This we call Karma

Why is there such a conformity to peculiarities and weaknesses in several members of the one family?

Our real Divine Self is sent down by the great Lord of Life to clothe itself in matter again and again until, first, it can lift up and spiritualise that matter which composes its own physical body and as this is completed, help to spiritualise and uplift the matter of the whole world.

Our own higher Divine Self—being a part of God in the same way that the sunlight which shines into our windows is surely one with and a part of the Sun in the heavens—earnestly desires above all things to help the great work of informing, spiritualising and uplifting the matter of this globe. In our own Divine Self we do not differentiate between that particular part of matter which we call our own personality, for we know it is but fleeting, yet we also know that in our personal selves, we often add to the burden of the forces which are holding this world away from the oneness with God. Therefore, in our next incarnation, this burden is added to the general task which is ours, and which is willingly assumed, not optionally chosen. This we call Karma.

Remember, there is a great differentiation between Karma and the real purpose of the immortal Soul. As we have said, that purpose is to help in the perfecting of the globe, whereas Karma is seeing our own personal faults, correcting them and bringing the personal self into oneness with the Divine Self. The physical conditions running through a family are, therefore, the physical heredity of the parents or the family Karma which the Soul must assume when entering that particular family.

Letters from the Teacher, Volume II, Universal Religious Fellowship Inc., Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer Curtiss, Curtiss Book Company, California, 1924