To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

78 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
Now, as Paul, he entered upon his new life charged with
extraordinary vigor, exhorting all to whom he spoke and
wrote to follow the way of the spirit rather than that of the
flesh: ‘‘Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new’’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Where there is true
conversion, a ‘‘turning’’ from the obstructionist ways of the
past and a total immersion of the soul in the life of the
spirit, he is as one ‘‘new born’’ — not because his past
karma is erased but because he himself is inwardly renewed,
‘‘born of the Spirit.’’ Henceforth he approaches life with a
new vision and a strengthened will.
It is a beautiful truth anciently known that for every
utterly sincere move made in the direction of one’s inner
divinity, it responds in kind and a radiance shines upon the
heart and mind of the aspirant. Without question, sustained
e¤ort to renovate the life through earnest aspiration
and cultivation of the will for unselfish goals allows a ‘‘clearing’’
to occur and the voice of intuition to make itself heard.
Whether this be the voice of the Lord or other deity, or that
of one’s inner god, is immaterial. ‘‘Go, and sin no more’’
has many applications, but woe to the individual who does
not try to live up to the obligation assumed: to merit the
grace of divine acceptance.
Most important, an act of grace, whatever its source and
however experienced, by no means implies an abrogation of
the law of karma, or that the follies and errors of former
days are erased from our individual Book of Destiny.
Whatever we have done or omitted to do before our transformation
must be resolved, in this or in future lives — and