Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00603)

Daniel,

Let me try to explain to you our belief in Karma. Karma is a
very neutral law of nature. It's like if you bounce a ball
against the sidewalk, it'll bounce back. If you act a certain
way, Karma will react a certain way. It's up to you, up to all
of humanity, to figure out how Karma works & to work with it,
rather than against it. If the ball bounces back, you need to
learn to catch it rather than let it hit you in the face. The
penality for making an error is that the ball will hit you
right smack dab in the face. No judgement, you did something,
you get the consequences. Sometimes it looks like the
unrighteous *do* reign. Our belief in reicarnation includes
that if your wrongdoing doesn't catch up with you this life, it
will next life. But on the other hand, what you've done well
accrues to you too. You reap what you sew.

Daniel "When a broken man comes to you.... clothe, feed & then
present the Gospel". A broken man needs clothes & food, & so
he'll listen to what you have to say about the Gospel. He may
even say "yes, yessuh, I'm an angel now." At the same time, do
be careful because the minute you turn your back, he'll just as
soon filch your wallet out of your hip pocket, & walk around
the corner where the pusher is waiting to sell him the next
fix.
You're right, we Theosophists are a well educated, well
nourished lot, but I for one spent most of my working life
trying to help people below the poverty line. I've had my
wallet disappear out of my desk, & my purse taken from me at
the point of a knife held to my side, & I've had a drunk point
a gun at me. I've also lent many a client enough money to get
to the job, & I must say I got my money back 99% of the time.
So don't tell me about the poor.
The poor, most of all need some self respect. Jesse Jackson
teaches kids to say "I am somebody." That's good. They need it.
They also need a chance to make a living & that means a lot
more vocational training. With a job to support themselves
they'll have more self respect, & they'll be more amenable to
having families when they can afford them, shooting each other
less (they also need to learn how to get along with each other
without resorting to fisticuffs, knives & guns right away), &
maybe shooting up less as an escape, & going to jail less. The
Gospel can help with all this, for sure, but I don't think most
of them 'll take it seriously until their several hungers are
taken care of at least partly. Some of them will come to you
because they need the punitive discipline you offer.

Liesel