Chapter V: Appendix: To Chapter III

Our life here is not governed by a capricious Being who blows first hot and then cold or who favours one person and tortures another. The Supreme Being works through laws that are absolutely just and unchanging. Therefore all disaster and trouble in the life is the effect of certain causes. These causes are our own wrong doing in the past, which set in motion forces, against which the power and wit and wisdom of man are powerless. [4] However, because the fundamental law of the Universe is love, it follows that the working of the law of cause and effect is not vindictive. Its object is our highest good, viz., to bring us into union with the Divine or in tune with the Infinite. Therefore, by rising up to a higher plane and coming more into harmony and union with the Divine, we rob even big fate of something of its power. We cannot oppose it, for by so doing we fight against Omnipotence, but we can _forestall_ it by doing willingly, and of our own accord, that very thing which experience comes to teach us.

[4] Another cause is that the soul has failed to learn certain
lessons, therefore, in this life, many painful experiences are
brought to bear, in such a way, as to teach the necessary
lessons. The lessons are, however, learnt only if painful or
unpleasant experiences are met in the right way. So long as
man believes that he is unjustly treated by fate and that he
does not "deserve" what life metes out to him, he intensifies
his troubles, both now and hereafter, through not learning the
lessons that life desires to teach. When, however man realizes
and admits that life is just and that the cause of all his
troubles is within himself, he, like the prodigal son comes
to himself and, soon afterwards, begins his homeward journey.
Yet another cause is that the soul is deficient in character.
Strength and stability of character can be built up through
the soul meeting trouble and difficulty. Again it must be
pointed out that they must be met in the right spirit.

It will be seen then, that our future depends entirely upon the way we think and act in this life. Our future lies in our own hands. If we violate the law of love in this life, we create disaster and suffering for the future, which will have to be met, in the form of "big fate" of a painful character, some day. Therefore, by right thinking and right doing now, we not only ameliorate conditions in this life, but we also create a future that will be more harmonious and freer than anything we have experienced hitherto.

It is also necessary to point out that, even in this life, some of its big disasters are the result of thoughts and actions committed during this present existence. A youth or young man may commit a folly that brings, in after life, a terrible retribution. Or he may do another man a grievous wrong and years afterwards someone else does the same wrong to him. It is always an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth on this plane of cause and effect, but the Great Way Shower, by His teaching of the power of love, enables us to rise above these lower things and live a life of harmony and peace.