CHAPTER II - Karmic Law - The Spiritual Law of Cause and Effect

THE KEY TO HAPPINESS

“ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” - Gal. vi. 7.

T here are many persons who consider life to be like a game of cards, the player having at birth dealt out to him haphazard advantages and disadvantages, such as position, fortune, good or bad health, which are modified later on by luck and the individual's exertions. They consider the practical and successful man is he who, by skilful use of these cards, pushes himself to the front in the battle of life, and attains the largest amount of wealth and position.

The student of psychic law and spiritual philosophy takes a different view. He looks on this earth as a great school existing not for the acquirement of riches, but for the training of immortal spirits, who are clothed in human form during earth life. He knows that the world is a school in which there are a variety of courses of training, the pupil being placed at birth in that class for which his previous existence, actions, and capabilities fit him, in fact in the position where he will get the lessons he is most in need of for his spiritual progress. And that in addition to the human there are also sub-human classes and courses of training, where spirit, less evolved, is slowly educated, the object of all being spiritual evolution to higher states of consciousness.

Science tells us that the earth has evolved in the course of long ages from a ball of fire mist to its present solid condition; that the origin of vegetation and animal life can be traced back to the elementary state called protoplasm. As Man had no hand in the evolution from that state, it is clear that it proceeds under Divine laws. In addition to this immense Physical evolution advancing under physical laws there has been, and still continues, a spiritual evolution or unfoldment under the spiritual laws that govern the progress of improvement in all forms of life, not only in the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, but also in the higher race of spirits now occupying human bodies. They have evolved through long ages, so naturally there is a great difference in the spiritual advancement made by individuals, who are therefore now born in this world, with different capacities and talents, to continue their education.

The comprehension of these laws broadens one's views of life, and one ceases to believe in “ Luck,” “ Chance,” or “ Accident,” because even in well-arranged human business such things are not permitted. How much less could they occur in a world designed, organized and ruled by the All-wise Creator. It is in truth a perfect world, little as it may sometimes so appear to superficial observers, who seeing plagues, explosions and other disasters, ignorantly exclaim, “ Accident,” or “ Chance.”

A few years ago one often came across the expression “ Visitation of God” in connection with death, when the cause was obscure; now with more knowledge we should in similar instances give some scientific explanation; the student of Spiritual Laws, with still greater knowledge, would believe that the real cause of death was that it was the Karma of the individual concerned to die in that particular manner (Karma, or the Law of “ Cause and Effect,” being one of the Divine laws of the great School in which we live).

In discussing this subject, I propose to make some comparisons between the well-known natural laws and the spiritual laws, including Karmic Law, so little understood in this country.

The word Karma is taken from the Sanskrit, and literally translated means “ action.” It is used in our language in two senses, one when we speak of a personal Karma, referring to events that have happened or are going to happen to an individual and which are due to Karmic law; the other is when we speak of the Law of Karma, a spiritual law of Cause and Effect, which operates so that there is no such thing as Luck or Chance or Accident. Everything that happens occurs only in accordance with such law, and is the inevitable outcome of previous causes, this world being ruled by Divine justice. That all suffering, and what is commonly called “ Luck “ and “ Accident,” are the result of actions in the past – all selfish or unkind actions being repaid sooner or later to the uttermost farthing.

To understand the working of this Law, one must bear in mind the object of human life, viz., the training of immortal spirits.

Now we do not educate a child by making everything pleasant and easy from the child's point of view. On the contrary, it is arranged that the breaking of rules causes punishment, and we know that it is kinder that the child should suffer and so gain knowledge and the good sense not again to go against the regulations.

An outsider, seeing only the punishment, might say, “ How unjust!” or “ What bad luck!” but that would only be said from seeing the result, without being aware of the child's previous actions, which, being contrary to the rules of the School, inevitably led up to the punishment.

In Scripture this law is summed up in the sentence, “ Whatsoever, a man soweth that shall he reap.” All kindly and unselfish actions produce good Karma, not always immediately, but quite certainly; all unkind and selfish acts store up bad Karma; both sorts, good and bad, being repaid at some time or other, not necessarily in the same kind of events; for instance, if to-day we ill-treat some one, it does not mean that at some future date we shall receive exactly similar ill-treatment, but that the quantity of pain or pleasure we meted out will be meted to ourselves. In the words of Sir Edwin Arnold:

It knows not wrath nor pardon, utter true
Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs.
Times are as naught, to-morrow it will judge,
Or after many days.

