In the Light of Truth

37. Symbolism in the fate of man

If men were not so entirely absorbed in the necessities and trivialities of daily life, but would pay some attention to the events great and small that are happening around them, and examine them more closely, their understanding would soon be widened. They would be surprised at themselves, and hardly believe it possible that they had never noticed or been impressed by the astonishing coincidences in the life around them. They have indeed every reason to shake their heads and pity their own dulness and want of observation. A whole world of strictly ordered, living phenomena suddenly reveals itself to open eyes, disclosing the unerring hand of the Supreme Guide: the world of symbolism.

This world, the roots of which reach deep down into the ethereal part of Creation, is the world of corresponding phenomena. And only the out-lying boundary, the very outskirts are visible in the material world. Like the ground-swell in an apparently perfectly smooth sea, it is not visible, and can only be perceived by the little ripples that lap the shore. Man has no idea how, with but little trouble and a modicum of attention, he can observe and follow what for him is so vitally important and yet terrifying: the alarming working of Karma. It is possible, however, for him to make himself familiar with it, and then it will lose the terrors it often has for the man who thinks. This may mean a way upwards for many. They learn to perceive and feel the deeper vibrations of transcendental life by observing what they see happening in physical life. They can follow the working of the law of returns, and will in time become convinced of the perfect justice in the development of all happenings. If a man has once got so far, he will gradually understand and get reconciled to the strictly logical and uninterrupted working of Divine Will in the physical as well as in the ethereal substance in Creation. From that moment he will reckon with it and submit to it of his own free will. For him it will mean swimming in a powerful current of strength. He who swims with the current will find the current help him. He makes use of its power by accomodating himself to it. Thus for him the reaction will only be beneficial. He will smile when he sees that the Scriptures are meant to be understood literally, and are literally fulfilled. In his childish simplicity, it seemed to him impossible to obey the demands made on man's obedience, because they required the subjection of a slave. What offended him formerly, because it seemed to him that despotic calls were being made on his obedience, now with open eyes he counts as blessings and heavenly gifts endowing him with immense power so that he can consciously cooperate in God's glorious universe. The modern man resents scriptural admonitions such as: “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” or “whosoever humbleth himself, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”; man shall obey, shall serve and other similar passages. The words, although so simple, childlike and so apt, offend his intellectual pride. He will no longer be led as a blind man. He will himself understand and consciously cooperate in all things and inwardly feel the enthusiasm that can only come from conviction. This is necessary to accomplish anything great. As a man progresses in his development, it is right he should take his place more consciously in Creation. And when, having knowledge of the mighty laws, he will recognise that the simple scriptural admonitions — so strangely different in their diction to modern expressions — recommend exactly what he has now voluntarily and with full conviction made up his mind to, he will be amazed to find that he only rejected the old lore, because he interpreted it wrongly and never seriously tried to penetrate to its inner meaning, nor to bring it into harmony with modern conceptions.

Whether, as it stands written, man is humbly to submit to the Will of God, or whether, after having rightly comprehended the laws, he accommodates his actions to them, is one and the same thing; man can only make use of the powers that carry out God's Will, when he studies them, thoroughly understands them and adapts himself to them. This in reality means yielding and submission, not rebellion against them, but working with them. Only when he adapts his will and brings it into harmony with nature can he avail himself of its help. This is not wielding power but humbly submitting to the Will of God.

When men ascribe useful discoveries to their own ingenuity or to scientific research, it only means that they have found out how the laws of nature operate. They recognise the Will of God and accommodate themselves to it. This is obedience and humble submission.

In Creation all operates in a circle. Every happening must find its appropriate conclusion, must be resolved at the point from which it started (i. e. it ceases to be a working unit).

This is the law of returns which dominates all Creation and every separate happening and on this rests symbolism. Every action in returning to exhaust its energy must do so in the same substance or matter in which it took its beginning. What began in ethereal invisible substance must exhaust itself in ethereal invisible substance and what began in gross physical substance must exhaust itself in gross physical substance.

What happens in ethereal matter or substance man cannot see, he only sees physical results and calls this symbolism. But as the causes of these results mostly lie in former lives in physical matter, he has no key by which to decipher the meaning of the symbols.

Although the greater part of reciprocal action takes place in the ethereal world, Karma requires that amends must also be made by some visible process in the place where the debt was incurred and by the same individual who incurred the debt. This is indispensable, whether the beginnings were good or evil, caused happiness or grief. Whether the later events brought blessings or forgiveness to the repentant and atoning sinner, a last visible discharge must come.

