Dear Reader,
For us, creating this Review is really an act of  listening. As we search through hundreds of  books looking for just the right ones to offer  you, we try to listen to the Voice behind them  all. What does it want to say to you this  month? What do we need to know at the  moment? What have your many letters said to  us? Sometimes we hear more clearly, and  sometimes less, but this time, the Voice was  very clear, as youâll see as you read through  these pages which include so many books  which deal, in various ways, with the healing  power of crisis, and with accepting and  transforming the negative in our lives. Indeed,  so strongly were we affected this time that we found we were burgeoning with something quite big to say to ourselves, which is why we’ve squashed our photographs up a bit â to make room! So, if youâll allow us âpermission to speak freely, sir?â….
The Gate of Saturn
As the great 20th century mystic and philosopher, P D Mehta, once pointed out, to carry what some people understand by the law of karma (or the law of âcause and effectâ) to its logical conclusion would be to believe, for instance, that all the Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust somehow âdeservedâ to die because of something theyâd done in a past life. Well if, like us, youâd rather die than believe such an obvious piece of nonsense, youâre compelled to view the process of cause and effect in a far less simplistic light. You realise that there must be an element of choice involved, that perhaps sometimes we choose difficult experiences because we want to develop particular qualities or be of help to others in some way. But youâre also compelled to accept that sometimes, the dreadful things which happen to us arise, not from personal causes, but from group, national, global or even universal ones. We collide with eddies and currents of chaos or evil whose origin lies far outside and beyond ourselves, and whose causes are far too vast and complex for our tiny minds to contemplate.
However, this brings us to a paradox, another one of those coins with two sides, like the ones we were talking about in our last letter. For, when we turn this coin over, what do we see? That whatever the cause of our misfortune, be it karma, choice, chaos, or evil, there is no need for us to waste any time at all looking around for someone or something to blame. For difficult experiences bring us a marvellous opportunity to invoke an enormous, God-given power, given as a gift to all of us. This is the power to overwrite the law of âan eye for an eyeâ and cancel out the powers of chaos and evil with one simple, higher law â the Law of Grace.
We do this by accepting â even welcoming â suffering and by sharpening our ears, at such difficult times, to the âstill small Voice withinâ and trying our best (and donât worry, our best will always be good enough, even though it may not seem like that at the time) to do what it says. For this âstill small Voiceâ will infallibly show us how we can use the opportunity of suffering to transform ourselves and those connected with us in the most positive way.
And when weâve done this, letâs recognize what weâve done, because itâs actually no small thing. For, when we go out to meet all the experiences in our lives, not with our own will, or anybody elseâs will, but in obedience to the âstill small Voice withinâ, we give this Voice of Good the opportunity to build, in us, a consciousness and a vehicle capable of lasting, because theyâre aligned with Truth. And because theyâre lasting, they will be capable of passing through the gates of Eternity, a realm where neither karma, nor evil hold any power.
This is how the All-Good actually swallows up all our lesser good and evil, and how we can co-operate in that work of sanctification. It is how the saying âdeath is swallowed up in victoryâ can come true.
And isnât that what weâve all been doing, or trying to do, or wishing we could do if only we knew how? So letâs give each other a big hug. Weâre on the right track. Letâs keep going.
Ann Napier © 2000