154 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
environment that made it extremely difficult for him to go
astray, or to punish the other, who was handicapped to such
an extent that he never had an idea of what constitutes true
morality? Surely not! Is it not more logical to think that we
may have misinterpreted the Bible than to impute to God
such a monstrous plan and method of procedure?
It is useless to say that we must not inquire into the
mysteries of God; that they are past our finding out. The
inequalities of life can be satisfactorily explained by the twin
Laws of Rebirth and Consequence and made to harmonize
with the conception of a just and loving God, as taught by
Christ Himself.
Moreover, by means of these twin laws a way to
emancipation from present undesirable position or
environment is shown, together with the means of attaining
to any degree of development, no matter how imperfect we
may be now.
What we are, what we have, all our good qualities are
the result of our own actions in the past. What we lack in
physical, moral, or mental excellence may yet be ours in the
future.
Exactly as we cannot do otherwise than take up our lives
each morning where we laid them down the preceding night,
so by our work in previous lives have we made the
conditions under which we now live and labor, and are at
present creating the conditions of our future lives. Instead of
bemoaning the lack of this or that faculty which we covet,
we must set to work to acquire it.
If one child plays beautifully on a musical instrument,
with hardly an effort at learning, while another, despite
persistent effort, is a poor player in comparison, it merely
shows that one expended the effort in a previous life and is