Should the character of the man in question have changed in the meantime and improved so much that he is no longer capable of his former behaviour, reciprocal action can no longer be so effective, as it cannot lay hold of this soaring soul, now so much lighter and more luminous, in obedience to the law of gravitation.*(Lecture No. 6: Fate)

The natural consequence is that as the time for retribution approaches its full force is dulled and neutralised by man's aura having become lighter.

In spite of this, the circle must be closed and reaction must take place according to the automatic working of the law. Natural laws can never be circumvented. This is the reason that reaction, however weakened, must have visible effect in matter before it can be discharged. The end must merge into the beginning. Owing to his lighter aura, the evil Karma cannot do harm to the man in question; this weakened reaction can only act on his immediate surrounding in such a way that he is induced voluntarily to make amends by doing something corresponding in nature to the retribution he would otherwise have to suffer. This manner of return causes no pain, does him no harm — on the contrary, often gives him satisfaction.

Such is the purely symbolical atonement for many a grievous sin. Because of the change in the man's character, the law has adapted itself to his case, and Karma is satisfied. The man himself is generally unconscious of this. There lies mercy of such magnitude in this process, the natural result of the Divine Law in perfect Creation, as only could come from Almighty Wisdom. There are many occasions and opportunities accorded man, by virtue of which he is able to discharge his obligations and ward off Karmic reaction symbolically.

Let us take an example: a hard, despotic character oppresses and torments his fellow-men, thus burdening himself with a heavy load of Karma. This now goes its way and rotates with the great wheel of events, attracting all analogous influences on its journey, and returns, like a huge wave, to permeate the aura of that man, till it works on the material surroundings also and produces such conditions as make him suffer from similar tyranny but to a far greater degree than he made his victims suffer.

If in the meantime, however, the man has come to a better understanding of the truth, he will have acquired a lighter and more luminous aura, and his Karma will change automatically. When the dark wave of evil comes in contact with the light, it gets more or less transfused by it, in proportion to its strength, and thus becomes more or less harmless. If the former tyrant has bettered himself quite exceptionally and made great progress upwards, it can happen that he will have no Karma to suffer from and only temporarily do something that resembles atonement.

Let us suppose it be the case of a woman. Here it would suffice, if she took the scrubbing-brush out of her maid-servant's hand to show her, in all gentleness, how to scrub the floor. And if it is but making a few movements of this sort, still they symbolize menial service, and that is sufficient. This little action is the atonement that had to be made visibly and that, in spite of its insignificance, was capable of satisfying Karma. In the same way the changing of a room can atone for a misdeed that would otherwise have required far greater and harder changes. These are the results of the diminished strength of the reactionary wave. Sometimes an accidental action can be cleverly adapted by the spirit-guide, to bring about atonement.

In all these cases the condition is that a very decided change has already taken place in the state of the soul. These are circumstances that an astrologer is naturally unable to take into account, and, therefore, he often occasions unnecessary apprehension by his calculations, indeed the fear he instils can be so great that its power suffices to attract mischief and even to create it anew. In this case the calculations would apparently be right, whereas if the fear had not been excited, they would have proved wrong. Here man himself has opened a door in the luminous circle around him by his fear. If he voluntarily stretches his hand out of his protecting covering, nobody can help him. His own will suffices to break through every protection from within, whereas, nothing is able to penetrate from without to him through the light, against his will.

Hence every little service done to a fellow man, heartfelt sympathy for him in his troubles or indeed a single kind word is able to propitiate Karma as soon as the motive is an earnest striving for what is good.

This latter desire is naturally of the first importance; otherwise, there could be no question of symbolical atonement, and the reaction due would work out in its full power. As soon as the serious wish to rise spiritually awakes in a man, he will notice how his surroundings gradually get more and more animated. It will strike him, how all sorts of things are put in his path which always end successfully. Next it will strike him that his life becomes more restful and peaceful, and all that happens helps him to rise in the material world. Then the time of atonement is past. With a glad heart he can now gratefully indulge the thought that much guilt has fallen from him, for which he would otherwise have had to do heavy penance. Let him then watch and have a care that all the new threads of fate that his wishes and his will weave are only pure and good, so that Karma may henceforth bring him blessings!

[Grail Message by Abdrushin]  [Resonances to the Grail Message]