Daily Theosophy

We should all be selfish and greedy and competitive in material matters to cooperate with nature: and we should create chaos and destruction rather than order, if we want to apply the science of thermodynamics ethically.

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(Universal laws and Ethics)

So let’s discuss some universal and fundamental ‘laws’ and their ethical implications. The first one is that everything is nature goes in circles or cycles. Within big cycles there are smaller cycles and then still smaller, and so on, and there are cycles bigger than the big ones, and still bigger. Some go slow, others go fast, some overtake others, some sequences of smaller cycles fit neatly in a bigger one, but others overlap and thus either fit together in a much bigger cycle (like, for example, the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn taken about twelve and thirty years respectively, thus together creating a common cycle of about sixty years.) Of course day and night always come in sequence and so come the hours of the day. But, for example moon cycles do not neatly fit in one sun-cycle (i.e. a year). There are some 13 moon-cycles in a year, but not exactly. There are also astronomical cycles which can be precisely calculated, and astrological cycles of influence, which continuously interact and interfere. Let’s take the cycle of life for example. It shows the same pattern for every human being, but it never happens exactly in the same way. First you are experiencing the consciousness of the good mind, without a physical body and without suffering. Then you feel attraction to old habits and to rebirth, then you collect the thoughts and feelings you need on earth, then your consciousness enters the just fertilized human egg cell, then you develop your body in many stages, are born, breath your first air, you learn to move, crawl, walk, talk, acquire social habits, school knowledge, development of sexual feelings, independence of parents, adulthood, middle age, old age, and then the whole sequence of the processes of dying as described earlier, until you are again in the world of good (and subtle) thoughts.

What has all this to do with ethics? Everything. It means that every being is unique in his phase of his own cycle, under influence of numerous other cycles (other people, circumstances, planets, etc.). It also means that cultures are different cycles and sub-cycles, and at the same time have their own subsequent cycles of ending and new beginning. Ethically this means that everyone is always doing their duty at their own place at their own time, and that everyone may be in a different phase in their own cycle. You can never judge for another, because then you interfere with the greater laws of nature, and you have the karma of it. You never know the inner reasons, motivations and struggles of other people, and what may seem ‘bad’ or unruly to you, may be just the right thing to do for another. Before you are born, you have to feel ‘materialistic’ – if not you would not incarnate, and could not develop and learn more and help other beings on earth. If you are very young you trust your parents completely, and take them as your example. If you are older you have to become psychologically independent, and you can only do that by thinking and finding out your own way, often by doing experiments and by being naughty and obstinate. Of you would always be a subdued and neat boy or girl you are not going to be very independent and self-reliant. But it can also be good to be subdued and to listen and learn in that way. It depends on your character and the choices you made and make. You are not only in the cycle of this life, but also in the much bigger cycle of a long sequence of lives, in which you may develop some high artistic skills or character skills or deep insights and other good things over a period for which one lifetime is simply to short. So it plainly means that parents should always understand that their children are not pieces of clay that can be molded to their wishes, but that each child is a pilgrim through many life-times, and has to develop freedom and responsibility, intelligence, compassion and spirituality. So if you want to force someone in your mold, in your thought system, your set of dogma’s, you may be an obstruction to the path the other person has chosen for himself. Remember that you are the temporary caretaker of your children, not the owner of their incarnating and evolving soul. The only thing another person always needs, is love and compassion, to be taken serious and to be respected, even in their mistakes, and guidance when the time is naturally right for guidance. Love and compassion you will practice in whatever form, which you intuitively feel if you have genuine love. You don’t have to study at a university to become a good mother or father. Your heart knows how to be that, even when you can not read and write. In a really free or ‘democratic’ country, even governments understand that. So ethics excludes force and dogma, it excludes prescriptions of behavior, though not the transfer of social and cultural values of your society. You can philosophize about many other ethical aspects of this law of cycles. The more humanity understands of it, the more can he self-consciously live in harmony with nature.

Another universal thing is that for every effect there is a cause, and every cause leads to a result. Whatever you start now will be accomplished in the future.

If you use your mind now, you will be more intelligent in future lives. If you do body-building or sports, you will develop strong muscles, but only in the first part of this life – it has hardly any result for future lives, except that you may feel the tendency to do the same again. If you are lazy you will lag behind. Whatever you do that is good (i.e. in harmony with the universal laws of nature and the universe) leads to good or happiness in the future. Whatever thought or action is selfish, will lead to restrictions, limitations and suffering in future lives, partly even in this life. Selfishness is the reflection what some authors have called ‘the great heresy’ – the heresy of believing that you are separated from all other things, and that you can do things for yourself without affecting other beings. But in reality there is nothing in you that is totally independent – everything you are, how you come to be, and what you do, exists in and has an impact on others. Ethically it means that everyone is responsible for themselves, for what you are, what your character is, what you become, and what influence goes out from you on others – because responsibility means interaction and interdependence. If you are not very intelligent, or have physical or psychological weaknesses, it is because you have developed unintelligence and psychological laziness (or abandoned to develop your intellect or psychological strength). Even when other people or circumstances harm you, it is because you are in contact with them, and they feel your weaknesses and act on that. You will feel miserable when that happens, but it’s your opportunity to learn. Logically, your enemies are your best friends, even if they don’t mean to. Because they urge you to overcome yourself, – or to lose the war by beating back (than your enemy will enjoy, and try to harm you even harder as soon as he gets the chance. That’s why in the Christian Bible its is said that the best thing to do, both for your enemy and your own spiritual growth, is to ‘turn your other cheek’ and never to stop forgiving people who harm you. An example, if you are or was not very good at school, (and may be you hate school and/or (particular) teachers) in reality with effort and will-power you make much greater steps forward regarding the future than when you are very good, and hardly have to do your homework and get the highest marks anyway. The good ones will get enough problems later, which are difficult for them, but perhaps not for you. Don’t envy them! The ethical implication is that every creature is responsible for itself, everyone makes their own choices and thus gets what he has chosen, either for good or bad, pleasant and unpleasant. Everyone sows thought-seeds and character-seeds for the immediate and farther future. Cause and effect are like a seed and the flowering tree that grows form it. The connection is what we earlier called ‘history lines’ – it perfectly and unerringly connects your own history with your present and your future, and you are continuously busy extending your history lines – until the time when you are completely unselfishly cooperate with the workings (energies) and the mind and the heart of the universe. As long as one has even the slightest ‘second thought’ or hidden ego-motivations, one cherishes the ‘heresy of separateness’ and one weaves dire history lines. And good thoughts weave nice history lines. It’s all your choice, and his and her choice. Never get angry with anyone if you can: only give compassion and love, and whatever you have of wisdom, or be silent. You or she or he only is responsible, and if they want they can copy your good example. Give them that right and option.

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(More Laws)

More Laws

Another fact in the universe, the ‘third law,’ is that everyone, every creature, is unique, though one in essence (called Adi’s heart). Everything has its own characteristic nature and its own characteristic task to fulfill,