April 11, 2022 • 13 mins
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(00:00):
Chapter twelve causation. Every cause hasits effect, every effect has its cause.
Everything happens according to law. Chanceis but a name for law not
recognized. There are many plans ofcausation, but nothing escapes the law.
The cobolume the great sixth Hermetic principle, the principle of cause and effect,
(00:26):
embodies the truth that law pervades theuniverse, that nothing happens by chance,
that chance is merely a term indicatingcause, existing but not recognized or perceived.
That phenomena is continuous without break orexception. The principle of cause and
effect underlies all scientific thought, ancientand modern, and was enunciated by the
(00:50):
Hermetic teachers in the earliest days.While many and varied disputes between the many
schools of thought have since arisen,these disputes have been princely upon the details
of the operations of the principle,and still more often upon the meaning of
certain words. The underlying principle ofcause and effect has been accepted as correct
(01:11):
by practically all the thinkers of theworld worthy of the name. To think
otherwise would be to take the phenomenaof the universe from the domain of law
and order and to regulate it,to control the imaginary something which men have
called chance. A little consideration willshow anyone that there really is, in
(01:33):
reality, no such thing as purechance. Webster defines the word chance as
follows. A supposed agent or modeof activity other than a force, law,
or purpose, the operation or activityof such agent, the supposed effect
of such agent, a happening,fortuity, casualty, etc. But a
(01:56):
little consideration will show you that therecan be no such age jist chance in
the sense of something outside of law, something outside of cause and effect.
How could there be something acting inthe phenomenal universe independent of the laws,
order, and continuity of the latter. Such a something would be entirely independent
(02:16):
of the orderly trend of the universe, and therefore superior to it. We
can imagine nothing outside of the Allbeing outside of the law, and that
only because the All is the lawitself. There is no room in the
universe for something outside of and independentof law. The existence of such a
(02:38):
something would render all natural laws ineffective, and would plunge the universe into chaotic
disorder and lawlessness. A careful examinationwill show that what we call chance is
merely an expression relating to obscure causes, causes we cannot perceive, causes that
we cannot understand. The word chanceis derived from a word meaning to fall,
(03:04):
as the falling of dice, theidea being that the fall of the
dice and many other happenings are merelya happening, unrelated to any cause.
And this is in the sense inwhich the term is generally employed. But
when the matter is closely examined,it is seen that there is no chance
whatsoever about the fall of the dice. Each time a die falls and displays
(03:28):
a certain number, it obeys alaw is infallible, as that which governs
the revolution of the planets around thesun. Back of the fall of the
die are causes, or chains ofcauses, running back further than the mind
can follow. The position of thedie in the box, the amount of
muscular energy expended in the throw,the condition of the table, etc.
(03:51):
Etc. All are causes, theeffect of which may be seen. But
back of these seen causes there arechains of unseen preceding causes, all of
which had a bearing upon the numberof the dye which fell. Uppermost.
If a die be cast a greatnumber of times it will be found that
the numbers shown will all be aboutequal. That is, there will be
(04:15):
an equal number of one spot,two spot, etc. Coming uppermost.
Toss a penny in the air,and it may come down either heads or
tails. But make a sufficient numberof tosses, and the heads and tails
will about even up. This isthe operation of the law of average.
But both the average and the singletoss come under the law of cause and
(04:36):
effect. And if we were ableto examine into the preceding causes, it
would be clearly seen that it wassimply impossible for the die to fall other
than it did under the same circumstances. And at the same time, given
the same causes, the same resultswill follow. There is always a cause
(04:57):
and a bee cause to every event. Nothing ever happens without a cause,
or rather a chain of causes.Some confusion has arisen in the minds of
persons considering this principle from the factthat they were unable to explain how one
thing could cause another thing, thatis, be the creator of the second
thing. As a matter of fact, no thing ever causes or creates another
(05:21):
thing. Cause an effect deals merelywith events. An event is that which
comes arrives or happens as a resultor consequence of some preceding event. No
event creates another event, but ismerely a preceding link in the great orderly
chain of events flowing from the creativeenergy of the all. There is a
(05:45):
continuity between all events, precedent,consequent, and subconsequent. There is a
relation existing between everything that has gonebefore and everything that follows. A stone
is dislodged from a mountain side crashesthrough a roof of a cottage in the
valley below. At first sight,we regard this as a chance effect.
