238 TheSpiritual Life.
buttrue. Certainlythereisakarmaconnected
withaction; the past evil desire and thought,
which are made manifest man evilactinthe
present,havehadtheirevil fruit intheshaping
oftendenciesandcharacter,andtheactitselfis
expiatedinthesufferinganddisreputeitentails
;
theremainingkarmaof the actiongrowsoutof
its effect on others,and thisreacts laterinun-
favourable circumstance. Action, in thewide
senseoftheterm,iscomposedofdesire,thought
andactivity; thedesiregeneratesthought; the
thoughtgeneratesactivity; theactivitydoesnot
generate directly but only indirectly. Hence
the man's desires and thoughts are the most
vitalelementsintheformation of the judgment
passedontheman. Whathedesires,whathe
thinks,thatheIS; whathedoes,thatheWAS.
It follows that a man with past heavykarma
may,ifhebecomeadisciple,expeditethemani-
festation of that karma,and its fruitage inthe
outerworldmaybeofactionsthatdonotbring
himcreditintheeyesof hisworld. Fromthe
occultstandpointsucha man istobehelpedto
the utmost, so that he may be able to pass
through the awful strain,the bearingof which
successfully means triumph, the succumbing to
whichmeansfailure.
Moreover, in passing right judgments on
