________________
82
A STUDY IN KARMA
We have seen that our present is the outcome of our past, that by , thought we have built our character, by desires our opportunities of satisfying them, by actions our environment. Let us now considet how far we can modify in the present these results of our past, how far we are compelled, how far we are free.
Two OPPOSING SCHOOLS
In the thought of the outer world, quite apart from the ideas of reincarnation and karma, there has been much opposing opinion. Robert Owen and his school regarded man as the crea,tion of circumstances, ignoring heredity, that faint scientific reflection of karma; they considered that by changing the environment the man could be changed, most effectively if the child were taken ere he had formed bad habits; a child taken out of evil surroundings and