Man suffers and is in sorrow!

Is suffering man's enemy or his greatest friend?

Will man ever regain his Divine inheritance without the agony of suffering to awaken him from error into enlightenment?

Is not suffering the effect of a condition which should arouse man to seek the cause and be the incentive for the elimination or removal of the cause responsible for his suffering?

There are many reasons for man's suffering. Almost all of them may be roughly grouped into four classes:

First: The pains, sorrows and miseries caused by his own acts and committed in the present life.

Second: The misfortunes and losses due to his own actions but committed in former incarnations.

Third: The sorrows, losses and distress following in the wake of his own sins of omission.

Fourth: The misfortunes, sufferings and sorrows resulting from the acts and interferences of others and for which the victim is in no sense responsible.

All of the undesirable experiences we pass through as a result of the first group of causes are due to the activity of the Law of Consequences; the effects following causes. These might rightly be classified under the Law of Retribution.

These experiences include distress of every type, pains and suffering, sorrows and losses as a natural result - the inevetable consequences of our own thoughts, desires and acts. The principle involved can be succinctly stated as: Thoughts, desires, and our actions as a result of them, though the unerring and unpreventable operation of an impartial and irrevocable Law, produce "fruit after their own kind." The returns, whether happy or sorrowful, painful or pleasant, are the result of a cause which we ourselves set in motion - the REaction following action. Forces, set in motion, return to the thinker and actor and are of the nature of the original thoughts, desires and acts. This Law has been stated in innumerable terms, the most simple of which is that by the Nazarene, the Initiate of Galilee: "As a man soweth, so shall he reap,"... and in the common parlance of the country folks: "Chickens come home to roost." Like attracts like and returns with it.

The undesirable experiences, whether these be pain, sorrow, sickness or loss, may be classed under the second group of "cause and effect." These are likewise due to the action of the Law of Consequences, but have special reference to the debts still due as a result of our desires and acts in a former incarnation. This is properly known as the Law of Karma; i.e., the Law of "cause and its effects" extending from one incarnation to another.

All the sorrows, losses and misfortunes, whatever their nature, resulting from the other group, cannot be classified under either the Law of Consequences, Compensation or Retribution. These experiences, thought undesirable, if rightly - the right spirit - accepted, will accumulated the Biblical "treasures laid up in heaven," which will at some time or other accrue to the benefit of the one suffering, when not due to his own evils.

All creatures born of the flesh incur sins of omission, and consequently suffer in one manner or another, for their shortcomings. Daily, even hourly, we violate the Law by allowing to pass undone that which we should have done. A large volume would be required to name all the sins of omission; and none, whether rich or poor, high or low, are free from such sins.

He who agrees to labor for a stipulated wage, however insignificant and insufficient it may be, becomes guilty of the sin of omission if he neglects to perform his full duty. He simply stores up Karma that must be paid at some future time, possibly when he is least able. The inadequacy of the compensation is not an excuse.

The mere acceptance of the terms, though unjust, makes him responsible for rendering his duty fully and well performed. It is a contract; a contract is an obligation; an obligation is a promise; a promise is a vow. This is the Law; the Law is just.

Under that Law a wise Providence with its exacting Law has decreed, that if the illy paid laborer, or any laborer, for that matter, performs more than he has agreed to do and for which he is not reimbursed fairly, he thereby accumulates a "fund" for the future which will inevitably be turned over to him when he is most in need.

The housewife who neglects her duty, illy performs them or procrastinates, is guilty under this Law. The business man who employs unfair methods, renders poor services or charges more than honest prices, is equally guilty. The employer of labor who takes advantage of those who labor for him is guilty.

All may profit for a time, but sooner or later the "laborer must be paid" and he will be paid according to the labor rendered and in the spirit in which it was rendered. "Man reaps as he sows," whether this be "wheat," i.e., work well done, service rendered or fair compensation returned; or the sowing of "tares," the shirking of one's duty; promises broken, or advantages taken of others.

To more fully understand the Law of Consequences, and of course, the Law of Compensation, we should possess a full comprehension of its action and reaction.

