By Fr. (Prof) Edmond A. Allison-Oguru, FRC
Life, the conscious interlude between birth and so-called death, is the greatest gift from God to Man. Living is the conscious utilisation of life’s energy in our daily activities through the exercise of thought, will and action. Therefore, life and living allow us to appreciate the beauty and magnificence of God’s creation and enjoy its bounties.
However, not many people appreciate the beauty and magnificence of God’s creation, talk more of enjoying its bounties. Indeed, many people live their life not knowing what to do to attract to themselves peace of mind, love, good health, prosperity, and happiness.
Many in this category erroneously believe that agents or persons other than themselves are responsible for their misfortunes. They ignorantly abdicate responsibility for living their life and enjoying the bounties thereof to others, not themselves. They live their life anyhow and often irresponsibly.
In this article, the role of man in creating his own happiness in life is explored. This calls attention to the age-old truism: “Man is the architect of his fortune or misfortune.”
As background to our exposition, let us explore three basic truths acknowledged by all traditions, religions, and philosophies in the world over the millennia: God, Nature, and Man abide.
God is the creator, while Nature and Man, God’s creations. A definite functional relationship exists between God and his creations. This relationship is defined by Divine laws, which are immutable and impersonal in their operations throughout God’s creation: in man and nature. For example, Man is, so far, the only known creature of God endowed with free will, not even the angels or other heavenly beings. Thus, he has a divinely ordained right to exercise choice. Indeed, what man does throughout the conscious interlude between life and death is to make choices.
However, the greatest misfortune of many a human being is not knowing the magnitude of the responsibility associated with the exercise of free will. Many erroneously think that free will is absolutely free of encumbrances. That we can do whatever we like exercising our free will. The truth is that we cannot: man’s free will, when exercised, is subject to God’s laws as manifest in all spheres of creation.
Man has a divinely ordained right of choice by exercising his free will, but what happens after that is beyond man’s influence. It is in the realm of God’s laws taking their course in response to Man’s exercise of choice. The laws of God are both material and spiritual and operate in Man and Nature. The interplay of such laws, as expressed in Man and Nature, against the backdrop of man’s daily choices, determines Man’s happiness or lack thereof in life. If our choices are in accord and harmony with natural and spiritual laws, happiness will adorn our life. Otherwise, genuine happiness will elude us in life.
Talking about the laws of God, let us briefly examine one particularly relevant to this article’s subject: the law of cause and effect. All phenomena or effects we perceive in the universe have a definite reason for them.
Nothing happens by chance! In religious parlance, this law is referred to as the law of “sowing and reaping.” That is, we reap what we sow. In mystical and metaphysical literature, it is called the law of karma or the law of just compensation. This law is just, fair, equitable, and impersonal in its operation. No matter your worldly titles, fame, and wealth, it is a respecter of no person. It is divine justice in operation.
Contrary to human laws, which are sometimes subject to the vagaries of human frailties and foibles, the law of karma ensures that every human being gets fair and just compensation for their deeds. If your deeds are in accord with natural and spiritual laws, you are to the degree of such concordance compensated with happiness, good health, prosperity, etc.
Otherwise, your life will be characterised by misery and unhappiness. More importantly, the law emphasises responsibility: what you sow is what you reap. You cannot sow evil wind, and responsibility for reaping the whirlwind is transferred to another person who is not an accomplice in sowing the evil wind.
How then do people attract misery to themselves? Through their thoughts or thinking process, the exercise of their will, and the actions they take in life. These constitute seeds sown by man, which germinate, grow and bear fruits, followed by harvest.
For example, if you sow goodness, you will reap goodness. If you sow evil, you will reap evil. You cannot sow corn and reap wheat. The solution to living a happy and fulfilled life, therefore, lies in knowing that creation was set into motion and functions according to natural and spiritual laws; that man’s free will is free only to the extent of being subject to such laws; and living in accord and harmony with natural and spiritual laws by taking personal responsibility for our thoughts, will, and action.
The next time you stand before your mirror, remember that the man you see inside the mirror is the one truly responsible for your happiness in life. Nobody else. Not Satan, the devil, an enemy, a witch, a wizard, or any other third party.
For millennia, the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, has been at the forefront of helping sincere seekers of the mysteries of life in the study and practical applications of natural and spiritual laws for the purpose of living in harmony with them and attaining happiness, health, and peace. Its portals are open to all men and women of goodwill who aspire to take personal responsibility for their happiness and not live as mere puppets.
To conclude, I would like to leave you with the following admonition of a sage to his disciples:
“Watch your Thoughts, they become Words; Watch your Words, they become Actions; Watch your Actions, they become Habits; Watch your Habits, they become Character; Watch your Character, it becomes Destiny.” Similarly, in the words of Shakespeare, “the fault is in us, not in our stars, that we are underlings.”
Therefore, let us resolve today to take personal responsibility for the happiness we seek by living responsibly and not anyhow. If we live our life anyhow, we should expect things to happen to us anyhow too. A word is enough for the wise!
Beautiful.
Thank you!