By this the slayer's knife did stab himself;
The unjust judge hath lost his own defender;
The false tongue dooms its lie, the creeping thief

And spoiler rob to render.

Such is the Law that moves to Righteousness,
Which none at last can turn aside or stay;
The heart of it is Love, the end of it
Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey!

All actions cause as it were a Karmic debt, which may be paid to us either in a lump sum, or perhaps in small amounts spread over a period of years. Kindly acts for many years might be repaid in some piece of good fortune, or sudden recovery from illness, or perhaps in freedom from small worries, or in good general health. The Karma of cruelty might necessitate the loss of a limb or constant ill-health. The important point is that all misfortune, ill-health, and unhappiness is caused by the working of laws set in motion of our own free will, by our own thoughts and actions, and that an end can be put to all this misery when we choose. New Karma can be created which will balance against old Karma of the opposite sort.

If this were the whole of the Law, it might produce the feeling that we are in the grip of fatality; but it is not so, there is the good Karma due to unselfishness and kind thought and action to be considered, for by a most merciful arrangement the Karma due to these is greater than the Karma due to their opposite because Good, acting in the finer matter of higher planes, has more effect than Evil, which works in heavier and lower planes.

We know from science that if a projectile is discharged from a properly aimed gun, it will hit the object aimed at, unless in the interval between leaving the gun and reaching the target, it is interfered with by some new force, such for instance as another projectile striking and diverting or perhaps stopping it altogether. Or, to take another example, if a stone is thrown straight up in the air, then, after an interval (provided it is not acted on by some fresh forces) it will return and strike the thrower with exactly the same amount of force as was expended in throwing it. One of the laws of Science states that “ action and reaction” are equal and opposite.

Similarly the spiritual “ cause and effect” of selfish or unkind thought and action is equal and opposite. For any action causing pain to others entails that an equal amount of pain will return to the actor at some future time, unless in the interval other forces are brought to bear on the matter.

Suppose that after wrong action, the man sees his error, and does all in his power to mitigate the wrong, then the bad Karma, due to the original act, would be very much modified if not entirely counterbalanced by good Karma of the latter actions.

All actions, then, are the cause of our happiness or misfortunes and unhappiness, the Karma generated being placed to our account, totalled up and paid off, either in the present or in some future life. When this occurs in the present life, the world looking on, and seeing only the final act of the transaction, says, “ What luck!” “ How fortunate is so-and-so!” or “ He is born lucky!” Now any one who understands the law can, by right action, to a great extent arrange his future. It is true he does not know what bad Karma, due to the past, still remains recorded against him, but he can make sure that he generates no fresh bad Karma in the present. When sickness or suffering reaches him he knows that he is but paying some old debt, and that if he is patient under the trouble, that particular account may be finally settled.

During revolutions, it always happens that numbers of innocent people living harmless lives are suddenly seized, ill-treated, and cruelly put to death. Again, in legal records there are instances where it has been discovered, too late, that innocent persons had been condemned and executed for crimes which they had not committed, and though this sort of blunder is less common in the present day than formerly, yet apparent injustice frequently happens in our ordinary disasters, as, for instance, when in a railway smash people are pinned in the wreckage and slowly burned to death, in collisions at sea, in fires, etc.

Now all these cases must either be “ accident,” or events happening in accordance with God's will. If “ accident,” then one is forced to believe that the All-Wise, All-Loving, All-Powerful Creator does not care, or does not always trouble to rescue individuals involved in catastrophes which one can only suppose He had not foreseen, or was powerless to prevent. Is it not a relief to turn from such ideas to the logical and reasonable explanation offered by consideration of Karmic law?

The tangle at once straightens out, and one realizes that the victims under consideration were foredoomed to their violent deaths, not by an unjust or careless God, but by their own individual deeds, and by the way they had in the past ill-treated or caused suffering to others. Retribution, certainly; but justice acting under a Divine law which makes no mistakes in its awards or punishments.

It might now be said, if everything that happens is due to Karma, then there is no need to take any precautions for safety in everyday life, for one might fearlessly walk into the midst of the traffic in a London street or uselessly expose oneself to bullets in battle; then if it was not one's Karma to die a sudden death or to receive injury, one could not be hurt; if on the other hand death or injury were owing, it would be as well to get it over and have done with it.

