How Karma Works

Dear ATS Members,

I would like to post something which is close to my heart. How Karma works...

The reason for this post is to raise awareness and hope that many of you consider the consequences of your thoughts, words and actions and how they impact the people and the world around you.

Many people do not believe in Karma. They look at it as a mumbo-jumbo philosophy and give it very little credit.
Karma is widely respected in many eastern religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism as well as in many New Age belief systems.

Many believe the principles of Karma are based on action-reaction and the natural laws of causation and as i would tend to agree i would like to put forward another explenation.

The current laws of Karma would indicate that if you were to swing a cat by its tail for fun, causing distress to that cat...at some point down the line that Karma would come back to you. It is thought that Karma runs in an outward energy vehicle..hence what you put out into the world comes back to you from the world.

My idea is somewhat more internal. Take for example an emotionally envoking ATS thread...

Someone puts out an idea that does not sit well with you and posts to their hearts content all the things that unsettle and upset you. You are provoked into a heated reaction of words..

You may channel that energy within you and allow it to come out in a well constructed reply, one that is thoughtful and considerate and respectful or you could allow the thread to overwhelm you emotionally and thus you are compelled to give as good as you get..

Now many would believe that the Karma you give back would travel not only to the recipient but also every other member that reads your post..in the same way others watching you swing that cat by its tail would be impacted by your actions..

This all unfolds outwardly. The energy travels from you to your outside would and its observers. Perhaps a week later you write a post and someone is emotionally provked by your post and remembers what you wrote and thinks it's time for payback.. that would be one form of action-reaction or cause and effect. Perhaps someone would post a heated reply but did not see your initial reply on the other persons thread.. some would say that it the law of causation at work or cause and effect..the universe redistributing your Karma back to you.

Others would say that you would turn into a lower life form in your next life as a result of your collective Karma..
Those are the current models of thought around Karma.

I would propose another idea.. the internal Karma that goes on within us on an unconscious or subconcious level.

Deep down i believe that we all know right from wrong. We all have that moment where we think.. oh heck what have i gone and done now? We may not verbalise it or express it out in the open, but when you have done something untoward to someone and you know it.. your intuition and your instincts tell you.

This is a form of internal processing and how i believe Karma shapes us.

For each thought, action or word we produce, we have internal processes working in the background. We may not be aware of it but sometimes you might catch yourself second guessing..this would be your consciousness at work.. or the little angel or devil on your shoulder saying do it, dont do it...go, dont go and so on...

If you didnt swing that cat or didnt reply heatedly to that thread your subconscious would not have to process your actions and place them into internal positive or negative catagories. There would be nothing for the super consciousness to judge or weigh up. Given that you did it places those thoughts and actions on your unique blue print and shapes your future. Hence the saying you reep what you sow.

Many of us try to find inner peace or balance in our lives.. that old persuit of happyness..

Would it not stand to reason that if you channeled all the incoming energy and allowed it to manifest in the world around you constructively and positively rather than emotionally heated or negatively, that you would infact have a more peaceful and balanced Karma?

And that if you went around swinging cats or bashing threads that you would simply go around feeling unsettled and aggitated?

Perhaps but it is my thought of the day to you..

Peace and Love

Nicely Put. S&F

You have now put into words, what a lot of people, I assume, would feel at times and they now can relate it to something.


Anything that helps us understand that we can be more in tune with ourselves and our actions has to be a good philosophy.

reply to post by Oxygenation


Instant Karma can be a total kick in the guts, if only more people received it.

On topic, nice thread, I totally believe in Karma, and what is interesting is that it doesn't always happen in THIS life, if you get my drift.

Cheers for the thread.

I'm still on the fence when it comes to believing in Karma. On the one hand, the concept seems like a logical way for our Souls to experience justice; our good decisions result in positive outcomes and our bad decisions result in negative outcomes. The consequences of our actions determine our destiny.

On the other hand, Karma seems like a very convenient way to explain the unknown by appealing to fear and demanding people act in a certain way. If you do what our society considers good, you will be rewarded; if you do what our society considers bad, you will be punished and pay for it in your next life. Start behaving and you will reincarnate into a happy spiritual being, misbehave and you will be an insect!

The other problem I have with Karma is this idea of a Universal Right and Wrong. Who or what decides whether an action is essentially right or wrong? Doesn't it depend on the society/culture the person was raised and their past experience, among other variables?

When reading one of my Light of Consciousness magazines a few months ago, it had an article in it about Karma. It said that there are people who choose to be victim souls in this life ... to suffer in order to burn up bad karma so that others will not be weighted down with their bad karma, and that they can then proceed on to higher levels. This comes close to what the Catholic church teaches about suffering. That being - that those who suffer in this life burn up the 'sin debt' (my word, not theirs) for themselves and others, so that those others can receive Grace and be 'saved'.

It's not exactly the same ... but the idea looks similar.

Alan Watts explains all the different culture and religious meaning for Karma on this video:
youtu.be...

Originally posted by Dark Ghost
I'm still on the fence when it comes to believing in Karma. On the one hand, the concept seems like a logical way for our Souls to experience justice; our good decisions result in positive outcomes and our bad decisions result in negative outcomes. The consequences of our actions determine our destiny.

