There is one fundamental, all-embracing Law which must be fully understood by the Acolyte seeking the highest possible attainment and entire freedom from all mundane conditions. This is the Law of action and its reaction.
This Law, known in Eastern countries as Karma, and to us most generally as personal responsibility, embraces our every act, whether this be of the inner consciousness or the most trivial outer action. This is actually the secret directive force which governs our destiny throughout infinity; today down into the gloomy regions of evil; tomorrow into the realms of love and happiness.
For every effect, though this is unknown at the moment or unseen, there is an adequate cause. Each cause may work an infinite variety or consequences. That which we do today may be the result of a former act. Our present immediate act wet into motion the action of the Law which will govern our life, our acts and welfare of tomorrow. In short, today is the beginning of tomorrow, just as the yesterdays were, the beginning of today.
Unconsciously, unknowingly and unrecognized, this Law governs all humanity. It is the Law of Absolute Justice. The "saving grace" is in the fact that man has free Will; that he may stop short the moment he understands and accepts this Law, and by starting to work in harmony with the Law instead of contrary to it, begin right then to become the master of his fate, or destiny.
The beginning of this obedience or harmonization is in commencing to think constructively and flow this by permitting the Law to govern our every act. This is not as simple as it at first appears. It will not be easy to analyze and find the hidden reason we are able to do this we will be prone to make many mistakes. However, the desire to do the correct thing will in itself be an attracting force which will not only make it easier to choose the right, but will draw us into harmony with what is best for us and the correct thing to do.
Today, tight now at this very moment and every moment after, we are building our future in eternity by the present action. It cannot be too often repeated that we determine our own destiny. Others, in their action towards us, are merely instruments used by the action of the functioning of the Law in dealing out justice to us. We blame them, condemn them and damn them, and it is true they are guilty in their evils towards us; the great Lawgiver succinctly having stated this in:
"Offence must come.... but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh."__Matt. 18:7
We, and we alone, are accountable for every thought, every desire, and every act, whether this be for weal or woe. We have free Will, we are beholden to no one unless we are of weak Will, itself and evil. We act in obedience to our individual Will, and as we act so is our faith; whether for good or ill, it is the reaping;
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."__Gal.6:7.
Once we fully comprehend this Law and how it functions under the Divine Will, it will be much easier to overlook the faults of our friends and the actions of our enemies. We will understand that those trying to injure us, defraud us, or degrade us, though evil in themselves are nevertheless at the same time the instrument of destiny, or The Law, working out our fate for us; the while sowing their own Karma which they must real or meet; possibly at the hands of those more evil than they themselves.
As Acolytes or seekers after truth, we must willingly, aye, gladly face the indisputable, undeniable reality of an infinite, all-embracing force, a Law equally as absolute, and that Nature is the pulsating body wherein the operation of the Law functions.
This is an eternal reality shaping the shadowy appearance of time. It is the operation of forces variously known to us as fate, evil, injustice, sorrow and suffering, and the reverse; love, justice, righteousness, compassion, graciousness - God. The essential feature, so far as we are concerned, is that we must recognize this Law as an all-embracing, eternal reality.
Opposite, yet in harmony with this reality, is that other fact; that our spiritual self is also embraced in these realities; the personality which should be, and can be, an individuality. We must also realize that the evils of the present moment may be made to become the blessings of tomorrow if we desire it so, will it so, and act accordingly.
The one all-embracing, fundamental idea we must associate with this operating principle or force is our individual responsibility, and we must learn to not at any time blame others for things that befall us, recognizing, instead, that these in truth are our own, our very own, "chickens come home to roost"; that it is the reaping of our former sowing.
An evitable outcome of grouping two actualities - God and our personal responsibility - is a consciousness that the Universal Sustainer is constantly active in giving to, bringing about, or forcing upon every creature that which is actually best for it, irrespective of its appearance, and that though perhaps wholly unaware of it, each Soul is in some manner accountable for its every experience, having previously actually requested, aye, demanded, the experience by its own thoughts, desires and acts.
Sufferings, sorrows and losses are often beneficial because as a result of them we seek, and gain, a knowledge of the Law; they bring us to an awakening, and, whether we will or not, the experiences will persist, though it may require ages and numerous incarnations, until we have learned the lesson of the Law and become willing to live in harmony with it.
The Universal Sustainer, the Cosmic Father, is a good Father. He gives to each of us, with utmost impartiality, that which is best for us, yet each individual is held responsible for these gifts, because by our acts we have requested them; for that reason we are responsible for extracting good from every such experience.
Everything we have experienced in the past and up to the present moment makes it possible for us to be where we are today. In our opinion, our position or environment may be neither pleasant nor desirable; nevertheless, it is best for us, and if we are wise we will so think and act today that our tomorrow will be vastly different and that the future will be as we would want it to be.
Let the Acolyte at once recognize that today, the immediate now, is the day of salvation, i.e., the beginning of freedom; freedom and salvation being synonymous, and that each kind, sympathetic thought of love; each sympathetic feeling in the heart; each act of wise kindliness and graciousness will go forth as a messenger of the Soul upward, even perhaps bringing it to a realization of the reality.