Such ideas would be erroneous in the extreme. It must be remembered that although we are continually making Karma by our actions, yet the totalling up of accounts, and deciding when and how reward or punishment shall be meted out, is not in our hands, but arranged by Higher Powers. To carelessly walk into traffic or otherwise tempt Providence (as the phrase goes) might provoke a small cycle of Karma, the cause, the idiotic action, the effect - death or injury.

Any one who behaved in such manner would justly be said to be a fool, richly deserving all that happened to him. But if before crossing the street, the usual common-sense precautions had been taken, and then injury or death occurred, that would be Karma.

The right understanding of this law produces a very tranquil state of mind, because it is realized that although our duty under all circumstances is to perform “ Right action” regardless of personal risk or inconvenience, we must remember that the result of such action is not in our hands.

The Law is absolutely just and is administered by higher powers; if therefore our unselfish endeavours to assist others do not meet with success, we should not be discouraged. Our action in rendering help to the best of our ability was absolutely right and our duty, but it may be that the individual we tried to help has some bad Karma the working out of which necessitates his present misfortunes, or even loss of life.

There is no need, however, to strain oneself in considering whether or not to give help, for fear of interfering with the Karma of others. Do what you feel to be right, and leave the result to God.

Viewed by the illumination of the Divine Law of Karma, several orders recorded in the New Testament which are generally ignored as not practicable, become clear.

It is written (St. Matthew v. 44, 45, and St. Luke vi. 27, 31) “ Love your enemies,” “ Pray for them that persecute you,” “ As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Directions quite contrary to our methods of dealing with our fellowman. But in view of the Law of Karma, what wiser advice could be given; for going to war with your enemy must be the greatest folly, since by the working of the Law, all the pain and misery so caused will be recorded and will in due course return home to those responsible for causing it.

So it is wiser to find some other way out of difficulties, no easy task, but becoming more and more possible as Federation, Arbitration, and other common-sense methods are seen to be preferable to the expense and discomfort of killing, and so come into more general use.

Now the ordinary man or woman may think, “ I personally have nothing to do with the great questions on which hang the decisions of Peace or War.” But is not this an error? for it is the thought of the people that influences the leaders, and so directs their decisions; therefore it is necessary, if one wishes to avoid making bad Karma, to have clear and good thought on these subjects.

This spiritual law of Karma is one of Nature's laws; it is one of the laws made by the Creator, just as He has made the physical laws - such as the laws ruling the forces of electricity, fire, or water. So when one is asked, “ How do you know of this law?” “ What is your authority?” “ How do you know if it is true?” the answer is much the same as if one were asked the same questions about some physical law, when the reply would be that the law was discovered by men who gave time and study to the subject. To investigate, you can either go to some place where the science is studied and put to practical use, or you can learn from books or teachers and experiment for yourself. If, in your experiments, the result always comes out in harmony with the law, you may feel assured that the Law is truly stated: In the same way the truth of this spiritual law can be tested.

It is often stated that spiritual matters are mysteries which are not intended for comprehension, and so they are not studied. It is not many years ago that the same was said about physical science-that we are not intended to understand physical laws, and that it is wrong to pry into the secrets of Nature. Many, therefore, looked on scientific investigation as a dangerous playing with the forces of evil.

Yet physical science has gone ahead, and the idea that we must not investigate is now seen to be nonsense. So also it will be with spiritual science. In the East the subject has been studied for centuries, where there is a mass of most interesting information, much of which can be tested by observation; in this way various spiritual laws have been formulated. The law of Karma is one of these.

We must remember that when a scientific man speaks of a scientific law, he does not mean that our knowledge of the law is perfect. He accepts it provisionally, always on the look-out to modify it when new facts are discovered.

Our scientific definitions are only human attempts to put into words as accurate a statement as possible of what we have discovered about certain laws, and they are always open to revision. For instance, the laws of Chemistry have been modified since the discovery of radium, and, as our knowledge increases, scientific laws are brought nearer and nearer to the truth. So with the law of Karma, as knowledge increases, modifications in the details of our human interpretation of it will occur.

