The Theosophical Forum – October 1939

DOES THE LAW OF CYCLES IMPLY PREDESTINATION? — H. T. Edge

Some people may have asked themselves this question, wondering how, if all manifestation runs according to calculable cycles, there can be any possibility of independent action or any power of originating events. But this comes largely from taking a too rigid and mechanical view of the law of cycles, as if the universe were a sort of clock with cogs and pinions. In the universe the cogs and pinions are living beings endowed with spontaneity in varying degrees according to their evolutionary status. That the course of events does run in cycles is matter of observation; it is also matter of observation that such cycles do not rigidly confine our actions. The cycles of day and year come round unfailingly and may be predicted with confidence for an indefinite future. Are we constrained by them? Well, we have to sow our grain at the right season and put on our woolens in the winter — unless indeed we choose to do otherwise, which is not wise. Why do we so often boggle over difficulties in the teachings as to cosmic laws, when we can find the solution within the limits of common experience? As the small, so is the great. As to freewill, if it means liberty to do what we want, we shall find that it is necessary to take into account the wants of other beings, two-legged or otherwise. If we intend to be a law unto ourself, we may get away with it for awhile, but a day of reckoning will surely come.

The great seers have been able to discover what are the laws of cosmic evolution for the manvantara we are in. These laws are inherent in the nature of the great Being who is manifesting Itself, and they unfold themselves in an inevitable course, according to a calculable plan of cycles. We, being essential parts of that great Being — of that Universe — play the several roles allotted to us, thus fulfilling our own sublime destiny and purpose, which is far greater than anything we may presume to call by the name of freewill — or freewont.



Theosophical University Press Online Edition