject a little later on.
If
we will standstill, and calmly consider
our past life (the present life, we mean)
we will sec that certain things have led
to certain other things, and that small
things have led to great things - that
little turning points have resulted in an
entire change in our life. We may trace
back the most important thing in our life
to some trifling incident or occurrence.
We are able to look back and see how the
painful experiences of the past have
strengthened us, and have brought us to a
larger and fuller life. We are able to see
how that particular thing in the past,
which seemed needlessly cruel and uncalled
for, was the very thing which has brought
us to some great thing in the present. All
that is needed is the perspective of
years. And if we get so that we are able
to see this, we will be able to bear with
a far greater degree of philosophy the
pains and disagreeable occurrences of the
present, knowing that they mean ultimate
good. When we cease to think of these
things as punishment, or a wanton
interference of some outside power, or the
cruelty of Nature, and begin to see them
as either the consequences of our own past
lives, or the result of the Spirit's
directing hand, we will cease to protest
and struggle as we have been doing in the
past, and will endeavor to fall in with
the working of the great Law, and will
thereby avoid friction and pain. And no
matter what pain, sorrow or trouble we may
be undergoing, if we will open ourselves
to the guidance of the Spirit, a way will
be opened out for us - one step at a time
- and if we follow it we will obtain peace
and strength. The Law does not heap upon a
back more than it can bear, and not only
does it temper the wind to the shorn lamb,
but tempers the shorn lamb to the wind.
We
have spoken of our interests being bound
up with those of others. This also is a
principle of the law of Spiritual Cause
and Effect. In our past lives we have
attached ourselves to certain others,
either by love or hate - either by kind
action or by cruelty. And these people in
this life have certain relationships to
us, all tending toward mutual adjustment
and mutual advancement and development. It
is not a law of revenge, but simply the
law of cause and effect which causes us to
receive a hurt (when a hurt is needed)
from the hands of some one whom we have
hurt in some past life - and it is not
merely a law of reward for good, but that
same law of cause and effect, that causes
some one to bind up our wounds and comfort
us, whom we have comforted and helped in
some past life. The person who is caused
to hurt us, may have no intention of doing
so, being a perfectly innocent party, but
we are brought into conditions whereby we
receive pain from the acts of that person,
although he be unconscious of it. H he
hurts us consciously, and still in
obedience to the law, it is because he is
still on that plane, and is willing to
hurt us, and is brought by the Law of
Attraction into a condition whereby we may
receive hurt from him. But even that hurt
is calculated to benefit us, in the end,
so wonderful is this law of cause and
effect constituted. 01 course, if we once
reach the position where we see the truth,
we do not need so many of these lessons,
and their necessity having passed, the law
allows us to escape that which would
otherwise have given us pain.
The
above mentioned condition of affairs may
be illustrated by the case of one who in a
past incarnation deliberately won the love
of another, for selfish reasons, and then
having gratified the desire willfully
threw aside the other one, as one would a
worn-out toy. While not pretending to
explain the exact working of the law in
any particular case, we have been informed
by those who have watched these matters
from a higher point of view, that in such
a case as above mentioned, the betrayer
would probably in this life, fall
violently in love with the person who was
the victim in the last life, but the
latter would be utterly unable to return
that affection, and the former would
suffer all the pain that comes to one who
loves in vain, the result being that he
would be brought to a realization of the
sacredness of human affection, and the
unkindness of trifling with it. It will be
noticed in this case that the person
causing pain in the present life is a
perfectly innocent party to the whole
thing and thereby does not start new
causes and effects.
Those
whom, we have loved and have been friendly
to in past lives are very apt to be
connected with our present life, being
kept near us by the law of attraction. The
people who are brought into close
relations with us are, in all probability,
those with whom we have been close in past
lives. Sudden likes and dislikes, so often
observed between people, may be accounted
for on this theory of rebirth, and many of
the occurrences of our every day lives
come under this law of spiritual cause and
effect. We are constantly bound up with
the lives of others, for pain or
happiness, and the law must work out its
course. The only escape from the complete
working out of the law is the acquirement
of the knowledge of the truth on our part,
and the consequent modeling of our lives
on the lines of this higher truth, in
which case we are relieved of the
unnecessary lessons, and we ride on the
top of the wave, instead of having it
submerge us.
Let
us beware how we start into operation this
law of cause and effect by Hate, Malice,
Jealousy, Anger, and general Unkindness
toward others. Let us be as Kind as we
can, in all justice to ourselves and
others, and let us avoid feelings of Hate
and a desire for Revenge. Let us live on,
bearing our burdens with as much grace as
we can summon, and let us always trust in
the guidance of the Spirit, and the help
of the highest Intelligence. Let us know
that all is working together for good, and
that we cannot be deprived of that good.
Let us remember that this life is as but a
grain of sand in the desert of time, and
that we have long ages ahead of us, in
which we will have a chance to work out
all our aspirations and high desires. Be
not discouraged for God reigns, and all is
well.
