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ficult or well-nigh impossible. Amidst all these infinite possibilities the pressure
of the law of evolution tends to guide the man to precisely those which best suit
his needs at the stage at which he happens to be.
But the action of this law is limited by that other law of which we spoke, the law
of cause and effect. The man s actions in the past may not have been such as to
deserve (if we may put it so) the best possible opportunities; he may have set in
motion in his past certain forces the inevitable result of which will be to produce
limitations; and these limitations may operate to prevent his receiving that best
possible of opportunities, and so as the result of his own actions in the past he
may have to put up with the second best. So we may say that the action of the law
of evolution, which if left to itself would do the very best possible for every man,
is restrained by the man s own previous actions.
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An important feature in that limitation one which may act most powerfully for
good or for evil is the influence of the group of egos with which the man has
made definite links in the past those with whom he has formed strong ties of
love or hate, of helping or of injury those souls whom he must meet again be-
cause of connections made with them in days of long ago. His relation with them
is a factor which must be taken into consideration before it can be determined
where and how he shall be reborn.
The Will of the Deity is man s evolution. The effort of that nature which is an
expression of the Deity is to give the man whatever is most suitable for that evo-
lution; but this is conditioned by the man s deserts in the past and by the links
which he has already formed. It may be assumed that a man descending into
incarnation could learn the lessons necessary for that life in any one of a hun-
dred positions. From half of these or more than half he may be debarred by the
consequences of some of his many and varied actions in the past. Among the few
possibilities which remain open to him, the choice of one possibility in particular
may be determined by the presence in that family or in that neighbourhood of
other egos upon whom he has a claim for services rendered, or to whom he in his
turn owes a debt of love.
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Chapter VIII
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
To fulfil our duty in the divine scheme we must try to understand not only that
scheme as a whole, but the special part that man is intended to play in it. The
divine outbreathing reached its deepest immersion in matter in the mineral king-
dom, but it reaches its ultimate point of differentiation not at the lowest level of
materiality, but at the entrance into the human kingdom on the upward arc of
evolution. We have thus to realize three stages in the course of this evolution.
(a) The downward arc in which the tendency is towards differentiation and also
towards greater materiality. In this stage spirit is involving itself in matter, in or-
der that it may learn to receive impressions through it.
(b) The earlier part of the upward arc, in which the tendency is still towards great-
er differentiation, but at the same time towards spiritualization and escape from
materiality. In this stage the spirit is learning to dominate matter and to see it as
an expression of itself.
(c) The later part of the upward arc, when differentiation has been finally accom-
plished, and the tendency is towards unity as well as towards greater spirituality.
In this stage the spirit, having learnt perfectly how to receive impression through
matter and how to express itself through it, and having awakened its dormant
powers, learns to use these powers rightly in the service of the Deity.
The object of the whole previous evolution has been to produce the ego as a mani-
festation of the Monad. Then the ego in its turn evolves by putting itself down
into a succession of personalities. Men who do not understand this look upon the
personality as the self, and consequently live for it alone, and try to regulate their
lives for what appears to be its temporary advantage. The man who understands
realizes that the only important thing is the life of the ego, and that its progress
is the object for which the temporary personality must be used. Therefore when
he has to decide between two possible courses he thinks not, as the ordinary man
might: Which will bring the greater pleasure and profit to me as a personality?
but Which will bring greater progress to me as an ego? Experience soon teaches
him that nothing can ever be really good for him, or for anyone, which is not good
for all, and so presently he learns to forget himself altogether, and to ask only
what will be best for humanity as a whole.
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Clearly then at this stage of evolution whatever tends to unity, whatever tends to
spirituality, is in accord with the plan of the Deity for us, and is therefore right
for us, while whatever tends to separateness or to materiality is equally certainly
wrong for us. There are thoughts and emotions which tend to unity, such as love,
sympathy, reverence, benevolence; there are others which tend to disunion, such
as hatred, jealousy, envy, pride, cruelty, fear. Obviously the former group are for
us the right, the latter group are for us the wrong.
In all these thoughts and feelings which are clearly wrong, we recognize one
dominant note, the thought of self; while in all those which are clearly right we
recognize that the thought is turned toward others, and that the personal self is
forgotten. Wherefore we see that selfishness is the one great wrong, and that per-
fect unselfishness is the crown of all virtue. This gives us at once a rule of life. The
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