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1The reader will notice that in the Hermetic definitions of karma, the soul when working out its past iniquities is perfectly conscious of its task, and knows the true why and wherefore of its suffering. Not only so, but it has also the certain hope of final emancipation, not, however, until, as the parable says, “thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Herein, then, is the truth and justice of Nature’s laws re¬ vealed. But in the definition of Buddhism, this justice is absolutely wanting. In their outrageous scheme of esoteric philosophy, millions of souls upon the earth are perfectly ignorant of what they are suffering for. They are ushered into the world for the purpose of undergoing the fiery torments of their old fossilized karma, and are completely ignorant of the fact. How can the average mortal work off his bad karma when he does not know that he has any, nor what he is working and suffering for? If we cruelly abuse a dog when it is full grown for some offense committed when a puppy, it would be considered an outrageous piece of cruelty, because the dog would be perfectly ignorant of what the punishment was for. The same may be said of inflicting punishment upon the material rv v u Ponnlp Original from uigilizeo by ViUUglC UHIVER5ITr OF MICHIGAN 66 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT
2man for some forgotten offense of his infancy. The reader should ever remember that no punishment is just, when the one punished is ignorant of the cause. Punishment under such circumstances not only ceases to be just, but becomes diabolical injustice. The common justice of humanity condemns such a proceeding. If this is true, how much more severe must be the condemnation of that justice which is divine?
3At this stage of our subject, the student will doubtless ask, “if human suffering is not the result of previous karma, what is the real cause of so much misery in the world?” To this we reply, human suffering is the result of innumerable laws, which in their action and reaction produce discord at certain intervals in the scale of human development. For all practical purposes, they may be classed under two heads as primary and secondary. The primary cause is that of racial evolution. Each round and each race of the round of human beings, requires different external conditions in order to evolve its chief attributes; for each round and race become the special means by which a certain one of the souls attributes is rounded out or developed. Let us illustrate. The first or primal race were those of the Golden Age. They were a purely ethereal race of beings, and cannot be strictly classified with what we know of hu¬ manity, nor can they be said to have been really incarnated in gross matter at all. For this reason, their penetrative power was very small; hence, though highly spiritual, they were correspondingly simple; they lived an ideal life amid semi-spiritual surroundings. The second race, that of the Silver Age, penetrated deeper into matter than their Golden Age forefathers, and their bodies, conse¬ quently became more dense and less sensitive. Toward the termina¬ tion of this race, and the beginning of the third or Copper Age, the equator of our racial arc was reached in the descending scale. Here it was, that the first murmurings of a mental storm began to manifest themselves; emigrations and partings took place between what had previously been a united people, and consequently separate national interests began to evolve. When our earth reaches the equinoctial points of the year, storms and tempests abound. Upon a higher plane, it is the same with the progress of man around the cycle. With the Copper Age race a still further descent took place, and a still greater increase of self-interest was evolved; from the national was evolved
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1The reader will notice that in the Hermetic definitions of karma, the soul when working out its past iniquities is perfectly conscious of its task, and knows the true why and wherefore of its suffering. Not only so, but it has also the certain hope of final emancipation, not, however, until, as the parable says, “thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Herein, then, is the truth and justice of Nature’s laws re¬ vealed. But in the definition of Buddhism, this justice is absolutely wanting. In their outrageous scheme of esoteric philosophy, millions of souls upon the earth are perfectly ignorant of what they are suffering for. They are ushered into the world for the purpose of undergoing the fiery torments of their old fossilized karma, and are completely ignorant of the fact. How can the average mortal work off his bad karma when he does not know that he has any, nor what he is working and suffering for? If we cruelly abuse a dog when it is full grown for some offense committed when a puppy, it would be considered an outrageous piece of cruelty, because the dog would be perfectly ignorant of what the punishment was for. The same may be said of inflicting punishment upon the material rv v u Ponnlp Original from uigilizeo by ViUUglC UHIVER5ITr OF MICHIGAN 66 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT
2man for some forgotten offense of his infancy. The reader should ever remember that no punishment is just, when the one punished is ignorant of the cause. Punishment under such circumstances not only ceases to be just, but becomes diabolical injustice. The common justice of humanity condemns such a proceeding. If this is true, how much more severe must be the condemnation of that justice which is divine?
3At this stage of our subject, the student will doubtless ask, “if human suffering is not the result of previous karma, what is the real cause of so much misery in the world?” To this we reply, human suffering is the result of innumerable laws, which in their action and reaction produce discord at certain intervals in the scale of human development. For all practical purposes, they may be classed under two heads as primary and secondary. The primary cause is that of racial evolution. Each round and each race of the round of human beings, requires different external conditions in order to evolve its chief attributes; for each round and race become the special means by which a certain one of the souls attributes is rounded out or developed. Let us illustrate. The first or primal race were those of the Golden Age. They were a purely ethereal race of beings, and cannot be strictly classified with what we know of hu¬ manity, nor can they be said to have been really incarnated in gross matter at all. For this reason, their penetrative power was very small; hence, though highly spiritual, they were correspondingly simple; they lived an ideal life amid semi-spiritual surroundings. The second race, that of the Silver Age, penetrated deeper into matter than their Golden Age forefathers, and their bodies, conse¬ quently became more dense and less sensitive. Toward the termina¬ tion of this race, and the beginning of the third or Copper Age, the equator of our racial arc was reached in the descending scale. Here it was, that the first murmurings of a mental storm began to manifest themselves; emigrations and partings took place between what had previously been a united people, and consequently separate national interests began to evolve. When our earth reaches the equinoctial points of the year, storms and tempests abound. Upon a higher plane, it is the same with the progress of man around the cycle. With the Copper Age race a still further descent took place, and a still greater increase of self-interest was evolved; from the national was evolved
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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