Ten Steps to Fulfillment---Step # 7

Conquer Cause & Effect......

The Law of Karma

In a mystical, spiritual sense, wealth isn't measured in terms of dollars and cents, for these are impermanent qualities. Nor in terms of knowledge, for even knowledge changes with the passing years.

Whatever enriches life and provides true wealth must be permanent and unchanging, which means that wisdom and understanding are the only equivalents of true wealth. These two qualities may be found in abundance in one place, and that is the Self.

The Gospel of Thomas reports Jesus as saying: .......but if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty and you are poverty. Quite possibly this is the greatest amount of excellent advice in the fewest number words you will ever read. And one of the most important facets of understanding and knowledge, contributing to knowing your Self, is to be found in the Law of Karma, stated both scientifically and esoterically as the law of cause and effect.

Life would be a farce without the law of karma, the law which states that for every effect there is a cause, for every action there is a reaction. Just what is karma? Karma is the inevitable result in the future of an act in the present. By understanding this law you learn not to put hand in the fire or cross the street in front of traffic. The workings of karma are not always obvious but are always present. Karma tells us there is a reason for the puzzles we encounter in life, though we may not always recognize it. Whatever situations prevail in your life at this moment are the result of the law of karma. As a great teacher has expressed: As you sow , so shall you reap. This statement holds for you the inspiring thought that the trend of unfavorable karma can be changed, its flow reversed, and favorable karma can be created beginning this very moment.

THE THREE REQUISITES FOR IMPROVING KARMA

In the final analysis, the law of Karma is a composite of several lesser laws:

1. the law of personal responsibility

2. the law of justice

3. the law of opportunity

As the law of personal responsibility, it fulfills what modern psychologists tell us is the only hope for a humanity that is above savagery. It makes us personally responsible for our own thoughts and acts, and their results in our lives.

As the law of justice, it is the only fulfillment of the concept that all are created equal, and the concept that as you sow, so shall you reap.

As the law of opportunity, it provides us with the challenge to improve our circumstances and and our Selves, the opportunity to be changed by the renewing of our minds.

THREE MORE REQUISITES TO IMPROVING KARMA

1. Develop a receptive mind. The business and scientific worlds

have discovered that the greatest hindrance to progress is a

closed mind.

Be receptive to impulses and ideas both from without and

within. Reject impulses and concepts, if you will (sometimes

it is best to do so), but only after due consideration has

their unworthiness or valuelessness.

2. Be willing to try. Some people simply prefer not to make the

effort. They want to go to the mountaintop only if the road

is easy and they need make no effort to climb.

The one who begrudges the climb seldom makes it.