THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
With the 6th Principle in this 7-part Spiritual Philosophy Series — the Principle of Cause and Effect — we’re going to be treading into very familiar territory regardless of our level of spiritual initiation. Because, deep down, we all know this Principle to be the Truth and nothing but the Truth.
Yet, as we’ll explore, despite its inherent familiarity to all of us this Principle is likely also the one that scores highest on the spiritual bypassing leaderboard.
So, let’s start there — why do we so often attempt to bypass the Principle of Cause and Effect?
Spiritual bypassing can be defined as negating, ignoring, obscuring, contravening, disavowing, or any other form of plausible deniability of something we know to be the Truth. So, when we speak of spiritually bypassing the Principle of Cause and Effect, what we’re squarely pointing at is responsibility and accountability for the entirety of our own Life.
Now, that’s quite a leap so let me break that down in a few smaller steps to help connect all the dots. The Principle of Cause and Effect — at its very core — informs us there’s an operation of universal law here on the Earthly plane whereby every Effect has its Cause. There are more layers to it which we’ll delve into later, but for now what’s key to is that every Effect has its Cause.
Of course, this begs the question what’s an Effect? Well, everything you witness, experience, see, feel, touch, or in any way interact with through your five senses can be safely assumed to be an Effect. The entire Outer World which we colloquially call our “reality” is an amalgamated Effect to the Cause we can call humanity in relationship with the entirety of planet Earth.
The Principle of Cause and Effect holds at all levels whether that’s nations, governments, societies, corporations, institutions, tribes, villages, families, circles of friends, or individuals. All of these are Causes to the all myriad of Effects we see in the Outer World which — again — we call our “reality.”
Hence, everything we see and witness in the Outer World — including all the ugliness — is a resulting Effect to a procuring Cause. Everything, literally.
To zero in on the individual level — you and me — this means that we each are the procuring Cause of the entirety of our Life and, hence, all that transpires in “our” Outer World which is the only one we personally experience. That’s right, each one of us experiencing our own Outer World as “reality” is merely a mental perception by each of us, so it differs for each of us as and this also ties into the Indigenous wisdom axiom that each of us is the center of the universe.
We truly are each the center of the universe, and as such we are each fully responsible and accountable for everything that shows up in our Life. Now, I can already hear the naysayers and criticasters wanting to refute this and so they argue “how can I be personally responsible for things I don’t control like wars, famine, global pollution, etc.” True, you don’t personally control many things that show up in your Outer World as the entirety of your or my Outer World is a co-created reality with the rest of humanity.
Yet, you’re still fully responsible and accountable for your specific participation and co-creation of whatever the Outer World looks like today. This often harder to grasp when we focus on macro events and phenomena in our Outer World, so let’s home in on the micro events and phenomena first so we can connect the dots on that level. All your personal relationships — e.g. love partner, family, friendships, etc. — would be part of your micro-Life as well as your career, money or wealth, health, and even personal mental and emotional states like happiness or depression. Whatever these might look like, they are the Effects of the Cause that’s you. Yes, there are many influences from the Outer World that might or might not affect the outcome of the Effects, but you’re still the Cause because you’re the Captain of your Soul and all these influences, challenges, obstacles, or favorable circumstances are merely the prevailing currents, winds, shallow reefs, or what have you for you — as the Captain — to navigate. But, you’re always the Cause as you cannot be anything but be the Captain of your own Soul.
And, that’s where the rubber meets the road. Because many times we don’t want to be responsible and accountable, we much rather blame and point at the currents, winds, and shallow reefs and by doing so we’re inadvertently abdicating our Captaincy of our Soul. We’re spiritually bypassing the Principle of Cause and Effect. We don’t want to own our Life, we prefer to point at others; at how Life dealt us shitty cards, at how Life is unfair, at how people of my gender, nationality, religion, national origin, race, creed, sexual preference, or what have you don’t have any chance to advance or succeed.
Of course, the Outer World as it stands today is hardly a level playing field — this is unfortunately true. Yet, for every person bypassing the Captaincy of their Soul, there are countless others that — despite whatever odds might appear unfavorable or stacked against them — make a mockery of any of these notions by being wildly successful.
There is but one explanation for this; those that accept full responsibility and accountability for being the procuring Cause get to create the Effects they desire to see and experience in their Life. Those that embrace the Principle of Cause and Effect are the ones we call our high performers, superstars, titans, moguls, and all the other superlatives we use to describe people who have mastered the creation of success in their own Life.
This is not to say that all “success” created by all these people is useful for humanity or beneficial for life on our planet. But, the settlement of Karmic debts occurs by universal law as well, mainly the operation of the Principle of Rhythm which dictates that everything ebbs and flows whereby all Effects are eventually reconciled and therefore neutralized.
To be truthful though, the predicament of humanity with all its enduring wars, violence, hatred, and brutalities and the ecological near-collapse we’re facing is not so much due to the few “villains” misappropriating their power and influence as it is due to the masses of people being carried along as if in a trance. Obedient to their environment, too meek to claim full ownership of the entirety of their Life and too gullible to see beyond the bread and circuses offered by masterful Causers with disingenuous self-serving agendas. It’s these masses that are under the grand illusion they are moving about the Chessboard of Life exercising their free will; except, unbeknownst to them they are being moved about like expendable pawns.
The wise Hermetic master embraces and sees his/her salvation in the Principle of Cause and Effect as it’s this Principle that allows the Master to use the art and methods to rise above the ordinary material plane of Cause and Effect, to the degree possible, and operate at the higher mental plane where he/she — as the Master Causer — is then able to intentionally curate the Effects called his/her Life.
It’s for this reason that this Principle of Cause and Effect can be seen as the pivotal question whether you choose or not choose to be the conscious Captain of your Soul. This choice is always yours at any given time and place, but to be the Captain of your Soul you must fully embrace the immutable operations of universal law which are encapsulated in the Principle of Cause and Effect.
Once you see, you cannot unsee.
Next up will be conclusion of this 7-part spiritual wisdom series as we delve into the Principle of Gender, a particular thorny subject these days as political viewpoints and social theories get conflated with the science of biology. But, that’s not going to be our vantage point, we’re only interested in parsing out spiritual wisdom from the Hermetic Principles.
Stay tuned for the 7th Hermetic Principle.
Love+Truth,
Robert