(06:05):
But when we examine the matter wefind a great chain of causes behind it.
In the first place, there wasthe rain, which softened the earth
supporting the stone and which allowed itto fall. Then back of that was
the influence of the sun, otherrains, etc. Which gradually disintegrated the
piece of rock from a larger piece. Then there were the causes which led
(06:29):
to the formation of the mountain andits upheaval by convolutions of nature, and
so on ad infinitum. Then wemight follow up the causes behind the rain,
etc. Then we might consider theexistence of the roof. In short,
we would soon find ourselves involved ina mesh of cause and effect from
(06:49):
which we would soon strive to extricateourselves. Just as a man has two
parents and four grandparents, and eightgreat grandparents and sixteen great great grandparents,
and so on and so on,until when say, forty generations are calculated,
and the number of ancestors run intomany millions. So it is with
(07:12):
the number of causes behind even themost trifling event or phenomena, such as
the passage of a tiny speck ofsoot before your eye. It is not
an easy matter to trace the bitof soot back to the early period of
the world's history, when it formeda part of a massive tree trunk,
which was afterward converted into coal,and so on, until the speck of
(07:34):
soot now passes before your vision onits way to other adventures, and a
mighty chain of events, causes andeffects brought it to its present condition.
And the latter is but one ofthe chain of events which will go on
to produce other events hundreds of yearsfrom now. One of the series of
(07:54):
events arising from the tiny bit ofsoot was the writing of these lines,
which cause the typesetter to perform certainwork. The proof reader to do likewise,
and which will arouse certain thoughts inyour mind and that of others,
which will in turn affect others,and so on and on and on beyond
(08:15):
the ability of man to think further, and all from the passage of a
tiny bit of soot, all ofwhich shows the relativity and association of things,
and the further fact that there isno great, there is no small
in the mind that causeth all stopto think for a moment. If a
certain man had not met a certainmaid away back in the dim period of
(08:37):
the Stone Age, you who arenow reading these lines would not be here.
And if perhaps the same couple hadfailed to meet, we who now
write these lines, would not behere. And the very act of writing
on our part, and the actof reading on yours, will affect not
only the respective lives of yourself andourselves, will have a direct or indirect
(09:01):
effect upon many other people now livingand who will live in the ages to
come. Every thought we think,every act we perform, has its direct
and indirect results which fit into thegreat chain of cause and effect. We
do not wish to enter into aconsideration of free will or determination in this
(09:22):
work, for various reasons. Amongthe many reasons is the principal one that
neither side of the controversy is entirelyright. In fact, both sides are
partially right. According to the Hermeticteachings. The principle of polarity shows that
both are but half truths, theopposing poles of truth. The teachings are
(09:43):
that a man may be both freeand yet bound by necessity, depending upon
the meaning of the terms and theheight of truth from which the matter is
examined. The ancient writers express thematter thus, the further the creation is
from the s center, the moreit is bound. The nearer the center
it reaches, the nearer free isit. The majority of people are more
(10:07):
or less the slaves of heredity,environment, etc. And manifest very little
freedom. They are swayed by theopinions, customs, and thoughts of the
outside world, and also by theiremotions, feelings, moods, etc.