Every thought we think, every desire in the heart, every act committed, is recorded in, or on, what is so aptly termed by the Scriptural writer as the "Book of Life." This "book" is neither more nor less than what may ultimately become man's Immortal self, after "mortality has taken on Immortality." The keeper of this book, the servant of God or the Creator of it, is the Conscience or "Bookkeeper" which God has made part of the Soul.

This conscience, not being of man, earthly, but of God, Divine, is a faithful scribe, giving credit where it belongs. Man's conscience is likewise the judge; impartial but just and unswayable. It is the "agent" that both punishes and rewards. In one of its aspects it is also "memory" and in another it is "Retribution."

As Retribution it is the agent of the Law of Reaction, also impartial but just. It returns to man that which man sends out; just benefits and blessings for good; punishment by loss, suffering and sorrow for evil. The "Bookkeeper" and the "Agent" work harmoniously together, bearing in their hands either "Gifts of gold and frankincense" or "the Shadow which is death."

Our thoughts, desires and actions do not merely make a record of all that we do, but they are also at the same time and under the same Law, engaged in the work of building the embryonic Soul into Consciousness, or burying it still deeper in its tomb.

This Soul Spark, this Christos, is given into our care for its nurturing and development. It is the "grain of wheat, " a grain of Immortality. It is a part of God. As a Divine Spark it is self-existing when we receive it with our first breath of life in the material, mortal world. At that time it has not yet become individualized. Individualization is the work given us to perform. This Christos is just like a mortal child. It requires arousing and nourishing as the loving mother does her child. It must be well guarded, and this guarding and nourishing grows out of our deeds of goodness and kindness and our conscious efforts to bring the innate Spark into Consciousness.

When and as we think elevating and ennobling thoughts, when our thoughts are constructive, and when our deeds are of goodness and kindness, when graciousness possesses the heart, all this is impressed upon the Christos, the Immortal Spark within us. If such exalted thoughts, creative desires and noble deeds continue, then this tiny Spark of Jehovah, this eternal Fire Spark within, will become more and more aroused, and in good time the Chistos becomes the RISEN Christ; man has become the Son of God.

On the contrary, if the thoughts are evil, the desires degrading, hence destructive, and the acts evil, then the Light of this Christic Fire is that much more dimmed. Whatever the intent of the thoughts, desires and deeds, the Law of Consequences or Compensation functions in harmony. He who sows wheat, shall eat the bread of life; he who sows tares, shall be burned with the tares. This is the Law.

When man's deeds are more evil than good, there is no spiritual growth. The Soul-potency remains in an inert, unaroused, and non-individual state. There is an accumulation of the debris that effectually buries the tiny spark of the Divinity. This continues until the time of the death of the body. Then the part from Jehovah returns to the storehouse of God, and man - the personality - is dead unto destruction. To him has been offered the gift of individual Immortality, and he, in his blindness, refused it.

Although a Soul may have been aroused to some extent and possibly had commenced to grow and expand, yet, if the possessor persists in destructive thinking and erroneous living, the evil, being a disintegrating force, induces dissolution and diffusion of the Soul forces.

It is written: "The Soul that sinneth, it shall die." Can man successfully evade Laws of God for the government of himself? This, again, is another manifestation of the Law of Consequences, Compensation or Retribution.

Thus far, the Law of Consequences has been considered abstractly and in only a general way, as to its action on the Soul. In the natural order of things we now proceed to consider it more specifically and to view its working in daily life.

The doing of evil is like giving a note to a bank. When the note is due it must be either paid or renewed. Moreover, the interest must be added to the entire amount. No matter what method we pursue, when we wrong or defraud another - even if he is unaware of it - it is recorded by the Divine Law. In some way, we must recompense the one sinned against or we must suffer the full consequences, that is, we must pay the indebtedness - with interest. "As we do unto others, so will we [ultimately] be done by." This is an absolute, irrevocable law under which we receive exactly, and with the addition of interest, what we give. Because of the action of the Law, if we, in any way, are the cause of suffering or misery to another, someone - not necessarily the same person - in some way, will bring us sorrow and loss.