It is very important to understand natural laws, because understanding brings power and safety in everyday life, as well as increased confidence and comfort. Instead of fearing the forces of Nature, they are diverted to our convenience, and we utilize these forces, as in steam power, motors, electric light. “ Knowledge gives power.” Ignorant people fear the forces of Nature. Savages, seeing an eclipse, are terrified, and attribute the phenomenon to the action of evil spirits; but educated people have no fear, because they understand the cause and the law which is manifested.

So with Karmic law: ignorant people live in a state of fear; they fear accident, bad luck, misfortune to themselves, relations or friends, and when these things happen consider them inexplicable - “ a bolt from the blue.”

In the leading article of a daily newspaper, speaking of the Titanic disaster, it was said, “ The mystery of evil is a problem that has exercised vainly the greatest intellects of all ages. . . . In despair, we moderns have mostly given up the puzzle.” This is how people speak and think in a country which, though well versed in natural law, is ignorant of spiritual laws. Those, on the contrary, who have studied Karmic law understand and make use of their knowledge to avoid setting in motion the forces that produce disasters.

The questions now come: “ What is the good of these laws?” “ What their purpose?” “ Why has the All-loving Creator placed us here surrounded by, but ignorant of, the workings of such dangerous forces?” Let me take an analogy from ship life in the Navy.

In a ship there are many rules and regulations. A youngster joins and finds himself amongst strange and unfamiliar surroundings; he is ignorant of ship discipline, until he learns it by the bitter experience of running up against the rules and regulations. The object of the regulations is not to provide the officers with the opportunity of serving out punishments, but to make these young blue-jackets think before acting, and so train them into useful seamen.

The objects of the laws of Nature and of Karma are not that the higher powers may find pleasure in punishing people, but to make us think, and to train and evolve our spiritual faculties. What is the best way to train any one in any branch of life? Is it a good plan for the teacher to stand near the pupil and continually say: “ Do not do this,” “ Do not do that,” and to be for ever correcting him in time to prevent mistakes? Practical people know that such a scheme is useless, because the pupil gets into the habit of relying on the warnings, and never learns to think and act on his own initiative.

Ship life elucidates the point. In a ship where the executive officer interferes continually with the details of every one's work, the result is that after a while no one in the ship will act on his own responsibility, and she becomes “ slack,” inefficient and useless for training purposes.

The best result is where the executive officer lays down good general orders, leaving individuals free action, followed by praise or promotion for good work, and punishment for bad work. This system produces reliable officers, and men accustomed to think for themselves.

In one ship in which I served, the officer whose duty it was to administer summary justice in the small everyday cases used the following plan. After affixing the blame, he would ask the culprit what was the punishment due to him, and when the man said he did not know, would express astonishment that any sensible person should have broken ship rules without calculating the punishment due in case that he were found out. Having rubbed that idea in, and ordered the full punishment prescribed by the regulations for the offence, he would then inquire if the man thought it sufficiently severe to prevent his again breaking that particular rule.

This plan worked well, the men getting to see that punishment was not due to the officers, but simply the natural effect of breaking rules. And it is a like scheme, on an infinitely grander scale, that you find in Nature. The Creator has arranged natural and spiritual laws; all ill-health and events we call accident, bad luck, ill-fortune, are penalties due to our having broken certain laws in the past, which could have been calculated and avoided if we had had the wisdom to discover and obey the laws under which we live.

When we see an unexpected explosion, we say “ accident,” but that is a mistake, there is no such thing as “ accident.” The explosion has happened strictly in accordance with physical laws, and had we sufficient scientific knowledge we could have foreseen the forces which were about to produce it, and, of course, by suitable means might have prevented the “ accident.”

Similarly as regards the immortal spirits that inhabited the bodies injured by the explosion, did we possess the power to read the past, we might find that each of these had (not necessarily in this earth-life) done some act or actions which, by the law of Cause and Effect, necessitated the suffering of injury or death of the body at that time: and, as in the case of the child punished at school, the lesson is of benefit to the immortal spirit.

The word “ accident “ is a misnomer, for there can be no such thing in a world ruled by Divine wisdom. All Science demonstrates that nowhere in Nature is there accident; all is order. Nowhere is there irregularity of action; fire does not cause heat one day and cold another.

We who live in the West have learnt much of physical laws, and as a result many things that were once termed accident do not now occur, or if they do are attributed to the true causes. In the East, where so much has been discovered of spiritual law, many events unintelligible to us are accounted for.