They manifest no mastery worthy of thename. They indignantly repudiate this assertion,
(10:30):
saying why I am certainly free toact and do as I please. I
do just what I want to do. But they fail to explain whence arise
the want to and as I please. What makes them want to do one
thing in preference to another? Whatmakes them please to do this and not
to do that? Is there nobecause to their pleasing and wanting. The
(10:54):
master can change these pleases and wantsinto others. At the opposite end of
the mental poll, he is ableto will to will instead of to will
because some feeling, mood, emotion, or environmental suggestion arouses a tendency or
desire with him to do so.The majority of people are carried along like
(11:15):
the falling stone, obedient to environment, outside influences and internal moods, desires,
et cetera, not to speak ofthe desires and wills of others stronger
than themselves. Heredity, environment andsuggestion carrying them along without resistance on their
part or the exercise of the will. Moved like the pawns on the checkerboard
(11:39):
of life, they play their partsand are laid aside after the game is
over. But the masters, knowingthe rules of the game, rise above
the planes of material life and placethemselves in touch with the higher powers of
their nature, dominate their own moods, characters, qualities, and polarity,
as well as the environments surrounding them, and thus become movers in the game
(12:03):
instead of pawns, causes instead ofeffects. The masters do not escape the
causation of the higher planes, butfall in with the higher laws and thus
master circumstances on the lower plane.They thus form a conscious part of the
law, instead of being mere blindinstruments. While they serve on the higher
(12:26):
planes, they rule on the materialplane. But on higher and on lower
the law is always in operation.There is no such thing as chance.
The blind goddess has been abolished byreason. We are able to see now
with eyes made clear by knowledge,that everything is governed by universal law,
(12:46):
that the infinite number of laws arebut manifestations of the one great law,
the law which is the all.It is true, indeed, that not
a sparrow drops unnoticed by the mindof the all, and even the hairs
on our head are numbered. Asthe scriptures have said, there is nothing
outside the law, nothing that happenscontrary to it. And yet do not
(13:11):
make the mistake of supposing that manis but a blind automation. Far from
that. The hermetic teachings are thatman may use law to overcome laws,
and that the higher will always prevailagainst the lower, until at last he
has reached the stage in which heseeks refuge in the law itself, and
laughs the phenomenal laws to scorn?Are you able to grasp the inner meaning
(13:35):
of this? End of Chapter twelve,
Chapter twelve causation. Every cause hasits effect, every effect has its cause.
Everything happens according to law. Chanceis but a name for law not
recognized. There are many plans ofcausation, but nothing escapes the law.
The cobolume the great sixth Hermetic principle, the principle of cause and effect,
(00:26):
embodies the truth that law pervades theuniverse, that nothing happens by chance,
that chance is merely a term indicatingcause, existing but not recognized or perceived.
That phenomena is continuous without break orexception. The principle of cause and
effect underlies all scientific thought, ancientand modern, and was enunciated by the
(00:50):
Hermetic teachers in the earliest days.While many and varied disputes between the many
schools of thought have since arisen,these disputes have been princely upon the details
of the operations of the principle,and still more often upon the meaning of
certain words. The underlying principle ofcause and effect has been accepted as correct
(01:11):
by practically all the thinkers of theworld worthy of the name. To think
otherwise would be to take the phenomenaof the universe from the domain of law
and order and to regulate it,to control the imaginary something which men have
called chance. A little consideration willshow anyone that there really is, in
(01:33):
reality, no such thing as purechance. Webster defines the word chance as
follows. A supposed agent or modeof activity other than a force, law,
or purpose, the operation or activityof such agent, the supposed effect
of such agent, a happening,fortuity, casualty, etc. But a
(01:56):
little consideration will show you that therecan be no such age jist chance in
the sense of something outside of law, something outside of cause and effect.
How could there be something acting inthe phenomenal universe independent of the laws,
order, and continuity of the latter. Such a something would be entirely independent
(02:16):
of the orderly trend of the universe, and therefore superior to it. We
can imagine nothing outside of the Allbeing outside of the law, and that
only because the All is the lawitself. There is no room in the
universe for something outside of and independentof law. The existence of such a
(02:38):
something would render all natural laws ineffective, and would plunge the universe into chaotic
disorder and lawlessness. A careful examinationwill show that what we call chance is
merely an expression relating to obscure causes, causes we cannot perceive, causes that
we cannot understand. The word chanceis derived from a word meaning to fall,
(03:04):
as the falling of dice, theidea being that the fall of the
dice and many other happenings are merelya happening, unrelated to any cause.
