The Teaching
This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; an Effect from every Cause. It explains that "Everything Happens according to Law"; that nothing ever "merely happens"; that there is no such thing as Chance.
There are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating the lower planes, yet nothing ever entirely escapes the Law. What we call "Chance" is merely an expression relating to obscure causes - causes that we cannot perceive or understand.
Chains of Causation
A stone dislodged from a mountain crashes through a cottage roof. At first sight we regard this as chance, but examination reveals a great chain of causes: the rain that softened the earth, the influences that disintegrated the rock, the causes behind the mountain's formation.
Just as a man has two parents, four grandparents, and the numbers multiply going back through generations, so it is with the number of causes behind even the most trifling event. One of the series of events arising from a tiny bit of soot might be the writing of these words, which will arouse thoughts affecting others for generations.
Becoming a Cause
The masses of people are carried along, obedient to environment, the wills of others stronger than themselves, heredity, suggestion, and other outward causes - moved about like pawns on the Chessboard of Life.
But the Masters, rising to a higher plane, dominate their moods, characters, qualities, and powers, becoming Movers instead of pawns. They play the game of life instead of being played by other wills. "The wise ones serve on the higher, but rule on the lower. They obey the laws coming from above them, but on their own plane, and those below them, they rule and give orders."