An Analysis of Karma: From “The Sanctuary of Self” – Rosicrucian Order Library, Part 2 of 2

Let us now continue Chapter IX entitled “Karma in Effect” from Frater Ralph M. Lewis’s book, “The Sanctuary of Self.”

“Major karmic effects exist in the violation of Cosmic laws and Divine principles. Such a violation would be an intentional injury to others for selfish ends. It is not always necessary that the individual must bang his head, figuratively speaking, against a stone wall in order to learn from such action that it is wrong and painful. We do not always have to experience an effect to know what follows from the cause. We have been given a spiritual barometer, which is the moral sense we possess, or conscience. This barometer informs us whenever our acts, or contemplated acts, are contrary to Cosmic laws and principles.”

“The so-called good luck which many persons have and which may seem to be unaccountable, which seems to descend upon people without reason or justification, may be an accumulated beneficial karma, the result of constructive, unselfish, and virtuous acts in a past time of which the recipients may have no knowledge now. We must realize that in the Cosmic there is no such thing as time. Eternity may be as a tick of a second. Our acts, as causes, may have their effects projected into the future; that future may be the next moment, as we think of it, or this day or this year. Or the future may be several subsequent lives from now. Today’s experiences, today’s good fortune, may be rooted far in the past.”

“When we experience misfortune, when we encounter adversity, we should not be embittered, we should not try to affix the responsibility on others, but inquire into the nature of the conditions, of the causes, which may have brought about the misfortune. Analyze the effects intelligently, for the determination of the cause. At least, with an open mind, accept the effects as a lesson, as one possibly teaching tolerance or humility. As you learn from adversity and accept the lesson, without bitterness, but as a means of preparing yourself for more enlightened living, you are creating a favorable karmic effect, possibly years of happiness, if not in this life, then in another. Therefore, we realize that the power of adjusting our lives, of adapting them to happiness and attainment, is entirely within ourselves.”