“Not only is there often a right and wrong, but what goes around does come around, Karma exists, chickens do come home to roost, and as my mother, Phyllis, liked to say, “There is always a day of reckoning.” The good among the great understand that every choice we make adds to the strength or weakness of our spirits—ourselves, or to use an old fashioned word for the same idea, our souls. That is every human’s life work: to construct an identity bit by bit, to walk a path step by step, to live a life that is worthy of something higher, lighter, more fulfilling, and maybe even everlasting.” ― The Good Among the Great: 19 Traits of the Most Admirable, Creative, and Joyous People
Karma suggests that we are responsible for our own fate. In Hinduism and Buddhism, it suggests we are born with a certain karma that we were responsible for in a past life, and we carry with us things we have to resolve that was not resolved then. It seems to me it is all about consequences. If we live good lives, we bring with us, good karma. If we have not lived good lives, we carry forward those negatives to work on. It is said that our deeds determine our destiny. Christianity follows an edict that says, “as a man sows, so must he reap”!
Karma ideation comes from the idea of reincarnation. It is cyclical and we are linked to our other lives, our other pasts, because the soul goes on and on, although the body does not. So, our soul goes on and on, from one life to the next. It is the soul that is responsible for our moral acts, or our immoral acts.
We can change negative karma through the Law of Grace. It is through forgiveness and our experiencing the fullness of our actions. The law of grace requires that we open our hearts and really feeling the hurt we caused, the strong feelings of pain we inflicted and we feel it so strongly that we go to make things right. But, only when the other person, for instance, forgives us, do we turn the negative karma around. That is powerful... it is not about us getting our own forgiveness, it is that those we hurt forgive us! Holy, we have a lot of work to do to get others to truly forgive us, according to the Law of Grace.
Perhaps it is why some people do as much good as they can possibly do. They are turning their karma around. They might be making up for the negatives. I think I am one of those. I am driven to do good things for others. Is that because I, without thought, am trying to make up for my negatives. Chute. Probably. I have always said, given the chance to live this life over again, would I? Heck no. There are bits and pieces, like giving birth to my children., that I would relive, but for the most part, no. So, my soul must be busy at work beneath the surface driving me to do good things for others, with right intentions, because I can also be negative and I need to, somehow, make up for those. I, also, believe that, when I have truly done something good, I am rewarded.
For instance, I believed that I had done something good in order for the miracle of my maternal birth family finding me. Throughout my life, I have had serendipitous moments that felt like gifts. I always chalked that up to being gifts for my good actions. Then, when I lost them, I was devastated because the good felt so temporary. I would question how on earth the gift could be taken back. I had no answer for that happening other than I was not meant for such joy it had brought. My soul is very harsh on me betimes. It is a task master, carries retribution, and, yet, gives such joy. Do people give up and simply accept karma without turning it around?
There is something in me that is driven. It is driven to help others, to do good acts of kindness, to love in spite of themselves or myself. I have loved the wrong people. I have lost what felt like the right people. My soul is constantly teaching me lessons. Perhaps that is karma at the core. It is our teacher, however hard a taskmaster it might be. It makes “suggestions” through actions that happen to us, and we need to learn that lesson not to have to have it show up again, and perhaps.. again and again.
What think you about karma?
©Carol Desjarlais 11.16.23
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