On the Nature of Karma
© 2005
>> I know that karma is a complicated subject but I just wanted to know some things:
1- If someone do something wrong, this person will have to pay for it in order to learn the lesson right?
2- And when this payment ends, the karmic problem (a disease for example) will go away right?
3- But if the person has done bad things in his past lives and now he is a different person, and he has already learned the lesson? He will have to get sick (for example) too? Even that he has already learned the lesson?
4- It is possible that without having done bad things a person suffer from karma "punishment"?
5- Or is put in a negative situation full of problems, in order to learn lessons?
6- Can the judges of Saturn and the beings that obey and work for them be wrong?
Or mistaken? I imagine not but I just wanted to ask. <<
To answer your questions we must explore the concept of 'karma'.
As human beings we possess "free will", or more accurately "freedom of choice". We have, at all times, an absolute *personal* power to choose between this or that action, thought, emotion, etc. And as Nature shows us clearly, for every action there is an equal reaction; or in this case, *for every choice taken there is an equal consequence*. And to the same degree that we are *responsible* for choosing, we are equally *responsible* for the consequences of our choices. There are no choices taken without consequences for which *we* are personally responsible.
The Universe in which we live exists solely for the purpose of our personal growth and maturation. As we weave our web of choices, the Universe reflects the natural consequences of our choices back to us. *This* is what we call "karma". Karma is the primary expression of the Divine Principle of Love within the human experience. It is the Divine looking after us and *making sure* that we are *always* presented with the *best* opportunities to make the *correct* choices and thereby evolve "spiritually".
The consequences inherent to each one of our choices affect the Universe and the Universe responds to this effect by adjusting and adapting itself to our choices. It adapts to our choices by reflecting their consequences back into our lives in whatever way will best serve for us to learn a better, more holistic way of being and of choosing. The *only* "motivation" for this reciprocation between us and the Universe is Divine Love. There is no anger, no "I'm punishing you for being a bad boy", and so on, involved whatsoever.
Nor is there any "I'm rewarding you because you were a good boy". *ALL* of our choices have consequences to which the Universe must adapt itself, regardless of whether they were positive or negative choices. And since we do not attain an absolute Perfection as human beings, even our most positive choices produce consequences that contain lessons for still further growth. Ultimately, there is neither "good" nor "bad" karma -- there is only 'Karma'.
The causal agent of the Universe's reciprocal reaction to our choices is often (in occultism) referred to as the "Lords of Karma", said to reside within the (Hermetic) Saturn Zone or (Kabbalistic) Binah. This is really a poor symbolization of the objective truth in that it tends to keep us separate from these so called "Lords of Karma". It implies that they are continuously looking down upon us and judging our every action, thought, etc. Unfortunately, this couldn't be further from the truth!
The objective truth (as opposed to the subjective, symbolic truth) is that the causal agent of our karma is *our own Self*, just a higher level of Self than our incarnate mundane self. We each are intimately connected to our own "Lord of Karma", so to speak!
The sole causal agent of our personal karma -- the one who adjusts our universe so that it *always* leads us *forward* in our evolution -- is what I call our "Greater Self". [If you are unfamiliar with my term, 'Greater Self', then please do a search of my website for that phrase and especially, read http://www.ABardonCompanion.com/Sowantha.html ]
Our Greater Self is our *eternal* mental body which has no beginning and no ending and which exists at the Kabbalisitic level of Binah (Saturn Zone), within the eternal realm. It is our Greater Self which projects our own Individual Self (among countless others) into the temporal realm. This projection of Self into the temporal realm also serves to create and sustain the substance of the temporal realm. Thus it is our own Greater Self, with which we possess the most intimate relationship, that adjusts the Universe within which we exist, to *always* meet our deepest and truest *needs* (not necessarily our "wants").
So instead of being about punishment and reward, Karma is all about Love. It *seems* negative at times to our experience but this is *only* because we are, in that moment, *resisting* what our Greater Self has set before us. If, on the other hand, we are able to recognize that *EVERY* thing, thought, emotion, circumstance, object, friend, lover, etc., the Universe blesses us with, is there *only* to lead us forward in the best way possible for us in that moment -- then there is neither good nor bad karma, but *only* Love. And when we live with this perspective on Karma, we evolve rapidly because we are then taking advantage of the absolute best opportunity, custom designed just for us in that moment, and are working hand-in-hand *with* the Divine instead of resisting its Will.
In other words, Karma is a precious, precious Gift -- not a burden or debt.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
22 Sept 2005