at the
threads are living--are like electric wires,
more, are like quivering nerves. How far, then,
must the stain, the drag awry, be communicated!
But eventually the long strands, the
living threads which in their unbroken
continuity form the individual, pass out of the
shadow into the shine. Then the threads are no
longer colorless, but golden; once more they lie
together, level. Once more harmony is established
between them; and from that harmony
within the greater harmony is perceived.

This illustration presents but a small
portion--a single side of the truth: it is less
than a fragment. Yet, dwell on it; by its aid
you may be led to perceive more. What it is
necessary first to understand is, not that the
future is arbitrarily formed by any separate
acts of the present, but that the whole of the
future is in unbroken continuity with the
present as the present is with the past. On one
plane, from one point of view, the illustration
of the rope is correct.

It is said that a little attention to occultism
produces great Karmic results. That is because
it is impossible to give any attention to
occultism without making a definite choice between
what are familiarly called good and evil.
The first step in occultism brings the student to
the tree of knowledge. He must pluck and eat;
he must choose. No longer is he capable of the
indecision of ignorance. He. goes, on, either on
the good or on the evil path. And to step
definitely and knowingly even but one step on
either path produces great Karmic results. The
mass of men walk waveringly, uncertain as to
the goal they aim at; their standard of life is
indefinite; consequently their Karma operates
in a confused manner. But when once the
threshold of knowledge is reached, the confusion
begins to lessen, and consequently the
Karmic results increase enormously, because
all are acting in the same direction on all the
different planes: for the occultist cannot be
half-hearted, nor can he return when he has
passed the threshold. These things are as
impossible as that the man should become the
child again. The individuality has approached
the state of responsibility by reason of growth;
it cannot recede from it.

He who would escape from the bondage of
Karma must raise his individuality out of the
shadow into the shine; must so elevate his
existence that these threads do not come in
contact with soiling substances, do not become
so attached as to be pulled awry