Evolution involves learning through choice, and to this end we have been granted free choice by our Creator. Here on Earth, free choice is exercised, and its consequences learned, in the most extreme form and under the most difficult conditions.

On higher levels of being it is possible to see in a single moment the probable outcomes of various alternative paths. Thus it is a simple matter to make the right choice. But the Earth phase of evolution is clouded by the "Veil of Forgetfulness", hence it is not possible for us to look into the future. We on Earth must learn by the more arduous process of physical experience; we must make choices, weigh up the perceived advantages to self and to others, then experience the consequences of our choices.

Central to the concept of free choice is the Law of Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect.

The Law of Karma is also known as the Law of Balance. In the process of living, evolving, experimenting and learning, our actions affect others either harmfully or beneficially, thus incurring numerous and often complex debts on our own evolutionary balance sheet of progress. The Law of Karma requires that the effects which our actions have on others, including all other life forms, the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms, must always be balanced. When we harm others we incur a debt to ourselves as well as to them. When others harm us they incur a debt to themselves as well as to us. Debts for good or evil, by ourselves or by someone else, must be balanced by both parties. Similarly, when you injure yourself, perhaps through misuse of the physical body, you create an imbalance, a debt to yourself that must be repaid by your comprehension and rejection of such actions. All, in the end, must balance.

Through this Law of Balance, or Cause and Effect, we experience and learn from the results of our chosen actions and those of others.

From wrong actions taken in specific sets of circumstances, wrong effects follow; we must then revisit and recreate those sets of circumstances again and again until, having learnt from the ill effects of taking the wrong path, we choose the right path. This is the Law of Karma. Tests will be instigated by our Higher Spiritual Self and repeated until they are ‘passed’ by our own acknowledgment, acceptance and assimilation of the lesson to be learnt. Challenges will be planned by us and repeated until they are overcome. This process can take place as a short lesson lasting one moment or one day; or it can take place over a lifetime, or several lives, or even over several incarnations. But we ourselves, and only ourselves, require that our lessons must, in the end, be learned thoroughly.

Similarly our ‘good’ actions, actions which show respect for other lifeforms, those ‘random acts of kindness’ which benefit others, set in motion a positive chain reaction.

The Law of Karma works ‘automatically’. We magnetically attract to ourselves ‘bad’ experiences when we have a need to learn from them. Likewise when we do not need to learn a particular lesson, we will not be touched by any danger or evil. We resonate magnetically towards good and bad experiences, drawing them only to us when we have a need to learn from them.

"Do not see karma only as a plus or minus column in a Divine Accountant's book in which is recorded what you owe to someone because of the wrong that you have done them! It does not work in that way. It is rather a teaching process in which you learn from what you have done. It is you that has created those ripples on the pond of life and they will in turn affect you. The purpose of karma is not punishment. It is rather a process of balance and education."[The Master ZEN TAO, channeled by the Ramala Centre, Glastonbury]

We have to also understand that what we give in the form of energy, creativity or effort (power) to the Universe, we will eventually have returned to us. Likewise, that which we take from the Universe in the form of the energy or creativity of others, is a debit, which must ultimately be balanced by our further giving.

"The Universe is run by a plan, and that plan has divided the power, or the creativity, proportionately. If you demand of the Universe more than your portion, it will dish out your portion and then that’s it, because there isn’t more of it for you. If you try to take it from other people, it might seem to work for a while because some people don’t know how to hold on to their power and they’ll give it away. But the Universe is a great equalizer, and if you give away your power, the Universe is going to redistribute it – not necessarily among people on the physical level, but it may use it to build new universes, or another kind of use."[The master VYWAMUS, a Higher aspect of Sanat Kumara. Channeled by Janet McClure in "Prelude To Ascension", published 1996 by Light Technology Publishing, P.O.Box 1526, Sedona, Az 86339]

On higher levels the process of evolution takes place as an unbroken continuity of conscious awareness. At Earth level however, the difficulties of Earth life and the physical aging of the dense Earthly body place limitations on the length of Earth time-span during which we can tolerate life. This in turn necessitates that we ‘die’, review our life from a higher level, and then, after obtaining some much needed spiritual refreshment, return for another cycle of birth and life on Earth. This cycle of birth and re-birth is known as reincarnation.

Reincarnation is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth in which we pass from spiritual realms down through the ‘Veil’ to an incarnation on the of dense physical level of Earth, cut off from direct contact with the Higher Realms. We do this in order to learn ‘in isolation’ the type of lessons which can only be learned in such worlds. Each lesson must be thoroughly learnt, and the Law of Karma requires that we repeat this process of reincarnation until we have mastered the particular lessons involved at this level.

