The Principle of Cause and Effect

‘Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law’

 

This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; an Effect from every Cause. The principle also maintains that there is no such thing as chance as an uncaused happening. Whatever happens, there must be a cause for it, nothing comes from nothing. If we cannot see a cause for an event, it does not mean there is none, it merely means that the cause is obscure and not known.

The Kybalion also states that while there are various planes of Cause and Effect, with the higher dominating the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law.

This principle brings up a lot of questions but continually points to the fact of taking responsibility for your own life rather than blaming others for the mishaps that occur. Instead of blaming a cruel God, we see things rather through the principle of Cause and effect.

This can make life empowering rather than one where we feel we get pushed to pillar and post. We are more likely to become an effect when we adjust our actions not for ourselves but for the approval of others. When we are obedient to the wills and desires of others rather than those of our own. When we follow the masses, even when our intuition is telling us to move against the grain. When we want to become the cause, we put into action the first move which will begin me the result I aim for. So, I want to learn a new skill; I practice diligently and with discipline, and eventually I will often reach what I perceive as success. Rather than not doing anything and giving up and thus facing the consequences of such a decision.

On an emotional level it means creating some space to your thoughts and emotions, where you become the observer instead of always reacting to a change in mood and temperament. What is fascinating about this principle is according to the Hermetics, whilst one can learn to transcend their limited sense of self and ego and reach higher planes he/she still has to obey the laws of cause and effect there.

What does this mean? It is an understanding and a surrendering that ultimately life is in God’s hands and not your own. I am not talking about the external religious God here, rather the awareness that goes beyond our person. It goes hand in hand with a total acceptance of ourselves.

We often think that by becoming the observer in our lives, that by simply ‘being’ rather than always ‘thinking’ we will achieve nothing. That we will sit and remain still. This is something that needs to be put to the test. Can we ‘be’ and still pay our bills? Can we ‘be’ and still be a loving father/mother or husband/wife? Is it only the belief in the thought ‘if I stop to ‘be’ nothing will get done!’ that holds us back and if we simply stop identifying with this, we will have some space from our emotional selves whilst still functioning even better in society?

It is in my experience that you can and as one does this you notice an awareness behind all things, a Cause for every Effect perhaps, a source that ripples out into all aspects of the Universe, causing a multiple of Cause and Effects. An awareness behind the curtain of personality, an awareness that lives in us all.