Spiritual Darkness.^123
by its very nature,to the astral plane, and is
there exhausted. Bad karma can, therefore,
be largely workedout bysuffering, apart from
events; the suffering v^hich normally accom-
paniesmisfortunes,disastersofeverydescription
on the physical plane, has its habitat on the
astral,andwesufferonthe astralwhileweare
passing through our troubles on the physical.
Now thisastralsuffering canbedisjoined from
the physical events with which it is normally
associated, and can be passed through apart
fromthoseevents. Inthequickeningof karma
thisresultislargelybrought about,andsomeof
thedarkness experiencedbythe aspirantisdue
tothiscause; heisworking out hisbadkarma
byenduringthesuffering that belongstoevents
not yet ripe for manifestation on the physical
plane; andif heobserveshisownlife,hewill
find that, later on, he passes through eventsthat would ordinarily be regarded as of the
most distressingcharacter with acalmness and
indifferencethat surprise himself. Thefact is
that he has already borne the suffering nor-mallyattached to them, and he meets on the
physicalplanethe mere shellsand semblances,
the empty forms, which are all that remain
when the astral consciousness that normally
vivifiestheseformshasbeenwithdrawn. (Stu-
K 2