SOME EFFECTS OF THEOSOPHY 65

and what comfort can be given there except
the comfort first, that the war was inevitable
in the sense that we have made the conditions
that caused it, have made the conditions that
brought about suffering, individual suffering as
well as collective suffering by the blindness of
ignorance and therefore the faults of past lives ;

second, that, as the suffering is borne and faced,
so will good or bad seed be sown for another
life.

It is largely, if not entirely, our fault
that those suffering from untold facial dis-
figurement cannot come amongst us, because we
do not wish to be reminded of the suffering
and we do not like to see it. It is not pleasant
to see deformity, yet how little we work for
perfect form and beauty. We wish to save
ourselves unpleasantness and thereby greatly
add to their suffering because they are almost
entirely isolated, nay, by our egoism we cause
them to be prisoners when, as I have said, we
should be working for their release and wel-
come them amongst us, insisting that they do
come amongst us. If we thought this out by
the light of Theosophy we should say lt We are
all one, I must share this pain, it is my part
and privilege to help those whose heavy
karma has caused them all this suffering."

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