There are many ways whereby we may be the cause of the suffering of another. By harboring grudges against him; by our jealousies; by bitterness of thought or antagonism toward him; or, even, by lack of responsiveness to offered kindness. These are merely a few of the avenues through which we may be the means of inflicting sorrow and misery on another by our attitude of mind.

Then, there are manifold practices in which we may be unjust to another by our words; saying unkind things; spreading evil reports; insinuations and subtle suggestions of discredit. Again, we may deeply injure another by the injustice of our deeds in business transactions and by the various other means coming under the category of wrongdoing.

Much of our own suffering is due to the reactionary influence of things mentioned. There are few of us who have not done and said much to cause sorrow or loss to others. Of this we would be well aware, had we a more comprehensive understanding of the Law.

Financial losses may be traced to the defiance of the Divine Law. In some way, at some time, we failed to give full value for something received; or, in doing work for which we received value, but did not render full equivalent in service. This may have continued for a long period, all of which was placed against us by the Divine Law, and, meeting with a loss, we are simply paying that just debt with added interest. We are called on to pay it, not to the person we injured or defrauded, but to the Law of Righteousness. This same Law will wisely operate that the one whom we wronged, is recompensed justly.

Let us consider the justice of this all-governing dispensation. It may be that I, personally, am a drone, and refuse to do the work that I am capable of performing. However, I have the means to hire some one to do that which I might, and could, do myself. The one retained to fulfill the duties evolving upon me might easily say that as I consider myself above such tasks, he will do no more than is absolutely necessary to retain his position.

By this attitude of mind and refusal to perform his full duty, he not only robs me because of his refusal to render a just return, but he also creates an indebtedness to the Law of Consequences, Compensation and Retribution, which increases from day to day and must sooner or later be paid with interest.

My neglect cannot be an excuse upon which to base his claim. Every man is a law unto himself. One individual's weakness or shortcoming cannot relieve another of his own responsibility.

According to the teachings of the Nazarene and the many other true Masters, man is here for a specific purpose. That universal duty is to gain understanding through experience; to learn to know good from evil, and to attain Conscious Individuality. In other words, man is born into the flesh that he may fully comprehend his power as a creator and thereby ultimately become conscious of his Oneness with the Father. His duty here is to learn to know the Law, and his responsibility is in fulfilling the Law. To accomplish this signifies doing all those things which God would have him faithfully perform; that is, to live according to the dictates of the Divine Law.

No man can gain freedom from the earth plane unless he accepts his responsibilities. This acceptance imposes upon one the necessity of living in obedience to the laws that will gradually, but surely, lead man to Illumination of the Soul - to Christhood or Sonship. When man has reached Illumination, he has likewise attained Conscious Individuality, and is one with, though distinctly separate from, the Father.

Having committed evil or "sin," and man does this continually and consistently, consciously and unconsciously, he seeks to regain his freedom from the serfdom to which evil sentences him. By rendering service where it is actually needed and in other ways man can pay his indebtedness to his fellow man and the Law of Karma. If he fails in doing this during his present earth life, then he must return to the earth plane, laboring, sorrowing and suffering until he becomes conscious of the cause of his "evils" and begins to free himself by living the exalting, constructive life. This means neither more nor less than to live a natural, normal and spiritual life.

Once man attains to Soul Consciousness and the At-One-Ment, he will cease to be guilty of the thoughts, acts and desires which bring him naught but the undesirable. He will pay his Karmic debts. After his Illumination or finding of the light WITHIN, all that he does will be with the thought of good, both to himself and to others. In this way he will not only gain his freedom from the Karmic Law, but he will at the same time "lay up his own treasures in Heaven."

Reincarnation is made necessary by the functioning of the Law of Karma and the payment of all debt upon the records of the Soul. Reincarnation is necessary only for those who refuse to live according to the dictates of the Divine Law. True, at times some of those who did attain to Illumination and Soul Consciousness, who became Sons of God, hence one of the Gods, do return to earth, but this is of their own free choice, because they so "loved the world" they desire to return to it; rendering service, giving guidance to those in need and sincerely desiring it.

