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which are absolutely invariable,--infancy, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, with all their characteristic
actions and passions,--and which removes him from the scene at the appointed time, in most cases against his
will. So also is it with nations; the voluntary is only the outward semblance, covering but hardly hiding the
predetermined. Over the events of life we may have control, but none whatever over the law of its progress.
There is a geometry that applies to nations an equation of their curve of advance. That no mortal man can
touch."
This remarkable passage, just quoted, shows how the close observers of history note the rise and fall of the
tides of human race progress, although ignorant of the real underlying causing energy or force. A study of the
Occult Teachings alone gives one the hidden secret of human actions and throws the bright light of Truth
upon the dark corners of phenomena.
At the beginning of the Fifth Cycle (which is the present one), there were not only the beginnings of the new
races which always spring up at the beginning of each new cycle and which are the foundations for the
coming races which take advantage of the fresh conditions and opportunities for growth and
development--but there were also the descendants of the Elect Saved from the destruction of Atlantis by
having been led away and colonized far from the scene of danger. The new races were the descendant of the
scattered survivors of the Atlantean peoples, that is, the common run of people of the time. But the Elect few
were very superior people, and imparted to their descendants their knowledge and wisdom. So that we see at
the beginning of the Fifth Cycle hordes of new, primitive people in certain lands, and in other places advanced
nations like the ancestors of the Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Hindus, etc.
These advanced races were old souls--advanced souls--the progressed and developed souls of Ancient
Lemuria and Atlantis, who lived their lives and who are now either on higher planes of life, or else are among
us to-day taking a leading part in the world's affairs, striving mightily to save the present races from the
misfortunes which overtook their predecessors.
The descendants of the people were the Assyrians and Babylonians. In due time the primitive new races
developed and the great Roman, Grecian, and Carthaginian peoples appeared. Then came the rise of other
peoples and nations down to the present time. Each race or nation has its rise, its height of attainment, and its
decline. When a nation begins to decline it is because its more advanced souls have passed on, and only the
less progressive souls are left. The history of all nations show the truth of the Occult the term. Men are
forsaking old ideals, creeds and dogmas, and are running hither and thither seeking something they feel to be
necessary, but of the nature of which they know nothing. They are feeling the hunger for Peace--the thirst for
Knowledge--and they are seeking satisfaction in all directions.
Chapter XVIII 80
This is not only the inevitable working of the Law of Evolution, but is also a manifestation of the power and
love of the great souls that have passed on to higher planes of existence, and who have become as angels and
arch-angels. These beings are filled with the love of the race, and are setting into motion influences that are
being manifest in many directions, the tendency of which are to bring the race to a realization of its higher
power, faculties, and destiny.
As we have said in other places, one of the greatest difficulties in the way of the seeker after Truth in his
consideration of the question of Spiritual Evolution is the feeling that rebirth is being forced upon him,
without any say on his part, and against his desires. But this is far from being correct. It is true that the whole
process is according to the Great Law, but that Law operates through the force of Desire and Attraction. The
soul is attracted toward rebirth by reason of its desire or rather the essence of its desires. It is reborn only
because it has within itself the desire for further experience, and opportunity for unfoldment. And it is reborn
into certain environments solely because it has within itself unsatisfied desires for those environments, etc.
The process is just as regular and scientific as is the attraction of one atom of matter for another.
Each soul has within itself certain elements of desire and attraction, and it attracts to itself certain conditions
and experiences, and is in turn attracted by these things. This is the law of life, in the body and out of it. And
there is no injustice in the law it is the essence of justice itself, for it gives to each just what is required to fill
the indwelling desires, or else the conditions and experiences designed to burn out the desires which are
holding one back, and the destruction of which will make possible future advancement.
For instance, if one is bound by the inordinate desire for material wealth, the Law of Karma will attract him to
a rebirth in conditions in which he will be surrounded by wealth and luxury until he becomes sickened with
them and will find his heart filled with the desire to flee from them and toward higher and more satisfying
things. Of course the Law of Karma acts in other ways, as we shall see in our next lesson--it deals with one's
debts and obligations, also. The Law of Karma is closely connected with Metempsychosis, and one must be
considered in connection with the other, always.
Not only is it true that man's rebirths are in strict accordance with the law of Attraction and Desire, but it is
also true that after he attains a certain stage of spiritual unfoldment he enters into the conscious stage of
rebirth, and thereafter he is reborn consciously and with full foreknowledge. Many are now entering into this
stage of development, and have a partial consciousness of their past lives, which also implies that they have
had at least a partial consciousness of approaching rebirth, for the two phases of consciousness run together.
Those individuals of a race who have outstripped their fellows in spiritual unfoldment, are still bound by the
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