The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-04-24

KARMA.

tlon and Justice, necessitating r%eincarna-
ton and emancipation. Theosophy
does does not admit of the supernatural
and sees in laws, great lines running
through the universe, reducing it like
parallels OF latitude to intelligent order.
1t discards dead" matter and views
the universe as an intelligent whole,
reaching to sslf-eonsclousness IN man,
in which every atom il under the domaln
Of this law. As applied to US:
"My brothers! Each mans life
The outcome OF his former living is;
The by.gone wrongs bring forth sorrows
and woes,
The by-gone right breeds bliss.
This is the doctrine OF Karma!"
Lille Is but the succession OF causes
and effects and each effect, however tri-
val is a cause. Every act. every thought
every emotion becomes part of our be-
Ing and as = stone cast into the pond
causes ripple after ripple until the force
is expended or the %gentlest sound sends
forth vibrations causing change some
where SO even the smallest thought has
Its effect. In the present condition OF
humanity there is not SO much thought
or care about causation as about re-
suit. We are obliged to 60 through
darkness IN order to arrive at light, but
it is light and not darkness that we are
seeking and so instead OF telling the al
1ieted that 1T is "their own fault"
t~heosophv, shows that there are two
ways Of accepting the inevitable; one
complainingly and thus depicting OF
strength and courage, or
by adjusting ourselves to the burden,
bearing it hopefully and so living as to
insure a brighter future. So long as
thoughts and actions last, 80 long will
their results or Karma, prevail. There
ls no easing OF the burden Of sin by
bending knee, no healing Of the moral
leper by the laying on of hands, no
shrivelng under shadow OF the moose OF
some cruel but frightened wretch. Rea-
son teaches US that death cannot trans
port us where we are not know; cannot
act as a kind OF moral filter, that IN
some miraculous way will remove the
impurities of our lower nature and fit us
for habitation III some heavenly sphere,
nor failing this, transport III to some IN
conceivably horrid place. Repentance
comes SO easy when we suffer from or
have enjoyed the results OF our acts.
Repentance can have no effect upon
what has been done, 1t can not be a
passport to c~ompanionshlp with the
pure to the malefactor too dangerous
to be allowed to remain on earth. 1t is
the law OF adjustment, seemingly pitiless
but when understood ''pitlless yet kind;
terrible but just" Each ones merits
and dement's are weighed in a faultless
balance, OF which no priests finger can
tip the beam; no one is "foreordaiaed to
eternal damnation,'' no cheating OF JUS
tice on the gallow's steps. but exact
weight. 0 how meagre must the doc
tpine seem to those who believe in locali-
ties OF reward and punishment with the
accessories of harps, crowns, %pitchforks
and devils. "The mills Of the Gods
grind SLOWLY yet they grind exceedingly
small' and though the oppressor may
flourish as the green bay tree, vet his
time will come in the mill. AS seeds Lis
dormant for thousands Of years to ger
inmate under proper conditions, SO may
the seeds we SOW b;de their time, and i
no evil deed can escape punishment,
neither will the gift OF a cup OF cold
water to the thirsty lose it's reward
were no man to hurt his brother Karma
Nemises would have neither cause to
work nor weapons to act through. As
DR.. Anderson Of San Francisco says: ut
is the constant presence IN our midst OF
every element OF strife and oppression
and the division OF races, nations, tribes
societies and individuals into Gains AND
Abels, wolves and lambs that is the
chief cause OF the ways of providence
destinles daily with our own hands
while we imagine that we are pursuing
a track on the royal high road Of re.
spectabllity and duty and then complain
of these ways being SO intricate and
dark. Solomon declared that he had
never seen the righteous f%orsaken, nor
his seed begging bread" but the very re-
verse obtains under our social system
IN which we have made OF vice an art
and of selfishness q basis for ethics. w,
loudly claim that honesty is the bes1
policy" while thousands OF millionaire