Karmic Relationships and Loving Acceptance
© 2001
>> I have read that people often go through many incarnations closely associated with the same group of people in family / business / friendship situations to work out certain karmic debts or problems they have between them. <<
There is also another aspect to this sort of mutuality of purpose aside from the resolution of karmic debt. Some of us incarnate together intentionally for the creation of Beauty and for the sheer joy of being together. :)
>> Also, is it possible to take on someone else's karma, at least in part? <<
In certain cases, yes, this is possible. But in general, all we can do is help another work out their own karma.
>> Using the example above, if the wife, having advanced spiritually, is not adversely affected even by the beatings i.e., she understands and feels loving compassion for the husband in his ignorance, will this lower the karmic effects of his actions towards her? <<
Not really, this would primarily effect the wife's karma, not the husband's. Your own accumulation of karma has very little to do with how another person receives your actions. However, the manner in which another receives or reacts to your own actions can have a significant impact on your understanding of the ramifications of your actions and their subsequent karmic consequences. In other words, if your husband beats you and your response is one of loving compassion, then this may help him to resolve this karmic issues but you will not be resolving them for him.
As an aside, considering the nature of your analogy, I have to say that to most abusive husbands, such a reaction of passivity to their abuse would be more likely to incite them further and deepen their psychosis. My point being that you have to be careful how you conceptualize spiritual advancement -- passive acceptance of abuse in the hopes of manipulating your abuser into changing is not a sign of "advancement". This is manipulation, not love; and represents a continuation of karmic debt, not its resolution.
>> I'm using the extreme example above, but can this also be used in everyday life, with everyone we deal with on a day to day basis? If we don't allow anyone's negative actions to affect us negatively, then are we not also somehow preventing them from accruing negative karma in relation to ourselves? <<
No. What you are doing is making sure that you do not participate in the creation of a mutual karmic debt. This will lessen the ultimate debt incurred by the other person, but it will not absolve them from responsibility for their own actions.
This attitude you describe of not allowing another's negative action to incite a negative response from you, is the essence of what it means to experience an Elemental Equilibrium. It is also the first step in understanding divine Love.
At its root is the certainty of self-love as well as other-love. Ultimately it is all Self-Love but it manifests as these two phases. Once we have come to love and accept our own self, there is no external influence that can mar that beauty. Nothing that can diminish that solid foundation of self because the whole of self has been accepted with love. There remains no Achilles' heel.
When that same self-love and self-acceptance is turned outward towards 'other', we create a safe place for this 'other' to be exactly and completely themselves. This is a "sacred" space that we have the power to give to others and the giving of it is a very powerful act of magic. We are so rarely given this blessing of loving acceptance that when we do receive it, it is a cathartic, transformative experience.
When we give this sacred space to another person who is projecting negativity toward us, we do not directly diffuse their negativity. What we do is allow them to spend it without a target, thus giving them an opportunity to self-examine. Most often this results in a diffusion of the negativity, but the actual work of diffusing is accomplished by the negativizer since it is their own negativity. We are only affording them the perfect atmosphere for self-examination and self-transformation.
When negativity meets a solid target that reacts with negativity, the original negativity is multiplied exponentially. So when we remove ourselves from that equation by refusing to respond in kind, we eliminate the multiplication of negativity. Ultimately, a projected negativity that finds no target to multiply itself through, will either turn upon itself or dissipate.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
23 Dec 2001
>> Knowing this, the answer to your question about whether we can help others with their karma becomes clear - of course ! It has long been said that the presence of one Master can light up a whole room (this alludes to what Bardon mentions in IIH regarding eastern practices of transmission of light between Master and Apprentice). <<
The essence of this practice, whatever Traditional form it takes, is really quite simple. It bodes back to what I just wrote to concerning the creation of that sacred space of loving acceptance for 'other', except that for the true Master, 'other' and 'self' are encompassed within Unitary Self. This adds a new dimension to what I described above.
This is a more dynamic space in that it almost forces the 'other' to self-examine AND it opens the 'other' to the inner world *as the Master experiences it*. In other words, this space turns the 'other's' focus directly and immediately inward and simultaneously reveals a realm that the 'other' would not have so easily or quickly accessed on their own.
This is also the essence of what a true Initiator does. The Initiatrix creates a specific state or level of awareness within their own self and then encompasses the 'other', thus simultaneously directing the 'other's' focus and revealing the designated state/level.
This ability can be seen in its most rudimentary form in the common ability to put another at ease (a matter of acceptance and love). For the Master, this becomes a fully conscious faculty, multiplied by the fact of their Unity. In the hands of a Master, it becomes an Art. A Master can tailor their projection of this sacred space so that it perfectly fits the needs of 'other' and of Self, simultaneously.
My love to you,
:) Rawn Clark
23 Dec 2001