Men speak of deserved and undeserved fate, of reward and punishment, retribution and karma. *(Destiny)
All these are only part-designations of a Law resting in Creation: The Law of Reciprocal Action!
A Law which lies in the entire Creation from its earliest beginning, which has been inseparably
interwoven with the great, never-ceasing evolution as an essential part of creating itself, and of
development. Like a gigantic system of the finest nerve-strands, it supports and animates the mighty
Universe, and promotes continual movement, an eternal giving and taking!
Plainly and simply, and yet so aptly, the Great Bringer of Truth Jesus Christ has already expressed it:
“What a man sows that shall he reap!”
These few words render the picture of the activity and life in the entire Creation so excellently that it
can hardly be expressed differently. The meaning of the words is inflexibly interwoven with life.
Immovable, inviolable, incorruptible in its continual operation.
You can see it if you want to see! Begin by observing the surroundings now visible to you. What you
call Laws of Nature are, of course, the Divine Laws, are the Creator’s Will. You will quickly recognize
how unswerving they are in constant activity; for if you sow wheat you will not reap rye, and if you
scatter rye it cannot bring you rice! This is so obvious to every man that he simply never reflects on the
actual process. Therefore he does not become at all conscious of the strict and great Law resting in it. And
yet here he faces the answer to a riddle, which need be no riddle to him.
Now the same Law which you are able to observe here takes effect with equal certainty and force
also in the most delicate things, which you are only able to discern through magnifying glasses, and,
going still further, in the ethereal part of the whole Creation, which is by far the larger part. It lies
immutably in every happening, also in the most delicate development of your thoughts, which also have a
certain element of material substance since otherwise they could not produce any effect.
How could you imagine that it should be different just where you would like to have it so? Your
doubts are in reality nothing more than the expression of your inner wishes!
In all existence, visible and invisible to you, it is no different, but each kind produces its own kind, no
matter what the substance. Just as continual are the growing and developing, the bearing of fruit and
reproducing of the same kind. This process runs uniformly through everything, it makes no distinctions,
leaves no gap, it does not stop at some other part of Creation, but carries the effects through like an
unbreakable thread, without interruption or cessation. Even though the greater part of mankind, in their
limitation and conceit, have isolated themselves from the Universe, the Divine or Natural Laws have not
ceased on that account to regard them as belonging to it, and to go on working without change, calmly
and evenly.
The Law of Reciprocal Action also stipulates that whatever a man sows, thus where he causes an
effect or consequence, he must also reap!
Only at the beginning of every matter is man free to resolve, free to decide where the Omnipotent
Power flowing through him is to be guided, in what direction. He must then bear the consequences arising
from the Power that was set in motion in the direction willed by him. In spite of this, many persist in
asserting that even so man has no free will if he is subject to fate!
This foolishness is only meant to serve as a narcotic, or to be a grudging submission to something
inevitable, a discontented resignation, but mainly a self-excuse; for each of these consequences falling
back on him had a beginning, and at this beginning the cause of the subsequent effect lay in a previous
free decision by man. This free decision has at some time or other preceded every reciprocal action, thus
every fate! With a first volition man has each time produced or created something in which he himself has
to live afterwards, sooner or later. When this will happen, however, varies greatly. It can still be in the
same earth-life in which his first volition made the beginning for it, but it can equally well happen in the
Ethereal World, when the gross material body has been laid aside, or later still in yet another gross
material earth-life. The variations are not important here, they do not free man from the consequences. He
carries the connecting threads with him continually, until he is redeemed from them, that is to say,
“detached” through the final effect that ensues through the Law of Reciprocal Action.The one who creates is bound to his own creation, even if he has intended it for others!
If therefore a man today decides to do another an ill turn, either in thought, word or deed, he has
thereby “put something into the world” quite irrespective of whether this is generally visible or not, thus
whether gross material or ethereal; it has within it power and therefore life, which continues to develop
and work on in the desired direction.
How it will affect the person for whom it is intended depends entirely on the psychic condition of the
one concerned, to whom it may thereby bring either much or little harm, perhaps also different from what
was intended, or even none whatever; for again the psychic state of the one concerned is solely decisive
for himself. Hence no one is exposed to such things unprotected.
It is different with him who through his decision and his volition has given rise to this movement,
that is to say, who was its producer. His product remains unconditionally bound to him, and after a short
or long journeying in the Universe returns to him reinforced, laden like a bee, through the attraction of
similar species. Here the Law of Reciprocal Action takes effect in that every single product in its
movement through the Universe attracts, or is itself attracted by, various similar species, through whose
union a source of power then comes into being, which sends back as from a power station reinforced
power of the same kind to all those who through their products are connected as if by cords with the
assembly-point.