"Earth is a school, and you learn even when making mistakes. If you face a test and fail, you push yourself to take it again. So if you have lessons to learn in one life which you fail to learn, then in another life you will present yourself with those lessons again; for you cannot progress - and all life is an upward progression, an upward spiral - until you have learned those lessons.

"You have a test to pass, one which you have set yourself to accomplish. When you pass depends upon the effort you make. If you do not pass the test in one experience you will have other chances of doing so. You will always find fresh opportunities opening out before you. In time you will accomplish what you set out to do, however many distractions may deter you from your object. The power of the Spirit can and will win in the end. It is like a powerful magnet drawing you on. It is the effort that counts; the responsibility is yours, no other can accomplish your mission for you. The scales of Divine Justice are accurately balanced, there must be nothing owing if you are to progress."[The Spirit Guide TENDOR, in ‘Full Cycle’ by Ripley Webb - Marcus Books, Queensville, Ontario, Canada]

Each new incarnation is planned in advance with the help of one's Spiritual Guides and Masters. A review of past faults and weaknesses is made in conjunction with their close consultation, and plans are made for major opportunities to occur during the forthcoming lifetime for testing and overcoming those various weaknesses. These events can appear to occur during that lifetime quite arbitrarily and unexpectedly, and some of them may even be quite traumatic, causing the personality to roundly blame the ‘fates’ for its ‘misfortune’. And yet all these events will have been previously planned on higher levels to manifest at some time during the soul's Earthly lifetime, by the soul itself. They are not, as might appear to us at the time of the unfortunate event, the result of an arbitrary whim of an uncaring Fate or of our Creator.

When incarnating on Earth the soul also makes a ‘contract’ with itself and with its Spiritual Guides and with the Spiritual Hierarchy to undertake an Earth life of a certain duration in order to learn specific lessons.

If the incarnated soul subsequently finds the lessons too difficult and decides to terminate that life prematurely, such as by suicide, the lessons are not thereby avoided, only postponed. The soul will require itself to go through the lengthy process of death and rebirth yet again, in order to live out those remaining years and learn those lessons previously avoided. This is why most of us at the Earth consciousness level have a deep-rooted instinct that suicide is fundamentally wrong. In fact it is not only a betrayal of one's Higher-Self's evolutionary plan, but is also a misuse of the facilities and opportunities given to us by our Creator and His Angelic and Spiritual Hierarchy.

A wider understanding of the multiple concepts of ‘free choice’, karma and re-incarnation will make it easier for us to understand in turn the ‘drama of life’ and the fundamental nature of suffering:

"The drama of life has a purpose: It is to teach, to evolve our consciousness. Everything that happens on the plane of Earth happens not by chance, but because we have attracted it to ourselves through our behavior in this or in past lives, and have consciously accepted the challenge it represents. It is widely understood that the concept of ‘free will’ allows us to choose how we will react to given circumstances; it is important to realize however, that we also exercise ‘free will’ in our choice of the challenges we agree to undertake during each incarnation. Through ‘free will’ we choose our challenges and lessons; through ‘free will’ we choose how we react to them.

"It is difficult for those who do not accept the concept of reincarnation, of life after life after life, to see how suffering can be regarded as an evolutionary process. But when reincarnation is accepted as an integral part of one’s view of evolution, it is easy to understand that we bring into being with each new physical body all that we have created in other Earth lives, and on other levels of existence beyond the physical plane of Earth. We bring with us not only our spiritual wisdom, but also the sins of the past, the lessons we have not learnt, the karma we owe both to ourselves and to others. So as we advance through the life which we now lead, we will automatically attract to ourselves the lessons we have chosen to learn, the karma we have chosen to transmute.

"Thus there is no such thing as a tragedy by chance. Everything that happens on the plane of Earth has reason, has purpose. We live in a world in which many people apparently experience great tragedies. Tragedy comes to people either because they chose it for their destiny path or because it will present them with a lesson in life they have yet to learn. Tragedy is the working-out of cause and effect; as we experience the effects, so we learn to change the cause. The experience of tragedy also teaches sympathy and compassion, the ability to accept and absorb the minor imperfections others, that they may in turn do the same for us.

"If there is one point which I would like to emphasize now, it is this: that suffering is chosen by yourself. It is not given to you by your Creator as a punishment. It is chosen by you, willingly, as a lesson to learn, as a lesson which your soul needs at this particular point in its evolution."[The Master ZEN TAO channeled by the Ramala Centre, Glastonbury.]

Book Of Life: Chapter One - CREATION here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Two - EVOLUTION here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Three - VIBRATION & DENSITY here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Four - OUR HIGHER-SELF & GUIDES here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Five - THE LEARNING PLANETS