divine cause

Divine Cause and Derived Existence

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Everything that derives its existence from participation in some other reality presupposes the ontological priority of that other reality. Thus it is clear that the divine Cause of created beings – which derive their existence from participation in that Cause – is incomparably superior to all such beings in every way since by nature its existence is prior to theirs and they presuppose its ontological priority. It does not exist as a being with accidents, because I that were the case the divine would be composite, its own existence receiving completion from the existence of created beings. On the contrary, it exists as the beyond-beingness of being. For if artists in their art conceive the shapes of those things which they prelude, and if universal nature conceives the forms of the things within it, how much more does God Himself bring into existence out of nothing the very being of all created things, since He is beyond being and even infinitely transcends the attribution of beyond-beingness. For it is He who has yoked the sciences to the arts so that shapes might be devised; it is He who has given to nature the energy which produces its forms, and who has established the very is-ness of beings by virtue of which they exist.” ~The Philokalia

Derived Existence

Any being or thing that was created by some other being is a derived being and has a derived existence. This quote from the Philokalia is saying that such a derived being, having been created by some other being, cannot be greater than that which created it. This is really very logical if you think about it without letting ego or passions cloud your thinking. After all, an artist may create a great work of art that lives on long after the artist has been forgotten, but that doesn’t make the work of art greater than the being that created it.

Divine Cause

There are many causes of things and creators of things, but there is only one Divine Cause and that is God. Naturally, God is greater than anything He has created, that is essentially the definition of God. If you accept that the universe is logical and intelligent rather than random, then it is reasonable to believe that an intelligent organization has a hierarchy with a being or force at the very top of the structure. That is what most of us call “God”. And as such, He must be greater than any and all of the created beings and things on the lower levels of creation. Continue reading “Divine Cause and Derived Existence” →

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thought world, higher cause

Higher Cause, the Unevolved Cause

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“The Secret Doctrine is explained in Vishnu Purana as: ‘that which is the unevolved cause, is emphatically called by the most eminent sages Pradhana, which is subtle Prakriti … that which is eternal, …’. Prakriti, however, is an incorrect word, and Alaya would explain it better; for Prakriti is not the ‘unrecognizable Brahma.’

“It is a mistake of those who know nothing of the Universality of the Occult doctrines from the very cradle of the human races. … It is a mistake to teach that the Anima Mundi, the One Life or ‘Universal Soul,’ was made known only by Anaxagoras. … Anaxagoras was not its inventor but only its propagator, as also was Plato. … The principle that according to his views is absolutely separated and free from matter and acts on design was called “Motion, the ONE Life, or Jivatma ages before the year 500 B. C. in India.” H. P. Blavatsky

Unevolved Cause

In our modern world, an unevolved cause doesn’t seem like a good thing. To us, unevolved means primitive, or not developed. In actuality, what is here being called the unevolved cause is a cause that is so great it needs no further development. It might be more accurate to call it the none-evolving cause because it cannot evolve beyond what it already is.

In truth, nothing ever truly evolves unless it has first devolved in the big mistake known as the Great Fall when, in the symbolic tale of Adam and Eve, man was rejected from the Garden of Eden, a spiritual domain, and sent to the much lower level of matter. So evolution is really just heading back towards our original state and form, not something truly new. The original cause, being perfect in the beginning, and having never fallen, has no need to evolve. Still, is is better to call it the Higher Cause to avoid confusion.

Higher Cause

It is often difficult to follow Blavatsky’s meandering style of writing, yet she often has significant things to say. I certainly didn’t help matters by replacing sections of the quoted paragraphs with ellipsis to keep the quote to a reasonable length.

She is trying to tell us that there is a One Cause, a First Cause, a Higher Cause that existed before any other cause. It might be thought of as the first thought of God. All other causes and forces, whether creative or destructive, come from this original cause.

Discovering the Higher Cause

Blavatsky tells us that Anaxagoras did not discover or invent this higher cause. It was known to other mystical and philosophers before him and in other lands. It is actually traceable back to the earliest civilizations for which any records exist, and probably went back to earlier ones of which we have no record. She is correct in that assertion.

While written records may not exist of the most ancients civilizations, evidence of their existence keeps popping up. It is not only reasonable to assume that they were aware of the Higher Cause, and other spiritual truths, but there are indications of it. The Essenes of Jesus’ time, for example, claimed that their spiritual communities and schools had existed in various places, and under various names, for thousands of years.

Terms and Such

Blavatsky sprinkles the quoted paragraph with numerous words in languages most of us don’t speek. I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to define or clarify them.

Pradhana – according to Wikipedia, is the creative principle of nature, or the original root of matter. It may actually mean proto-matter or pre-matter: the substance that is halfway between spirit and matter.

Prakriti – The prime material energy of which all matter is composed. Another definition says it is “The set of eternal, indestructible, and indivisible realities that produce modifications. I would interpret all that as saying it is the force which caused the Great Fall.  That is when the fallen angels turned on God and His Divine Perfection.

Anima Mundi – is defined as the world soul or the link between the worlds of matter and the worlds os spirit. Blavatsky seems to be using it in a different sense. She seems to be using it to mean the Universal Soul, which is something much higher than the soul of the world.

