Create only Neutral or Positive Consequences
These days, it is quite common to hear references to the term karma. You may hear a friend bemoan a loss in their life as being their ‘bad karma’, or a co-worker point out someone else’s harmful behavior as bringing them ‘bad karma’ or the tip jar at your favorite restaurant might say ‘good karma!’. This term has become widely used in North America; what exactly does it refer to?
Western thought is rooted in Judeao-Christian religious philosophy. Even if we do not consider ourselves to be Christian, most of us have been conditioned to view the world according to the Judeao-Christian belief system. Ideas taught to us as children remain in our minds unexamined and impact our lives in the present without us being completely aware of it. If you were raised being rewarded when you did something your parents liked, and punished when you did something that they didn’t, you likely have ingrained in your psyche a practice of viewing yourself and others in terms of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Lurking somewhere behind this type of thinking is the belief in a cosmic judge who watches over us, delivering rewards and punishments. Think of Santa Claus—it is the same type of figure, isn’t it? “Better watch out, better think twice...” It is important to release the term karma from this Western religious mindset.
Karma has its origins in Hindu philosophy and refers to a natural law of the universe that is completely impersonal. It would be more accurate to translate this word into the English language as “consequence”. The Law of Karma means that this universe operates under the rules of cause and effect. As long as you are in this reality, every single thing you do has a result. It’s a bit like the Law of Gravity. If you are holding a glass of water and you let it go, it will fall. Does it matter if you wish you hadn’t done it? No. Does it matter if you didn’t mean to? No. Your intentions, whether helpful or harmful, have no impact on this natural law. For every action there is a consequence. It is that simple and that serious.
Christian thinking has had a profound impact on the way that people live on this planet. The idea that our good intentions or feelings of regret can erase the consequences of our actions is simply not true. Karma isn’t being meted out by a personal force: it is a law of the universe. Therefore no amount of wishing, repenting, praying, seeking forgiveness or feeling guilty is going to change the result of any action that has already been completed. Your actions have results. Everything you do has a consequence. You will live with the results of your actions, and so will all the rest of us.
Living with greater awareness means coming to terms with this basic concept. Developing greater maturity requires that we recognize our personal accountability for our actions. Not because anyone is watching over you, not because you are going to go to heaven or hell or be rewarded or punished; because there isn’t anyone watching over you! We’ve all seen people in the world around us succeed by committing harmful actions. How many of us have tried to do business by our ethical values and lost money? This has led to a great deal of despair and helplessness in general amongst people. If there isn’t a cosmic deity watching what’s going on and mitigating judgments and punishments to keep things in balance, then it really doesn’t matter what you do here—except that your choices are creating the future. Taking responsibility is a way of living wherein you think before acting, and you choose what action to take based upon the result you wish to achieve.
The Path to Healing Yourself begins with this realization. You are the product of all past choices made. You will need to take some time to come to terms with this. This is what the first step—‘Purify Yourself of Negativity’ is about. You will need to get mad, get sad, get sick, remember pain, speak out, speak up, learn to say ‘no’ and grieve all that you’ve lost as a result of poor choices—your own and others. This is the process of clearing yourself out, of doing an internal inventory of all that you are made of and deciding what to keep and what to leave behind. What is alive in you? What do you want to continue propagating? What do you want to uproot permanently? This is the process of taking charge of your life, realizing that you are the only one who has control over your own lineage, because you are the product of your lineage and you are empowered to live here right now. What poison is in your lineage that you could pass on? What could you change? And as you do this work, you will begin to think very carefully about your own choices—how are they impacting you, others, the planet? Begin making better choices.
This section provides information on how to make better choices in your daily habits of eating, purchasing, and consumption of natural resources. You can reduce the impact humans are having on the rest of the natural world. Making changes in your personal lifestyle will bring you a great deal of peace, knowing you are living more in harmony with the world around you. We are not the only beings alive in this universe. Both religion and science have failed us in this regard. The universe is not a compilation of separate dead things that suddenly gave birth to human life. The whole system is integrated and alive. Since you are only one part of it, you may want to honor the Life in other beings as well as your own, and respect the right of all elements of Life to live in freedom and die with dignity. Any changes you are willing to make in your lifestyle to minimize the harm you cause to other forms of Life will have a positive impact on this Living System called the universe.
For more information, check out the Resource Guide.