And this is in the sense inwhich the term is generally employed. But
when the matter is closely examined,it is seen that there is no chance
whatsoever about the fall of the dice. Each time a die falls and displays
(03:28):
a certain number, it obeys alaw is infallible, as that which governs
the revolution of the planets around thesun. Back of the fall of the
die are causes, or chains ofcauses, running back further than the mind
can follow. The position of thedie in the box, the amount of
muscular energy expended in the throw,the condition of the table, etc.
(03:51):
Etc. All are causes, theeffect of which may be seen. But
back of these seen causes there arechains of unseen preceding causes, all of
which had a bearing upon the numberof the dye which fell. Uppermost.
If a die be cast a greatnumber of times it will be found that
the numbers shown will all be aboutequal. That is, there will be
(04:15):
an equal number of one spot,two spot, etc. Coming uppermost.
Toss a penny in the air,and it may come down either heads or
tails. But make a sufficient numberof tosses, and the heads and tails
will about even up. This isthe operation of the law of average.
But both the average and the singletoss come under the law of cause and
(04:36):
effect. And if we were ableto examine into the preceding causes, it
would be clearly seen that it wassimply impossible for the die to fall other
than it did under the same circumstances. And at the same time, given
the same causes, the same resultswill follow. There is always a cause
(04:57):
and a bee cause to every event. Nothing ever happens without a cause,
or rather a chain of causes.Some confusion has arisen in the minds of
persons considering this principle from the factthat they were unable to explain how one
thing could cause another thing, thatis, be the creator of the second
thing. As a matter of fact, no thing ever causes or creates another
(05:21):
thing. Cause an effect deals merelywith events. An event is that which
comes arrives or happens as a resultor consequence of some preceding event. No
event creates another event, but ismerely a preceding link in the great orderly
chain of events flowing from the creativeenergy of the all. There is a
(05:45):
continuity between all events, precedent,consequent, and subconsequent. There is a
relation existing between everything that has gonebefore and everything that follows. A stone
is dislodged from a mountain side crashesthrough a roof of a cottage in the
valley below. At first sight,we regard this as a chance effect.
(06:05):
But when we examine the matter wefind a great chain of causes behind it.
In the first place, there wasthe rain, which softened the earth
supporting the stone and which allowed itto fall. Then back of that was
the influence of the sun, otherrains, etc. Which gradually disintegrated the
piece of rock from a larger piece. Then there were the causes which led
(06:29):
to the formation of the mountain andits upheaval by convolutions of nature, and
so on ad infinitum. Then wemight follow up the causes behind the rain,
etc. Then we might consider theexistence of the roof. In short,
we would soon find ourselves involved ina mesh of cause and effect from
(06:49):
which we would soon strive to extricateourselves. Just as a man has two
parents and four grandparents, and eightgreat grandparents and sixteen great great grandparents,
and so on and so on,until when say, forty generations are calculated,
and the number of ancestors run intomany millions. So it is with
(07:12):
the number of causes behind even themost trifling event or phenomena, such as
the passage of a tiny speck ofsoot before your eye. It is not
an easy matter to trace the bitof soot back to the early period of
the world's history, when it formeda part of a massive tree trunk,
which was afterward converted into coal,and so on, until the speck of
(07:34):
soot now passes before your vision onits way to other adventures, and a
mighty chain of events, causes andeffects brought it to its present condition.