Man is in no sense responsible for the suffering, sorrows and losses for which he is made to suffer, under the fourth group of causes. It is much as though he were compelled to deposit money in the bank against his will, but which in due time he is permitted to use for his own benefit.

The apparent injustice is brought upon him as the result of malice, hatred, ignorance or the irresponsibility of others. While it is true that the evils or losses brought upon him are as great as if due to his own deliberate acts, they nevertheless may rightly be regarded as "investments" rather than punishment or the enforced payment of debts. This manner or type of sorrow and suffering can be clearly illustrated by the life of the Nazarene.

Although he came to earth an enlightened, Illuminated and Conscious Soul and lived a sinless life, he nevertheless suffered as much, if not more than any other human being then living. This was not the result of his own acts, but because of the hatred, malice and treachery of those who hate goodness and kindness, and whom he came to help. In his case it was not punishment or the payment of debt, but the laying up of greater glory in his Father's Kingdom.

When we suffer undeservedly due to the thoughts, desires and acts of other, it will greatly help us to accept it and suffer in patience. It is like being offered a note from one who desires to borrow money from us. We will hold the note, he will have the cash, but in time, the amount of the collateral must be paid, with interest. Those who cause us suffering when we are in nowise guilty must themselves pay the penalty. That which they pay must come to us for our compensation, and all that we have undergone will be changed or transmuted, into knowledge and wisdom, which, in due time, leads to higher and more sublime Illumination.

Unfailingly must we remember that there is no reward for loss and discomfort when we accept it with impatience or with complaint. The fretting under the injustice will offset any benefit that might otherwise justly accrue to us. It is written of Apollonius of Tyana that no matter what he was forced to suffer, he always accepted it with patience, without a word of complaint, as thought he were meeting something that was his due.

As a result, for every agony through which he passed, he received greater power to do greater work, and additional strength to undergo trials. Is is not always easy to understand whether a certain test or undesirable experience is due to our misdeeds in this or a past life, or something for which we are in nowise responsible. It is for us to accept that which we cannot avoid, and to do so in harmony with the Law of love.

We must learn from the lives of the Initiate Masters that no one is exempt from suffering so long as he is on the earth plane. The Master often passes through far grater agonies than could possibly be experienced by the unenlightened of God's children. The refinement of the material elements produces a sensitiveness unknown to the ordinary mortal and it is because of this transmutation of the gross into the refined that the sorrows and miseries of the Master or Initiate are so much greater than those of earth's children. The earth plane is a training school for all. If we refuse to master our lessons during regular hours, we must remain while others more obedient have their freedom.

To summarize the four groups which cause suffering, here are the facts in condensed form:

1. For the thoughts, desires and acts of the present life, these awakening us to knowledge that will lead us to Oneness or Sonship with the Father; though remaining individual, separate entities.

2. For those acts which we did in past incarnations and for which we have now returned to this planet to make payment, with the knowledge that we can repay them all, and if we live according to the Law, we are enabled to arouse the Divine Spark to Illumination and Conscious Individuality, therefore to Immortality; "mortality having put on Immortality."

3. For all which rightly and directly accrues to us because of the sins of omission, of duty unfulfilled, of services paid for, but not rendered. To offset these, we must give profound thought to all that we promise or imply by our acceptance of conditions. Unless we fulfill our entire duty we will be continually increasing our indebtedness not only to man generally, but to God as well. There can be no freedom so long as we are slaves to our weaknesses and inertia.

4. For the thoughts, desires and acts of others, for which we are in no way responsible, but through which, if we accept and bear them with patience, we will receive strength and power, ultimately greater Illumination of Soul.

Inertia is weakness; weakness is death. Only by our own conscious activity to overcome weakness by transmuting it into strength, may we free orselves from everything undesirable; drawing to ourselves all things for our benefit, welfare and happiness (peace).
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