The Hawaiian gazette., 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
MISUNDERSTANDING.

FOLLOWING IS summary VI Tic lCC
ture of Miss Walsh, the Theosophica
teacher, on Karma:
The word .Karma IS derived from
Sanskrit root signifying action ana i
used to express the unfolding o
thought into act, of act into actions, o
actions into established forms, Gus
toms, conditions. 1t is the law o
cause and effect applied to life anC
ethics A key to its workings may be
found in the following verse:
Sow a thought and reap an act;
Sow an act and reap a habit;
Sow a habit and reap character;
Sow a 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 its 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-eyident 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 Characters
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. Its 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 burden we must per-
force carry without hope of release.
1t is a condition to be overcome, a
character to be perfected, environment
to be improved by knowledge. If an
individual has weakened his will pow
er by yielding to his lower nature, it
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
justice; he can bear it with a logged
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 will
cause him to be a victim of circum-
stances, while in the third case the evil
attracted in the past is changed to
good. The Karma of hate has be-
come Karma of love.
What man has made that he can un-
make. Man is alone to blame for the
evils which overwhelm him. Each one
makes his own destiny. He is shaping
it every day. This law of cause and
effect, of action and reaction makes
progress possible. Gluttony and SEN
suality produce disease. Disease brings
suffering and through suffering the
soul learns to avoid the cause of suffer-
ing In the realm of ideas, progress
demands that souls be able to garner
up store of experiences else we would
ever be at the beginning and no ideas
would grow into perfection. In this
way the Karmic law is evolution, the
unfolding of experience through ac-
ton.
The individual is a part of humani-
ty. Like unto a cell in the human
body so is he in the great whole
Therefore, the Karmic inheritance OF
the individual cannot be separated
from the inheritance of the family, OF
the nation, of the race If nation
Sows injustice, tyranny and selfishness
it will reap harvest of miseries from
which the individuals of that nation
must suffer. The very best circum-
stances for an individual are those thai
will develop the strength, the abilities
the powers of that individual Hence
wealth and luxury may be the very
worst form of environment, developing
sloth, sensuality, frivolity. Our idea.
of good and bad fortune are Otter
erroneous.
This law of cause and effect, of evo
luton, gives to every force its jus
value. 1t proceeds according to the
laws of motion. Every force must bt
considered as affecting the direction
of motion. Now thoughts are forces
desires are forces. Most people ar,
strange blendings of right and wrong
of ignorance and knowledge, of weak
ness and strength. Witness Napoleon
TorQuemada. Many good people Sc