And the latter is but one ofthe chain of events which will go on
to produce other events hundreds of yearsfrom now. One of the series of
(07:54):
events arising from the tiny bit ofsoot was the writing of these lines,
which cause the typesetter to perform certainwork. The proof reader to do likewise,
and which will arouse certain thoughts inyour mind and that of others,
which will in turn affect others,and so on and on and on beyond
(08:15):
the ability of man to think further, and all from the passage of a
tiny bit of soot, all ofwhich shows the relativity and association of things,
and the further fact that there isno great, there is no small
in the mind that causeth all stopto think for a moment. If a
certain man had not met a certainmaid away back in the dim period of
(08:37):
the Stone Age, you who arenow reading these lines would not be here.
And if perhaps the same couple hadfailed to meet, we who now
write these lines, would not behere. And the very act of writing
on our part, and the actof reading on yours, will affect not
only the respective lives of yourself andourselves, will have a direct or indirect
(09:01):
effect upon many other people now livingand who will live in the ages to
come. Every thought we think,every act we perform, has its direct
and indirect results which fit into thegreat chain of cause and effect. We
do not wish to enter into aconsideration of free will or determination in this
(09:22):
work, for various reasons. Amongthe many reasons is the principal one that
neither side of the controversy is entirelyright. In fact, both sides are
partially right. According to the Hermeticteachings. The principle of polarity shows that
both are but half truths, theopposing poles of truth. The teachings are
(09:43):
that a man may be both freeand yet bound by necessity, depending upon
the meaning of the terms and theheight of truth from which the matter is
examined. The ancient writers express thematter thus, the further the creation is
from the s center, the moreit is bound. The nearer the center
it reaches, the nearer free isit. The majority of people are more
(10:07):
or less the slaves of heredity,environment, etc. And manifest very little
freedom. They are swayed by theopinions, customs, and thoughts of the
outside world, and also by theiremotions, feelings, moods, etc.
They manifest no mastery worthy of thename. They indignantly repudiate this assertion,
(10:30):
saying why I am certainly free toact and do as I please. I
do just what I want to do. But they fail to explain whence arise
the want to and as I please. What makes them want to do one
thing in preference to another? Whatmakes them please to do this and not
to do that? Is there nobecause to their pleasing and wanting. The
(10:54):
master can change these pleases and wantsinto others. At the opposite end of
the mental poll, he is ableto will to will instead of to will
because some feeling, mood, emotion, or environmental suggestion arouses a tendency or
desire with him to do so.The majority of people are carried along like
(11:15):
the falling stone, obedient to environment, outside influences and internal moods, desires,
et cetera, not to speak ofthe desires and wills of others stronger
than themselves. Heredity, environment andsuggestion carrying them along without resistance on their
part or the exercise of the will. Moved like the pawns on the checkerboard
(11:39):
of life, they play their partsand are laid aside after the game is
over. But the masters, knowingthe rules of the game, rise above
the planes of material life and placethemselves in touch with the higher powers of
their nature, dominate their own moods, characters, qualities, and polarity,
as well as the environments surrounding them, and thus become movers in the game
(12:03):
instead of pawns, causes instead ofeffects. The masters do not escape the
causation of the higher planes, butfall in with the higher laws and thus
master circumstances on the lower plane.They thus form a conscious part of the
law, instead of being mere blindinstruments. While they serve on the higher
(12:26):
planes, they rule on the materialplane. But on higher and on lower
the law is always in operation.There is no such thing as chance.
The blind goddess has been abolished byreason. We are able to see now
with eyes made clear by knowledge,that everything is governed by universal law,
(12:46):
that the infinite number of laws arebut manifestations of the one great law,
the law which is the all.It is true, indeed, that not
a sparrow drops unnoticed by the mindof the all, and even the hairs
on our head are numbered. Asthe scriptures have said, there is nothing
outside the law, nothing that happenscontrary to it. And yet do not
(13:11):
make the mistake of supposing that manis but a blind automation. Far from
that. The hermetic teachings are thatman may use law to overcome laws,
and that the higher will always prevailagainst the lower, until at last he
has reached the stage in which heseeks refuge in the law itself, and
laughs the phenomenal laws to scorn?Are you able to grasp the inner meaning
(13:35):
of this? End of Chapter twelve,
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