In the case of the Titanic - if that were an “ accident,” could not the All­loving Creator have sent another ship to the spot to prevent the loss of life? How easy for Him to have caused a slight alteration of wind or of current, and so prevented the collision with the ice, or simply arranged for another vessel to be nearby to rescue every one.

That He did not do so is a proof that the disaster was not what is called “ accident,” but an event that happened in accordance with the working of Divine laws, both physical and spiritual, which cannot be evaded. To understand the loss of life and all the suffering entailed one must search the Karmic laws, and for a full explanation it would be necessary to know the complete details of each separate life and perhaps of previous lives, until the actions that now produced this Karmic result were ascertained.

Though this is impossible, we may see that an explanation of every detail could be found along these lines for this particular disaster, and for all those that darken the pages of history.

I must point out some characteristics of physical and spiritual laws.

1. All are invariable in their action. This renders their comprehension possible.

2. Both physical and spiritual laws express great forces which act without sentiment. In physical law the motive does not count, nor in any way affect the result. In spiritual law motive is most important, for it sets in action the appropriate spiritual force.

3. The laws exist in all countries, whether the inhabitants are aware of them or not. The physical laws are always in action in Nature, and so are the spiritual laws. Every day we make good or bad Karma.

4. Physical law is beneficent if worked with, but destructive if neglected or worked against, and effect follows immediately on cause.

Steam is a good servant provided the laws of steam pressure and the strength of boilers are followed; but if these laws are neglected, an explosion follows. Wireless telegraphy is useful, but if the operator disregards or is ignorant of the laws of electricity he may be struck dead.

5. Karmic or any other spiritual law is beneficent if worked with, but if we neglect it the results are disastrous, as seen in the enormous amount of misery and unhappiness in the world. Yet a beneficent arrangement in the working of Karmic law usually provides a considerable interval of time between cause and effect, which allows opportunity for thought and the undoing of wrong action.

In considering ship life we saw that the rules and regulations of a ship are to make the sailors think before acting. The physical and spiritual laws of this world are also to make people think and act wisely. The object of their ship life was to train the blue-jackets into useful sailors; the object of life on this planet is also to train us. God's plan for us is Evolution - physical evolution under the pressure of physical laws spiritual evolution under the pressure of spiritual laws. Right conduct is in all cases that which works harmoniously with these laws.

It is easier to understand Karmic law if we accept the doctrine of Reincarnation, which provides a logical and reasonable explanation for so much that is otherwise unintelligible and apparently cruel and unjust.

It is to the effect that each of our earthly lives is but a short period in the much larger life of the human spirit, that we come here for a course of training, and after an interval (at the end of each life) spent in higher worlds, return again and again to this planet, wearing different bodies each time, and living under different conditions, in different parts of the world, until our training is complete, and there is no more need for terrestrial birth and death - when we shall be sufficiently evolved to exist in higher spheres elsewhere.

The scheme is often compared to the training of a boy at school who returns term after term until his education is complete, and he is fit to take his place in the larger life of the outer world. The laws of Reincarnation and Karma, taken together, explain the extraordinary diversity of conditions of human life because our immortal spirits being in different stages of development and training require different lessons. Thus are accounted for in children genius, great intellectual powers, idiocy, or ill-formed bodies from birth, these being cases of Karmic results from former lives, and not instances of favouritism. The child born a genius is probably one who formerly studied and acquired talent; the body deformed from birth may be the dwelling of a spirit who in a previous incarnation acted with cruelty or lack of sympathy toward others.

The obvious objection to Reincarnation is: If it be a fact, why do we not remember former lives? And the simplest answer to that question is that we are not yet fit to remember; because we are not sufficiently evolved to be trusted with that power of memory. For if we did remember, how many of us are strong enough to treat well and kindly those who in a former life ill-treated us, when now in this life placed in our power? What chance would the criminal have of making a fresh start, if at birth he were recognized and all his previous misdeeds were remembered against him? Is not the arrangement that a sponge is, as it were, wiped over the slate of memory, a merciful and beneficial one? Later on, when more evolved and likely to turn our knowledge to good use, we probably shall remember.