By such actions we become willing channels through which the Infinite does its works, and we in turn and in good time will reap the rich harvest of such sowing and at the same time pay in part for past Karma. This activity may continue until all our Karma is paid and our destiny is fulfilled.
As a result of individualization, the transmutation of the personal entity we know as man into a conscious self, i.e., Christification, something of good must come forth, because the resistless power of absolute good is its incentive. This we say is our faith; it is our destiny; it is a fulfilling of Karmic activity. Our final freedom, i.e., salvation - salvation being nothing less than saving ourselves from the self, the lower man - is found in our being progressive and active in "good works."
For this reason, and that we may choose wisely, it is real economy to seek for and recognize the true course of events as soon as we possibly can, knowing as we do that the Law of action and reaction is eternally active.
To seek after wisdom and the attainment of Illumination of mind and Consciousness of Soul is our highest privilege; it is a duty which ultimately cannot be evaded, and we should gladly welcome it. The key that will unlock to us the storehouse of future heaven-given treasures, poetically speaking is the love in the heart which induces right thought. The life wherein love, the eternal feeling, not the passion, is the end aimed at is the basis or foundation of true development and by it alone does Immortalization become possible.
Whenever we hold a feeling of hate, malice, revenge or any of their fellow passions, we are that hate, we express that hate and love knows us not. Under such conditions we draw to us the things represented by hate, malice, revenge, jealousy and their ilk. We are building Karma toward damnation; not salvation.
In the performance of the Great Work we must constantly make an effort to change, i.e., transmute these detestable imps of evil that possess us - an posses us they do, for otherwise we would not express them, into thoughts and desires of a finer and higher nature.
We must become conscious of the fact that we, like the majority of men, are not doing what we really would like to do, but rather what we are impelled to do by the conditions we have created in the past. We should further recognize that what we would like to do must become the will to do, and then set about doing it, despite all inner and outer opposition.
Salvation begins with the self and must be obtained by the self. No power in heaven or on earth can save us; we alone have been given that privilege by a kindly, but just, Law. We know the Law; we have had the opportunity to learn it, and we must obey it. We have no excuse to offer, nowhere else to place the blame for failure, because all men are under a like obligation and must sooner or later give an accounting of their actions to the Law.
The truly successful life, the life which is building not only Immortality, but likewise success in earthly affairs, is based on the truthful answer to the question, a question that must precede every act: "Is it the right, the correct thing, for me to do thus and so?" the question usually asked is "What would another do in my place?" or "What will be the benefit to me if I do thus and so?" These questions are based on selfishness and not on right or what is best.
There is but one way, one right way, even though the benefits or results will not be as immediate. Right has but one reaction; the reaction will be for the benefit of the entire Trinity of the person: for body, mind and Soul, and the benefits of body and mind are of all earthly things, while those of the Soul are of all spiritual things.
We ultimately become what we think. The thoughts reach the heart and desire is given birth. All thoughts and desires reach the Soul and impress the Soul with their spirit, i.e., the nature of themselves. Action results from these desires which were at first only thoughts, and as is the action, as is "the seed sown," so will be the reaction, "the harvest, or the reaping." Let no one think otherwise lest he betray the Christos within himself.
No man can build true success, no one is able to bring the Soul into consciousness, or attain Christification and thereby become a part of, or "At-one" with the Infinite, unless he thinks the thoughts which are a part of the Infinite. The only manner in which this is possible is in eliminating that which is evil and undesirable. This is accomplished by a transmutation of such negative thoughts into noble and exalting - constructing and elevation -thoughts and desires.
The tendency to evil and destructive thinking cannot be eliminated or overcome by trying to force such thoughts from the mind; that will only intensify and make them more positive. The right way is by means of substitution; by recalling to mid success-bringing, Soul-building thoughts ; by thinking of beautiful creations and desirable experiences.
In this way the undesirable and evil thoughts are transmuted ; evil is not destroyed; it is made use of; it is overcome by good; it is using evil as the fuel for the fire which will bring health to the body, success to the person, and Light to the Soul. This is the process of Christification.
In these Lessons you have been taught the Laws making Christification possible; bow to become Christisis. These Laws are absolute; they are infallible. Success depends upon obedience; failure is impossible because the Laws are fixed and infinite. If they fail to function in a single instance, then infinity would fail likewise.
Admittedly time and patience are requisites to bring results, but it is well to remember that if we sought to build a mansion upon the site of an old building we must first rear down the old structure, clear and grade the site and when all this is done, the foundation must be laid, after which construction can begin. It is so with this rebuilding of the self; the old self is most difficult to change; the old outlook, old thoughts and habits will persist in coming to the fore and retard full acceptance of the new, and until this is brought about the Great Work cannot be fully accomplished.
A deep, all-out search of body, mind and Soul must be under taken and all that is undesirable must be brought into the light of truth and understanding. The desires latent in the heart must be analyzed so that no evils remain hidden. When all this is accomplished, the new tenant, the new builder, must take possession and construct after the pattern of that "temple not made with hands and without the sound of hammer," so that the "Lord [Manisis, the Conscious Soul] may dwell within ‘evermore'."
This, and this only, is the way to Christification.
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