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causation, or cause and effect

Dealing With Causation

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything happens according to law; chance is but a name for law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law” ~The Kybalion

“The principle of Cause and Effect embodies the truth that law pervades the universe; that nothing happens by chance. … The underlying principle of Cause and Effect has been accepted as correct by practically all the thinkers of the world worthy of the name. To think otherwise would be to take the phenomena of the universe from the domain of Law and Order, and to regulate it to the control of the imaginary something which men have called ‘chance’. … But a little consideration will show you there can be no such agent as ‘chance, in the sense of something outside of Law. … The existence of such a Something would render all natural Law ineffective.” ~Three Initiates

Causation

For many centuries, nearly all people have accepted cause and effect as a real thing. When a mining crew or construction engineer sets dynamite in a location to blow up a rock, he can be reasonably certain that the explosive will cause the rock it is under to explode. It won’t cause a random rock somewhere else to explode. It won’t send out streamer of confetti instead of exploding. It wont turn the rock into an elephant. It’s predictable. It follows laws, specifically the law of Cause and Effect (or causation).

Some have interpreted recent findings in the field of quantum physics as denying the law of causality, but I think this is a misinterpretation. What I have read doesn’t say that an effect does not have a cause, it says that a single event can be both a cause and an effect of another event. This, according to quantum theory, is because linear time is not real, therefore a future event can be the cause of a past effect just as easily as it can be the cause of a future one. So if an event seems to be an effect for which no cause can be found, it is possible that the cause simply hasn’t happened yet. Continue reading “Dealing With Causation” →

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The Karma Pyramid

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Not only have individuals their own Karma, but families, races, nations and worlds have their collective Karma. In the case of races, if the race Karma generated in the past be favorable on the whole, the race flourishes and its influence widens. If on the contrary its collective Karma be bad, the race gradually disappears from the face of the earth, …” ~William Walker Atkinson

woman defending herself with her hands from the boomerang

Karma works a lot like a boomerang.

What a lot of people don’t seem to understand about karma is that it exists at several levels. Most people think of personal karma and realize that what they do, what they think, and what they fear has a great effect on their lives, then something happens to them and they don’t understand why. Still others will say that karma isn’t real because they know of people who may be suffering from a disease, or have been robed, or live in severe poverty, yet have done nothing to deserve this. In places like India, this is explained by reincarnation and they say the person is facing those difficulties because of something they did in a past life. While that seems to make sense, I question whether it is really right for someone to suffer for the deeds of a past life she doesn’t even remember (I also question the whole idea of reincarnation). There is another explanation, and this one is also accepted by man in the East: different levels of karma.

What I mean by levels of karma is that your life is not only affected by your acts, but also by the acts of others. There is family karma, geographical karma (town, state, nation), group karma for any groups you belong to, and racial karma. There may be other levels, but those are the main ones. Let’s look at them individually.

Personal Karma. I have covered this before and much has been written or said about it, so I won’t go into this too much. This is what the prophets and saints are talking about when they say we reap what we sow or that we should treat others as we wish to be treated.

Family Karma. This is the situation where you may feel the consequences of acts performed by other members of your family. This may vary greatly depending on how much you supported or contributed to the family members bad behavior. It can also be reduced or eliminated by the good deeds of yourself or other family members. So if the family members of a serial murderer were unaware of his activities and certainly didn’t support them, their karma will be minimal and they can eliminate it easily with good deeds. On the other hand, if you were aware that this family member was a killer, you face a greater karmic debt. If you not only knew of the murders, but helped hide evidence, bought the guy a gun knowing he was unstable, or otherwise actively helped, then your karma is almost as great as if you assisted in the actual murders. On the other hand, the good deeds of a family member can also help bring you good karma, so it isn’t unfair at all.

Geographical Karma. This is the karma that is associated with a place. That place can be a town, a state, a nation, a continent, or even just a single home. Some of what are called haunted houses may just be a place full of bad karma. The types of things that affect personal and family karma can also be at play on this level, but there are other things found only here. Lets look at a few examples. Say a small town has a monastery in it with very real, very spiritual monks. But religion has fallen on difficult times and the monks are having difficulties paying their bills. The people in the town help them out so they won’t have to shut down the monastery. That will bring all the people of that town some good karma, though the amount will vary depending on how much they actually participated in saving the monastery. On the negative side, suppose a factory in the town is dumping hazardous waste into a river that passes through the town (many did that before laws were passed to stop it). Other people in the town see this and, instead of complaining to the management at the factory, or the town mayor, they decide they will dump their trash their as well. Soon, the river has piles of trash in it and begins harboring diseases and many of the people in the town get sick and some die. That’s bad karma at work.

Group and Racial Karma. Karma can effect people based on the race they are part of or groups they belong to. When most members of a race suffer from a particular problem, it is a safe bet that karma is at the bottom of it. Group karma is more associated with groups we belong to voluntarily. A terrorist group like ISIL is building up great bad karma for everyone in that group, even of they haven’t personally been involved in the murders, rapes, beheadings and so on, as part of the group they share is the karma the group earns. This is also true on other scales such as a neighborhood gang you belong to. The other side is that when you belong to groups that seek to help people, animals, or the environment, you receive some good karma just by belonging to the group. On a spiritual level, a group or race that suppresses the rights of others to practice their own religious or spiritual beliefs will find their members ability to grow spiritually being limited, while the group who supports the rights of all will see their spiritual rights growing and their spiritual progress great.

One might ask at this point, “If karma comes from all these levels, why should I do good as an individual?” The reason is that doing good is always the right thing to do, but also, most of our karma does come from our own behavior. Probably 80 or 85 percent of our karma is the result of our personal actions, so it does help for us to behave in a manner that brings us good karma. And in any groups we belong to including family, nationality, and so on, our good behavior also give good karma to the group.

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