In countries where these spiritual laws of Reincarnation and Karma are generally understood, there is found amongst the population a very much greater contentment and acceptance of the conditions of life, and a much happier frame of mind than the restlessness and discontent to which we are accustomed.

In Europe, where Karmic law is unknown, the greatest fear is the fear of death, which is looked on as the greatest misfortune possible. This is proved in everyday conversation, in our newspapers, and in the way we speak of the departed and of death.

Eastern people have the same love of life as ourselves, but do not dread death. The Japanese showed this in many cases in the Russo-Japanese war, where men went cheerfully to what they knew was certain death. “ Patriotism” certainly, but with the addition, I think, of the knowledge that death is merely the passing of the spirit to new conditions, and that if the Karma of the life has been good, the motives unselfish, and life's duty done, then the next existence must be happy, and death not a matter for dread, but promotion to a higher life.

Some one may ask whether (if everything depends on Karma) the Creator personally attends to every little event of life, adjudging the reward or punishment? My answer is “ No.” He has laid down laws, and there are great Intelligences who administer these laws, who decide how much of what is owing shall be settled during a life, in what form and when the reward or punishment shall be awarded. In sea life the Admiralty or some high authority lays down rules and regulations, to be administered by officers of various ranks; the regulations decree a certain reward or punishment, but the officers determine the exact amount and form, and when and where it shall take place.

Now there are some people who think that everything may be attributed to Kismet or Fate, and there is a good deal in the idea if rightly understood, for we must remember that an individual's Karma may be divided into two parts.

1. The Karma he is born with, due to previous lives, which turns up in character and the conditions in which he is born, and in some of the happenings of life. This, as in our present state of evolution we do not remember former lives, may be considered as Kismet or Fate, originally fixed by ourselves, but now beyond our control.

2. The Karma that is made from day to day by thoughts and actions. As this amounts to about three-fourths of the Karma that happens, and is quite under our control, it is of the greatest importance that we should understand about it - because it not only affects our present life, but also will turn up in future lives as good or bad Karma, exactly as we now act.

And so we reach the practical question. How are we to control our Karma? Karma is caused by our actions. Our actions are caused by our thoughts. Therefore if we control our thoughts, we shall control our Karma. Any one who understands Karmic law and wishes to put in practice what he has learnt, must first take in hand his thoughts and himself, for if thought is right it will be an easy matter to make action right and the Karma good.

To some people the idea that what one thinks matters, or that thoughts can be controlled, is new; but directly the subject is studied it is seen that it must be so. For example, the building in which the reader is seated, existed first in the thought of the architect, and without that thought it could not have been built; it would have been no use to supply bricks and materials to the workmen without the plans and directions; if the thought had been faulty and incomplete, the building also would have been faulty and incomplete. It is the same in all our industries.

The person who does not control his thoughts, may be compared to an ill-disciplined ship firing her guns, discharging projectiles without aim or method in all directions, wasting ammunition, and a danger to every one. Whereas the battleship with discipline and control fires only carefully aimed and selected projectiles, and, knowing the range, every shot hits the target.

To control this discharge of thought forms requires time, trouble and patience; one has to be continually pulling up in one's thinking and asking oneself is this thought going to do any one good? If not, it must be dismissed, and a useful thought substituted, and the habit of selecting the things that one chooses to think about must be formed.

Actions, also, must be continually scrutinized to see if they are in accordance with Spiritual law. If not, the action must be altered; not an easy matter in the case of long-established habits, but it can be done with perseverance. And so, by control of thought and action, we gradually learn to control our Karma.

Now after studying these spiritual laws one looks for some personal habit to experiment upon. Is temper under control? Are we quite truthful? Do we always play the game? Do we treat others considerately and kindly? Do we try to help others? Are our motives unselfish and kindly?

In applying this law to everyday life, Motive, as already pointed out, is most important, because “ Motive builds character “ as well as setting in action Spiritual laws. An improved character will not result if every happening is considered from the point of view of: “ What profit can I Karmically make out of this, what good Karma can I store up?” Such an attitude would cause deterioration of character, as well as creating bad Karma. For spiritual advancement and happiness cannot be bargained for.

The motives of our actions must be impersonal; we must do things that are right, merely because they are in accordance with right and truth, without any regard to personal loss or inconvenience. This attitude must become so much a habit and part of our character that we always and without effort choose to do what is right as a matter of course.