this law
brings to him a sense of perspective and shows him that if something comes
to him, it comes because he has deserved it as a consequence of actions
which he has committed, of words which he has spoken, of thought to which
he has given harbour in previous days or in earlier lives. He comprehends
that all affliction is of the nature of the payment of a debt, and
therefore when he has to meet with the troubles of life he takes them and
uses them as a lesson, because he understands why they have come and is
glad of the opportunity which they give him to pay off something of his
obligation.

Again, and in yet another way, does he take them as an opportunity, for he
sees that there is another side to them if he meets them in the right way.
He spends no time in bearing prospective burdens. When trouble comes to him
he does not aggravate it by foolish repining but sets himself to endure so
much of it as is inevitable, with patience and with fortitude. Not that he
submits himself to it as a fatalist might, for he takes adverse
circumstances as an incentive to such development as may enable him to
transcend them, and thus out of long-past evil he brings forth a seed of
future growth. For in the very act of paying the outstanding debt he
develops qualities of courage and resolution that will stand him in good
stead through all the ages that are to come.

He is distinguishable from the rest of the world by his perennial
cheerfulness, his undaunted courage under difficulties, and his ready
sympathy and helpfulness; yet he is at the same time emphatically a man who
takes life seriously, who recognizes that there is much for everyone to do
in the world, and that there is no time to waste. He knows with utter
certainty that he not only makes his own destiny but also gravely affects
that of others around him, and thus he perceives how weighty a
responsibility attends the use of his power.

He knows that thoughts are things and that it is easily possible to do
great harm or great good by their means. He knows that no man liveth to
himself, for his every thought acts upon others as well; that the
vibrations which he sends forth from his mind and from his mental nature
are reproducing themselves in the minds and the mental natures of other
men, so that he is a source either of mental health or of mental ill to all
with whom he comes in contact.

This at once imposes upon him a far higher code of social ethics than that
which is