The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-01-28
Cause and Effect Applied to Life
and Ethics.
THE UNFOLDING THOUGHT
Miss Walsh Quotes the Bible and
Sir Edwin Arnold Sowing and
Reaping-Acts-De

ture of Miss Walsh, the Philosophical
teacher, on Karma:
The word Karma is derived from a
Sanskrit root signifying action ana is
used to express the unfolding OF
thought into act, of act into actions, of
actions into established forms, GUS
toms, conditions. It is the law of
cause and effect applied to life and
ethics. A key to it's workings may be
found in the following verse:
Sow thought and reap an act;
Sow an act and reap habit;
Sow a habit and reap a character;
Sow character and reap a destiny"
Here thought creates act, the act
becomes acts evolving through growth
into destiny. Causes produce effects
which in their turn become causes,
an orderly sequence of action and re-
action ever subject to modification by
mans will and thought.
Science is based upon this law of
causation. 1t is the law of life. Ex
tend this lay over millions of years,
include within it all humanity and
every functions and the law of Karma
appears in it's entirely. 1t is not only
cause and effect but the law of har
mony which makes evil work to good.
LAS a man soweth so also shall he
reap" is a self-evident truth If he
SOW injustice he will reap injustice;
if he sows selfishness. he will reap sell
fishnesS.
We come into this world with men
tai faculties, with special characteris-
tics with appetites, passions, virtues,
will-power or the lack of it that are
the results of habits of thought which
the ego has formed during a long
past.
The present is an unfolded past. And
the outgrowth of that past in charac-
ter and environment. It's power of set
ting up fresh causes for action is Kar-
ma.
AS Sir Edwin Arnold in Light of
Asia" defines:
"The Karma-all that total of a soul
Which is the things it did, the thoughts
it had,
The Self it wove-with wool of
viewless time,
Crossed on the warp invisible of
acts"
But this Self woven out Of the past
can be modified and changed by
thought and will. Karma is not fatal
| ity. 1t is not a burden we must per-
force carry without hope of release.
1t is a condition to be overcome, a
character to be perfected, environment
| J,O Inv lynN 1nH
individual has weakened his will pow
er by yielding to his lower nature, 1t
is yet in his power to cease yielding,
to begin to say no, to strengthen pur-
pose. to concentrate energies, to grow
gradually into forcefulness. If he be
unjustly treated, he can return the
injustice by resentment, by more in
iustice he can bear it with a dogged
patience saying This is my karma
so | must endure it." or he can accept
it cheerfully returning good for evil
In the first case, the sufferer by re-
sentiment sets up fresh for other acts OF
Injustice and cruelty, he connects him
self with those conditions which make
him a magnet to attract them. In the
second case, he sows seeds of inactivity
of ignorance in his character that VII
cause him to be a victim of circum
stances, while in the third case the eVl
attracted in the past is changed tt
good. The Karma of hate has be
come a Karma of love.
What man has made that he can un
make Man is alone to blame for thu
evils which overwhelm him. Each on
makes his own destiny. He is shaping
it every day. This law of cause ant
effect. of action and reaction make
progress possible GluttOny and sen
suality produce disease. Disease bring
suffering and through suffering tn
soul learns to avoid the cause of suffer
ing. In the realm of ideas, progress
demands that souls be able to game
I'D a store of experiences else we wOul
ever be at the beginning and no idea
would grow into perfection. In thi
way the Karmic law is evolution, tn
unfolding of experience through &C
ton.
The individual is part of humani
tv. Like unto a cell in the human
body so is he in the great whole
Therefore. the Karmic inheritance G
from the inheritance of the family, c
the nation. of the race. If natio
sOws injustice, tyranny and selfishnes
it will reap a harvest of miseries fro1
which the individuals of that natiO
must suffer The very best circum
stances for an individual are those tia
will develop the strength, the abilitie!
the powers of that individual. Henc
wealth and luxury may be the yer
worst form of environment, developin
sloth, sensuality, frivolity. Our idea
of good and bad fortune are ofte
erroneous.
This law of cause and effect, of eve
luton, gives to every force it's jul!
value. 1t proceeds according to tt
! laws of motion Every force must /
considered as affecting the directiO
- of motion. Now thoughts are force
= desires are forces. Most people al
strange blendings of right and wron
3 of ignorance and knowledge, of veal
1 ness and strength. Witness Napoleo
- Torquemada. Many good people S