the sixth hermetic principle the principle of cause and effect captures the essential truth that the universe is intricately governed by a pervasive law where every cause has its effect and every effect its cause this principle asserts that nothing happens by chance rather chance is merely a name for a law not recognized it emphasizes that while there are many planes of causation everything occurs according to law and phenomena proceed without exception or Interruption demonstrating that nothing escapes this universal law this principle is foundational to Scientific thought spanning from ancient to contemporary theories and was first articulated
by early hermetic philosophers over time numerous debates have emerged among various philosophical schools primarily focusing on the nuances of this principle's application and frequently on the interpretations of specific terms the underlying principle of cause and effect has been accepted as true by practically all thinkers in the world who deserve that name to think otherwise would be to remove the phenomena of the Universe from the realm of Law and Order and and place them under the control of an imaginary something that people have called chance a little consideration will show anyone that in reality there is
no such thing as pure chance an assumed active power or assumed mode of operation not based on any Force law or intention the action or activity of such an assumed power the supposed effect of such an agent an event an accident a misfortune but a little consideration will show you that there can be no such thing as chance in the sense of something outside of the law something Beyond cause and effect how could there be anything acting in the phenomenal Universe independent of the laws of order and continuity of the latter such a thing would
be completely independent of the ordered development of the universe and therefore Superior to it we cannot conceive of anything outside of the all one that exists beyond the law and even that only because the all one is the law in itself there is no place in the universe for something that exists outside of and independent of the law the existence of such a thing would render all natural laws ineffective and plunge the universe into chaotic disorder and lawlessness a careful investigation will show that what we call Chance is merely an expression referring to obscure causes
causes that we cannot perceive causes that we do not understand the word derives from a term meaning to fall like the fall of dice with the idea being that the fall of the dice and many other events are merely occurrences not connected to any cause this is the sense in which the term is generally used however upon closer examination it becomes clear that the fall of the dice is by no means random every time a dice Falls and shows a particular number it obeys a law as infallible as the one that governs the planet's orbit
around the sun behind the fall of the dice lie causes or chains of causes that extend further back than the mind can trace the position of the dice in the Box the muscle force exerted during the throw the surface of the table and so on are all causes whose effects can be observed but Behind These visible causes are chains of unseen causes all of which influence the number on the top of the Dy when it lands if a Dy is thrown many times it will be observed that the numbers displayed are roughly even meaning that
there will be an equal number of 1 Point 2 point thre point and so on dice showing on top if you toss a penny into the air it can land either heads or tails however if you toss it enough times heads and tails will roughly balance out this is the effect of the law of averages but both the average and the single toss fall under the law of cause and effect if we were able to examine the preceding causes it would become clear that it was simply impossible for the coin to land differently under the
same circumstances and at the same time when the same causes are present the same results will follow there is always a cause and a reason for every event nothing ever happens without a cause or rather a chain of causes some people who have pondered this principle have become confused because they couldn't explain how one thing could cause another thing meaning how it could be the creator of the second thing in reality no thing ever causes or creates another thing cause and effect deal solely with events an event is what comes occurs or happens as a
result or consequence of a preceding event no event creates another event it is merely a preceding Link in the great ordered chain of events that stems from the Creative Energy of the all one there is continuity between all preceding and subsequent events there is a relationship between everything that has come before and everything that follows a rock breaks loose from a mountain side and crashes through the roof of a Hut in the valley at first glance we consider this to be a random effect but when we investigate we find a long chain of causes behind
it first it was the rain that softened the soil holding the rock enabling its fall then it was the influence of the sun other rainfalls and so on that gradually loosened the Rock from a larger piece then there were the causes that led to the formation of the mountain and its upheaval through natural Tremors and so on add infinitum one could even trace the causes of the rain in short we would soon find ourselves Tangled in a web of cause and effect from which we would quickly try to free ourselves just as a person has
two parents four grandparents eight great grandparents and 16 great great grandparents and so on until the number of ancestors when counting back around 40 Generations reaches into the millions so it is with the number of causes behind even the most insignificant event or phenomenon like the appearance of a tiny Speck of soot before our eyes it is not easy to trace that tiny Speck of soot back to the early days of world history when it was part of a massive tree trunk that was later transformed into coal and now as a speck of soot it
passes before our eyes on its way to other Adventures a vast chain of events causes and effect effect brought it to its current state and this is just one Link in a chain of events that will produce further events for hundreds of years to come one of the events resulting from the tiny Speck of soot was the writing of these lines which prompted the typesetter to perform a specific task and the proof reader to do the same sparking particular thoughts in their minds and in the minds of others which will in turn influence others Beyond
human capacity to fathom and all of this came from the passing of a tiny Speck of soot illustrating the relativity and interconnectedness of things as well as the further truth that there is no great or small in the mind that causes everything pause for a moment and think if a certain man had not met a particular maid servant far back in the dim period of the Stone Age you who are now hearing these lines would not be here today and if that same pair had perhaps not met we who are writing these lines would not
be here now the act of writing on our part and the act of reading on your part will not only affect your life and ours but also directly or indirectly influence many other people who are alive today and who will live in the ages to come every thought we think every action we take has direct and indirect consequences that fit into the great chain of cause and effect for various reasons we do not wish to delve into the topics of free will or determinism in this work the main reason is that neither side of the
controversy is entirely correct in fact both sides are partially right according to the Hermetic teachings the principle of polarity shows that both are only half truths representing opposite poles of the truth the teachings state that a person can be both free and bound by necessity depending on the meaning of the terms and the level of truth from which the matter is viewed the ancient writers expressed it this way the further creation is from the center the more it is bound the closer it comes to the center the Freer it becomes most people are more or
less slaves to heredity and environment showing little Freedom they are influenced by the opinions customs and thoughts of the outside world as well as by their emotions feelings and moods they possess no sovereignty worthy of that name they indignantly reject this claim saying I am free to act and do as I please I do what I want but they cannot explain where that wanting and the I want come from what causes them to desire one thing and prefer another what prompts them to do this and not that is there no because behind their preferences and
desires a master can transform these likes and desires into others that lie at the opposite end of the mental pole he is capable of choosing to will instead of being driven to will because some feeling mood emotion or external stimulus awakens a tendency or desire within him to act most people are swept along like a falling Stone obedient to their environment external influences and internal mov woods and desires not to mention the desires and will of others who are stronger than they are they are carried Along by heredity environment and suggestion without resisting or exercising
their own will like pieces on the chessboard of Life they play their role and are set aside after the game but the Masters who know the rules of the game rise above the level of material life and bring themselves into contact with higher forces they Master their own nature their moods character traits and polarities as well as the environment around them becoming players in the game instead of mere pieces causes instead of effects the Masters do not Escape causation on the higher levels rather they align themselves with the higher laws and thus Master the circumstances
on the lower plane in this way they become a conscious part of the law rather than blind instruments while they serve on the higher levels they rule on the material Level but whether on the higher or lower levels the law is always in effect there is no such thing as chance the blind goddess has been abolished by reason we are now able to see with eyes clarified by knowledge that everything is governed by universal law that the infinite number of laws are merely manifestations of the one great law the law that the all one is
indeed it is true that not a sparrow Falls unnoticed by the mind of the all one that even the hairs on our head are numbered as the scriptures say that there is nothing outside the law nothing that happens in contradiction to it and yet one should not make the mistake of assuming that man is merely a blind automaton the Hermetic teachings state that man can use the law to overcome the laws and that the higher will always Prevail over the lower until he finally reaches the stage where he seeks refuge in the law itself and
mocks the phenomenal laws can you grasp the inner meaning of this
