Rosicrucian Writings Online

The Mastery of Fate

By Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, F. R. C.

(From Man Triumphant and The Mastery of Fate--1921 Edition)

[Reprinted in The Rosicrucian Digest May 1944]

Many of the articles written by our late Imperator, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, are as deathless as time. That is, they are concerned with those laws and principles of life and living which are eternal, and thus never lose their efficacy or their import, and are as helpful and as inspiring when read today as they were when they were written five, ten, fifteen, twenty or more years ago, and likewise will continue to be as helpful and as instructive in the future. For this reason, and for the reason that thousands of readers of the "Rosicrucian Digest" have not read many of the earlier articles of our late Imperator, it is our editorial policy to publish in the "Rosicrucian Digest" each month one of his outstanding articles so that his thoughts will continue to reside within the pages of this publication.

BEWITCHING fate, the terror of one's life in hours of forlorn hope, the solace of the heart in days of grief and pain, and the easement of the vanquished spirit when the victor wears the palm.

Yet fate is not the hand that writes upon the wall and casts the die that molds our lives. It writes, 'tis true, but only prophesies the destiny which we have made and which we will to be.

Each setting sun sees days of fate fulfilled; each rising sun sees days of fate decreed. Each hour, each day, brings in its wake a past of destiny, while in the future days there lies the fate we make today.

From cradle to the grave, one span of life, one segment of the whole, our fate is made, our destiny revealed. And at its close, whatever has been spreads out before our dimming eyes as history writ on page of life; and in each act, each conscious thought, each willful deed or undone thing, we see our will, our inner-self, revealed as Master at the Wheel.

We credit here and debit there, we condone, excuse and then forgive; but back of each unwonted act, each failure or mistake, we see our self, our conscious mind, and know that self alone must take the blame.

We stop today to look behind and fly back through the years, and o'er each path, each chosen road, we walk again in mind. We stop and smile at pleasantries, we sadden at the griefs; we rise afired at triumphs won and sigh at every wrong. We feel our strength when we chose right and wish that a chance would come to choose again when we are wrong. Our lessons learned, we know now why and when and where we failed; and in it all we see no fate except our writing on the wall.

We did not know, 'tis sadly true, we could not know the what to do. We lived in darkness of the laws, and even of ourselves. We called what we had written, "chance" and what we earned was "luck." What we decreed a yesterday we labeled "fate" today. And now we see that all of it, or most of it we'll say, was what we made of it and what we fated life to be.

Still, in the absence of a law and in ignorance of the facts we lived our lives as best we could. Submitting where and when we feared what else to do,--proded on with pride's persuasive prong when humbleness with lowly heart was urging from within. We stood aghast at others' might, and prayed that God would help, when all around within, without, were nature's forces keen to serve. We knew it not, we cried in vain, it seemed as though all nature mocked our aim; and yet fate's hand extended then from arm of ours with mind and strength we gave.

The Inner Man no victor knows; no truce, no grace or stay. It conquers all, it never fails and will not be dethroned. It asks for naught but offers all and seeks but God for power. It waits and hopes for man to break the chains and open wide the door through which it passes from within to master all before. It reaches out in Cosmic Space and uses forces fine; it creates life in every cell and makes the mind a mine. It scatters doubt and fear as light dispels the dark; it lifts man from the rut of life unto the mountains' height. It senses when and where the evil is, and finds its strength in love. It gives forth radiance more sincere than man's most cultured thought. It solves the problems as they come and points out every step. It makes man what his God conceived,--the Image of Himself.

How then shall Inner Man be freed and inner-self unchained? What God has given must Holy be, how comes it fettered, prisoned, there? What greater problem faces man than this most personal one? Yet man seeks everywhere and hopes to find without the answer which should come to him from silent voice within.

There are some simple laws which rule the universe; no miracle or mystery but finds its cause in them. Great truths are veiled, not clothed to hide them from the mind; but man has made that veil a shroud and worships at the shrine. Truth, like diamonds in a mass of nursing soil, must ever be extracts from the facts which form its womb and life. For facts alone do not make TRUTH, they give it only strength; from countless facts a truth may come,--the Logos of the Light.

The truth is not for all to see or sense or understand until with heart and soul attuned we free the Inner Man. We cannot ask the Great Divide to bridge a path for us; we cannot hope to pierce the veil or apprehend God's mind save through our effort first we learn to take the simple steps. And yet it seems as though some men were born to walk the path, and to their minds there ever shines the Inspiration Light.

Does fate select the master mind? and does it favor some? Can all men find the gift of God,--the secret of His Ways? If some are destined to be great, then God is fair to none; for victory to the longest spear hangs contest's glory to the staff.

Alike we are unto our God, in goodness were we born. With mortal mind and vain concept we glorify the outer-man. "No God! no sin! no sacred self!" the atheist proclaims; and yet all men who seek not truth deny the God within. From time beyond all earthly ken the wise men have declaimed that in the study of His laws God's greatest gift has come to them. The Wisdom of the Sages is the wisdom of God's mind, the power of the mighty man is the power thus divined. It is for you and everyone, regardless of your creed, and for the asking each may have the knowledge all men need. To know the laws, to live in mind with them; to use each one in every act, in every thought or plan, is just to make yourself attuned with forces greater than the wealth of worlds or crowns of all the kings.

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