Through this reinforcement an ever greater density also occurs until there finally arises from it a
gross material precipitation, in which the one-time producer must now live and experience to the full what
he once willed, in order at last to be freed from it. That is the origin and development of the so dreaded
and misunderstood fate! It is just, down to the most minute and finest shading, because through the
attraction of only similar species it can never bring in the returning radiation anything other than what
was actually willed personally in the beginning. Whether for a particular individual or in general makes
no difference here; for it is naturally also the self-same process when man does not specifically direct his
volition to one or several persons, but lives generally in some kind of volition.
The kind of volition which he decides upon determines the fruits he must eventually reap. Thus
countless ethereal threads cling to man, or he to them, all of which let whatever he once earnestly willed
flow back to him. These currents result in a mixture that constantly has a strong influence on the forming
of his character.
Thus in the mighty machinery of the Universe there are many things which contribute to how man
“fares” but there is nothing to which man has not himself first given cause.
He furnishes the threads out of which in the untiring loom of life the cloak he has to wear is made.
Christ plainly and distinctly expressed the same when He said: “What a man sows, that shall he
reap”. He did not say, “can” he reap, but he “shall.” That is the same as saying that he must reap what he
sows.
How often does one hear otherwise very sensible people say: “It is incomprehensible to me that God
should allow such a thing!”
But it is incomprehensible that men can speak thus. How small they imagine God to be with this
remark. They prove thereby that they think of Him as an “arbitrarily acting God.”
But God does not at all directly intervene in all these small and great cares of men, such as wars,
misery and other earthly matters! From the very beginning He has woven into Creation His perfect Laws,
which automatically carry out their incorruptible work so that all is accurately fulfilled, forever taking
effect uniformly, thus preventing any preference as well as any prejudice, an injustice being impossible.
Hence God has no need to trouble Himself especially about this, His Work is without flaws.
But one of the principal mistakes so many people make is that they only judge according to gross
matter, regarding themselves as the center therein, and taking into consideration one earth-life, whereas in
reality they already have several earth-lives behind them. These, as well as the intervening times in the
Ethereal World, are equal to one uniform existence, through which the threads are tightly stretched
without breaking, so that in the effects of a particular earthly existence only a small part of these threads
therefore becomes visible. Hence it is a great mistake to believe that at birth an absolutely new life
begins, that a child is thus “innocent” *(See lecture No. 15: The mystery of birth) and that all happenings can be accounted for in only the short life on earth. If this were true, then the existing Justice would naturally
require the combined causes, effects and reactions to occur during the span of one earth-life.
Turn away from this error. You will then soon discover in everything that happens the logic and
justice which are now so often missed!
Many are alarmed at this and afraid of what they still have to expect from the past through the
reaction in accordance with these Laws.
But such are unnecessary worries for those who are in earnest about the good volition; for in the self-
acting Laws also lies at the same time the certain guarantee of mercy and forgiveness!
Quite apart from the fact that, with the firm beginning of the good volition, a limit is immediately set
for the point where the chain of evil reactions must come to an end, yet another process of immense
importance comes into force. Through the continuing good volition in every thought and deed, a constant
reinforcement also flows retroactively from the homogeneous source of power, so that the good becomes
more and more firmly established in man himself, emerges from him, and first of all forms accordingly
the ethereal surrounding that envelops him like a protective covering in much the same way as the
atmospheric layer round the earth affords it protection.
Now when evil reactions from the past return to this man to be redeemed, they slide off the purity of
his surrounding or covering, and are thus deflected from him.
But should they nevertheless penetrate this covering, the evil radiations are either immediately
disintegrated or at least appreciably weakened so that the harmful effect cannot manifest at all, or only to
a very minor extent.
In addition, through the resulting transformation, the actual inner man to whom the returning
radiations are adjusted has also become much more refined and lighter through the continuous striving for
the good volition, so that he no longer has any homogeneous affinity with the greater density of evil or
base currents. Similar to wireless telegraphy, when the receiver is not tuned in to the energy of the
transmitter.
The natural consequence of this is that the denser currents, because they are of a different species,
cannot take hold of anything, and thus pass harmlessly through without effect.
Therefore set to work without delay! The Creator has placed everything in Creation into your hands.
Make use of the time! Every moment holds disaster or gain for you!

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