SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER READINGBASIC
PRINCIPLES
BACK
TO TOP
While
the law works in very complex ways, with infinite permutations and combinations
in human life, anyone can grasp and employ certain basic principles immediately.
We
live in three worlds-physical, emotional, and mental.
We generate energies or forces as we act in each world.
These energies bring about a corresponding result in their respective
spheres. Physical acts create
physical environment; desires determine family and social links with other
individuals; and thoughts result in mental abilities and tendencies.
The sum of all these is what we call character.
ACTION
ON THE PHYSICAL LEVEL BACK
TO TOP
If our
actions bring happiness to others, we will sooner or later find ourselves in a
fortunate environment, with an increased opportunity for spreading happiness and
good will. If, on the other hand,
we cause pain to others by our actions or our failure to act, we will find
ourselves eventually in unhappy surroundings until we learn, by experience, a
greater wisdom in living.
The law of karma itself is impersonal, neither good nor bad. From the viewpoint of evolution, however, good is all that furthers evolution, and evil is whatever opposes progress toward greater perfection. Karma does not function to punish those who do evil, but to teach them.
When
the lesson is learned, nature's purpose is accomplished.
ACTION
ON THE EMOTIONAL LEVEL
The force generated on the emotional level is that of desire or feeling.
To pursue desire aids in our development by binding us to the objects of
desire. We may judge the wisdom of
our desires by experiencing their results.
Through
the fruits of unwise desires, we learn to focus on higher ones and finally to be
free from all desire. Through the
happiness enjoyed from wise desires, we become illuminated and eventually learn
to be happy in all circumstances.
Desire
also makes opportunities. Once this
principle is realized, we will understand that to have opportunities of any
particular kind in the future, we need only cultivate desire along that line and
put that desire into action now.
ACTION
ON THE MENTAL LEVEL BACK
TO TOP
The
third force is that of thought. The
force generated by thinking increases our ability to think clearly.
Devoting some time every day to thinking deliberately and in a controlled
way will increase the power of our mind as an instrument.
Thoughts
are things, quite literally. They
are modifications of the mental energy that is all around us.
Many thoughts are strongly associated with emotion and therefore bring the thinker into contact with other persons, in relationships that are either pleasant or unpleasant.
Job said, "The thing I greatly feared is come upon me." That happens.
But
so does the opposite: The thing we greatly love comes also upon us.
We make it happen.
This
is our key to power. Knowing that
we become what we think, we can deliberately set ourselves to think of qualities
we desire to develop. Bit by bit,
the molding power of thought creates these qualities.
The process is as natural and reliable as developing muscles by exercise.
REINCARNATION,
A NECESSARY MEANS
Obviously
harmony and equilibrium are not always achieved in one lifetime.
That is why we are reborn-not just to experience life again, but to
become harmonious beings. The
cycles of reincarnation provide the necessary extension in time for the law of
karma to operate.
Motive and deeds are both important, and each has its own consequences. Deeds react upon the environment, but motive reacts on character. When faced with an unpleasant karmic result, we must seek to meet it constructively and to modify it, remembering that it is really an opportunity to build new qualities of character.
Courage
and serenity in meeting misfortune, and a persistent effort to eradicate all
feeling of ill-will and resentment towards those who seem to be responsible for
our unhappiness, will do much to improve both our present and our future.
NEW
OPPORTUNITIES BACK
TO TOP
Sometimes
we have an opportunity that we think is impossible for us to take.
But it would not be there unless karmic law had brought it to us as a
result of our past desire and effort.
Such
opportunities should be seized bravely. If
we can nearly do a thing, we have worked for it in the past.
By extending ourselves now, we may be taking the final step to bring a
latent power into active expression.
Often the result of karma is not seen immediately. It is like a seed that lies dormant, seemingly dead. But eventually it sprouts, matures, and the harvest is reaped. In the fertile soil of our physical, emotional, and mental natures, we plant the seeds of our future, and we carry with us the rich harvest of many past sowings.
If
the harvest seems to be poor and unfruitful, it can be improved by planting
better seeds. We are never without
the opportunity to plant again, to sow the seeds of love, kindness, and
generosity, that we may reap the harvest of wisdom, understanding, and peace.
Character is our record of the past and our promise for the future. The capacities of today are the results of our yesterdays and the rungs on a ladder stretching to greater tomorrows.
As we climb, we reshape the present into the future, and thereby change the past.
What
were failures become steps up the ladder to perfection.
"We
are each our own absolute law-giver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to
ourselves; the decreer of our life, our reward, our punishment."
(Idyll of the White Lotus)
SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER READING
Karma,
by Annie
Besant. An explanation of the
universal law of balance.
Karma:
Rhythmic Return to Harmony, edited
by Virginia Hanson, Rosemary Stewart and Shirley Nicholson.
An anthology exploring karma from many viewpoints, including kabbalah,
yoga, and astrology.
A
Study in Karma, by
Annie Besant. An examination of the
cosmic scope of the law of action and reaction.
The
Christening of Karma, by
Geddes MacGregor. A demonstration
that karma and reincarnation are compatible with Christianity.
Karma and Rebirth, by Christmas Humphreys. A comparison of two interdependent laws affecting our lives.