Explaining Karma...

[I originally wrote this as an email to a friend & every time the topic comes up with someone, I think about posting it... then decide it needs editing or elaborating in some places, then feel that I can't do it without starting all over again....but have never done it! So, this time, I'm just posting as it is.... and it comes with a "Beware - Long Post" warning! These are just some of my thoughts.] 

…is probably virtually impossible…. We’re living in a human world with little conception of how things are in the spiritual one, & beyond. I don’t think we have the capacity to understand fully or to feel the range of feelings they do… the best I can do is write about my thoughts on the subject. Maybe it will help, maybe not… but it might set you off on a train of thought that helps, or it might clarify some things you’ve wondered. I might go round in a few circles to explain, but bear with me!

Karma- the dictionary definition is along the lines of “ in Hinduism & Buddhism- the sum of a persons actions in this & previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Informal- destiny or fate, following as effect from cause. Origin from Sanskrit ‘karman’ = action, effect, fate.”  And pretty much anyone will tell you something along those lines. The thing is, I don’t think that is the whole of it…. I think there’s a boat-load been missed or forgotten over time. The first writings on karma go back much further than Christianity, & look how much has been altered there!

I think the basic concept is correct, but it’s only true up to a point…. A point in our spiritual development, & it’s not the only thing that defines our life & choices. There is so much more going on that we don’t know about & karma is just one element of the big picture. Things such as astrology, numerology, soul-group decisions, our Higher Self etc & probably stuff we can’t even guess at.

Karma probably plays a much bigger part in the lives of those who refuse to acknowledge its existence. Those who cause suffering for example will have to account for their actions…. But, I think we, at soul-level have a part in deciding how we re-pay our karmic debt.  I think astrology (& numerology) is the road map we’ve been given to help us live up to our karmic obligations, to keep us on track with the soul decisions taken before we come back into the world. But once we start to understand, to acknowledge our part in what is going on, we can start to use our free will to overcome & be set free from these restrictions. It’s like in life…. You may come across as abrupt, but if no one tells you, you probably don’t realise & carry on the same- but if it’s pointed out you can start to do something about it.

Karma is more likely to be the determining factor in your destiny when you ignore its laws. There is a saying that it’s impossible to read the chart of a saint- why? Because, they have achieved enlightenment, their aura vibrates at a higher frequency & so is immune to the bombardment of vibrations from the cosmos related to the positions of the planets at birth. Our brains are programmed at birth with a multitude of possibilities & probabilities, that are affected by the planets (astrology) much like a super computer- & enlightenment is a sort of de-programming, or perhaps re-programming, to ignore the planetary vibrations related to karma & access information & wisdom from higher levels. It’s also true that the less a person believes in astrology, the more accurately their birth chart (if done properly) fits them.

I’m not saying we have to achieve sainthood to escape karma, but as we learn to care about today, tomorrow & yesterday- time as a whole, not separate parts- then we begin to take control of our own destiny. All things are connected & we must learn to respect that. Jesus said “seek the truth, & the truth shall set you free”-  this could quite easily be related to karma. Trouble is when we get here we’ve forgotten what we’ve set in motion! I reckon we go through lives, sometimes to balance karma & sometimes to experience things, or rather a combination of things, but are given opportunities to evolve spiritually…. Eventually we will get to a point where we don’t need to keep going through the reincarnation cycle unless we choose to (say, to help someone else get there).

Also, if we could remember everything it would probably frazzle our brains…. Which is why we get tantalizing glimpses of past life, déjà vu, psychic ability…. They’re all part of us developing to be able to remember. We get to a point where all past karma may be lifted, when we are spiritually strong enough- I think this is often a time of crisis in our lives- a sort of spiritual test to see if we ‘trust’. Then we begin to feel ‘instant’ karma ie any mistakes we make come back on us back quite quickly in this life.

Newton’s Law of Cause & Effect says that for every action there is a reaction. The same goes for karma. Eg Janet hurts John, in a future life John hurts Janet. They may be in different bodies, different sexes, in a different situation, but there is some dim sub-conscious awareness that she hurt him, so he feels the need to hurt her back, even though he is not aware of it. This can (& does in so many relationships) go on for lifetimes… the boomerang effect of karma- unless someone stops it, & this cycle can be broken.

Janet could subconsciously become aware of her desire to hurt John in the next life- & consciously decide not to be a channel for his karmic retribution (ie what he has coming under karmic law). In effect she is forgiving him for whatever it is she can’t remember & breaks the cycle, leaving them both free of it. In future lives neither would feel the need to hurt the other.

Or John could realise, when Janet hurts him, that it must be connected to something he did in a former life. If he can accept this, gracefully & willingly, then the karmic debt is repaid- if he holds no bitterness or resentment, accepting it as his responsibility, (it doesn’t matter who started it originally) there will be no subconscious memory of hurt to be carried on in the next life… the karmic chain is broken.

This tit-for-tat hurting goes on in so many ways, not just in relationships, but also in the form of luck, or lack of it. How many times do we say, “oh, he/she/I doesn’t deserve that” “they didn’t do anything to deserve that” etc…. Maybe not in this life… but somewhere, sometime there is karma to be levelled. I think often when really good people have terrible lives or luck, it is a big clearout of karmic debt all in one go. Even though they can’t understand it, their Higher Self knows the time has come to get it sorted, ready to move up a level. 

In fact, I think that this is a general time of much karmic levelling, ready for humanity to move up a notch. The key is in accepting our role so long ago, in what happens to us, & refusing to carry that resentment on to another incarnation…. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” another of Jesus’ sayings- they’re hurting us, but they don’t really know why- it’s a subconscious memory from long ago that they are compelled to act on. We must forgive…. Both them & us…. Ourselves for hurting them, & them for hurting us… we must break that cycle. Of course, they could be acting like that due to some soul agreement for some other reason…. But the requirement is the same… forgive, accept, give thanks for lessons learned etc.

Sometimes we do have to react tho’- if someone is coming at us with a knife or threats etc we have to act to protect ourselves or our family. Fine…. But when it is all over we’ve got to acknowledge maybe we did something to them (or someone) once over & forgive, not carry resentment.  Break that cycle. However, things do happen that have nothing to do with repaying karmic obligations, so it is just as important not to set up a new wheel of karmic tit-for-tat.

The more we do this, the more we try to become aware of our past actions, the more we learn to see, the more we feel our intuition etc. The more we accept our part in the negative things in our life, the sooner our karmic payback is completed. It won’t be instant, but it will come…. & the sincerity & acceptance must be genuine. The severity of things will gradually diminish if we are sincere (sometimes quite rapidly).

Ever wondered why so many people who can’t have children, adopt a child then become pregnant…. Don’t you think its something to do with balancing karma… by adopting they give love to a child, unknowingly balancing whatever it was that was the karmic reason for not being able to conceive? Ever questioned the number of terminally ill people who start doing voluntary work & then go into remission? I’m not saying that every illness or such like is a direct result of doing something bad, or that it can be reversed so easily in every case… its not as clear-cut & we don’t know what other forces are at play…. But I do think that at a soul level we have reasons for being how we are in this life & have a part to play in the type of things that happen to us…. But we shouldn’t be looking to apportion blame… ‘fault’ doesn’t come into it… we should be looking at how to make things better- not just for ourselves but for others.

Ok, someone born with one arm, may have chopped someone else’s off in another life… on the other hand maybe they felt that their lives had been so blessed that they wanted to come back & do it again with more of a challenge (A friend told me of a lovely healer born with one arm, who is aware of her previous life who says this about herself). Or it could be a seemingly random misfortune that couldn’t have been pre-planned… A person born like this could resent it all their life & begin or continue a vicious karmic cycle…. Or they can get on with things, accept how they are, end any karmic cycle involved & go on more spiritually evolved.

Have you ever noticed how happy & loving downs syndrome children are? I don’t believe they are in handicapped bodies/minds as punishment…. I believe they are very special souls who volunteered for the job… maybe just for the experience, maybe to be so loving to help the parents cope, maybe to show the world that love is unconditional…. There could be so many reasons. Maybe the parents have a karmic issue to resolve, maybe they chose that experience/ struggle to develop in some way, maybe they volunteered to help the soul within their child? Or to be part of a family who is judged, to help those doing the judging realise they are at fault? Who knows? Quite often I think people have chosen suffering to help people around them in some way- maybe to help someone confront a prejudice or perhaps give them an opportunity to overcome an attitude they have held in a similar situation in another life.

 We may wonder why someone would choose to have the kind of life that we would consider horrible, just for the experience. Yep- there’s the likelihood that it’s straightforward tit-for-tat karma. But what if a soul wants to come back to be really helpful towards eradicating a certain situation… can they really help if they don’t go through it? Maybe to come up with a great insight or solution to some of the world’s problems there are souls going through terrible lives now in order to shed some enlightenment next time round?

I think the karmic tit-for-tat has spiralled out of control because the full teaching about karma has been suppressed/forgotten. The idea of reincarnation has been covered up. Where karma is mentioned it is touted as a sort of punishment/judicial system that we have no control over. The idea that we can affect & have control over our destiny has been very nearly eradicated. Whole nations are acting on the impulse to hurt in payback for what happened to them over lifetimes. The expression ‘an eye for an eye’ is not saying its ok to retaliate- it’s reminding how we can be affected by what we do- take an eye, a tooth now, you will have one taken from you in a later life. But when we realise what is going on, even if we have done something wrong in this life we can start to make amends. If this is done from the heart our karmic burden will be lessened or levelled out

What if the wise ones up there have decided that we need some drastic action to shock us into changing our ways- eg serious human rights issues that make people think we can’t go on like this. Maybe some souls have volunteered to be the victims of such actions & others have volunteered to carry them out… I suppose they run the risk of being caught in a new cycle of karma, but I suspect the fact that they volunteered for the greater good is taken into account when it comes round to planning their next existence (& I don’t necessarily think that it is always on earth)

If the soul goes on and on... then the human lifespan is relatively a millisecond of the souls life... so the terrible experiences we have may be compared to, say... a knackering hour at the gym, knowing the pain will pay off... the pain of poking about to remove glass from a wound, knowing it must be done... etc so even though we can't comprehend why, maybe there's a higher purpose for the soul or humanity... that sees it as a mere blip, worth the rewards.... who knows what the soul will be doing tomorrow or next week (another life-time) that our life is helping towards?

Karma is so simple, but at the same time it weaves some complicated patterns. Take a few simple strands of cotton- look at the intricate fabrics it can make. Look at all the nice things that happen- they can be a result of karma too. The thing is there isn’t a defined time when the karmic debts/credits are settled. That’s sometimes why good things happen to bad people & bad things happen to good people. There’s more than one thread of karma being dealt with at a time, and we play a part at soul level in what happens in our earthly lives.

Another point to consider… perhaps as souls we evolve too… become enlightened in order to move on to something else… another level. Perhaps, as souls, we make mistakes in planning our incarnations… things don’t work out as we expect, just as in decisions we make regarding our lives, our children etc. Surely, once again, forgiveness is in order?

Like I said to begin with, explaining karma is nearly impossible… we’re not equipped to know all the answers, but a different perspective can help us to deal with things here & now. Hopefully it might help you get your head around a few things...