On the other hand, Karma seems like a very convenient way to explain the unknown by appealing to fear and demanding people act in a certain way. If you do what our society considers good, you will be rewarded; if you do what our society considers bad, you will be punished and pay for it in your next life. Start behaving and you will reincarnate into a happy spiritual being, misbehave and you will be an insect!

The other problem I have with Karma is this idea of a Universal Right and Wrong. Who or what decides whether an action is essentially right or wrong? Doesn't it depend on the society/culture the person was raised and their past experience, among other variables?

The rules of Karma are not made up by society the are made up by god/source/all and are absolute. You will make bad decisions and get bad karma because you do not know any better or have been taught by society what is right. Karma is not there to be a judgment really, but to get you to learn the lesson on how you should interact withother souls and you always have to pay the karmabill. There can be instances where society is all wrong and you are right karmawise. Just because you are alone against others who don't get it do not make you wrong. Karma should be discussed with it counterpart evolution. Animals evolve over long time. A person evolve over his life. A soul evolves over million/billion of years. Your soul sometimes evolve forward sometimes backwards. You sometimes need to take the same class/life several times to get it. You always change. Being static/the same is an illusion. There is no real hurry only lessons that are uncomfortable sometimes. Every life is especially chosen for you for some reason. It is up to you to figure out that reason. Some lifes you pay the karma for past lifes. You have all the time in existance to evolve. We can not reach the endpoint until all souls have evolved and there is a lot of ants left to evolve . God can only be whole again when all souls are in the light again from my point of view. All souls are part of the devine, part of the one that is all.

A few examples on karma:
A rich man in one life that will only persue what he/she wants and use others will in the next life experiance being on the bottom of the pyramid and experiance the damage he did in the last life. Being racist is stupid because the next life you will become the other race. Judging someone on religon is also stupid because you will become what you have hated before. You will experiance the other side.

Above are just my thoughts on karma/evolution. If they don't make sense to you ignore them. We all have our own path to walk because we are all unique but still our soul have the same value (how unenlightened or enlightened our souls is do not matter in that case). Love a soulbrother. Namaste

Originally posted by FlyersFan
When reading one of my Light of Consciousness magazines a few months ago, it had an article in it about Karma. It said that there are people who choose to be victim souls in this life ... to suffer in order to burn up bad karma so that others will not be weighted down with their bad karma, and that they can then proceed on to higher levels. This comes close to what the Catholic church teaches about suffering. That being - that those who suffer in this life burn up the 'sin debt' (my word, not theirs) for themselves and others, so that those others can receive Grace and be 'saved'.

It's not exactly the same ... but the idea looks similar.

For me it is the same but from a Catholic view. You can see the devine from every religon. Sometimes you need to hurt a lot because it removes unhealthy knowledge from you and get you back to basics. The core you where you can be one with your soul.

What I wonder is how many seeds/buddhas are on this planet now? They seem to be here in big numbers now.

One seed trying to keep a suicidal seed from going home:
Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise
www.youtube.com...

One seed awakeening
Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight (Official Video)
www.youtube.com...

Another seed awakeening
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
www.youtube.com...

Seed angry with god for the situation and want to go home
Counting Crows - Angels of the silences
www.youtube.com...

I spent a few months with a Tibetan lama at a retreat studying karma. A few months doesn't even scratch the surface of the subject. Even the Dalai Lama says he does not fully understand it. It's said that you understand it as you die, if you're enlightened, for a split second.

You've done a wonderful job of summarizing the concept, OP!

The funniest misconception (totally makes me laugh when I see this...) about karma is when someone experiences an awful event (their own karma has ripened and is being reaped) and they immediately start blaming someone for their suffering. Usually they start saying that the one they blame is making bad karma.....so they better watch out.

The truth is that the accusing victim is the one who made the bad karma in the past (past life). Blaming someone else doesn't help with learning the lesson, taking responsibility for ones' actions and moving forward. It's 'retarded'...as in retarded understanding, direction and growth....moving backwards and projecting.....creating more bad karma through anger, blame and maybe even committing an act to seek revenge.

That's generally how most Americans use 'karma' in their own lives.....to blame others! Go beyond!

Anger is the most destructive emotion. A few minutes of anger can destroy lifetimes of good karma and good deeds. (Patience is the antidote for anger.)

To me, Karma and Reincarnation are the only things that make sense to me. I feel that where we are today, is directly related to what we have done in the past. When people say, GOD is a loving GOD, then why would a force that is all powerful, and loving, not stop all the insane, and brutally horrific things that take place in this world? If reincarnation and karma are true, then it would be what was done in the past that causes the terrible things that happen. Either there is a plan to life, or it is just a random set of events that make no sense. I try to believe there is a plan, and try to live my life so I don't create negative Karma. If I am wrong, I have nothing to lose. If I am right, hopefully I can advance to a higher exsistance, where there is no chaos, and pain, and all the bad things that can happen on this earth.

Some will say, what about all the people killed by a tornado, or earthquake, or war, did they all have negative Karma to deal with? If Karma is true, then yes they did. Groups of people reincarnate together, from what I have read. I have often thought of why the Jews had to suffer so much at he hands of the Germans. if Karma and reincarnation are true, then maybe it is possible the Germans were once a people that were tortured and killed by a group of people that reincarnated as the Jews, to suffer what they had caused. Maybe the Jews were once the Romans, that tortured, and killed people in the Colusieum.

To me personally, I feel we have to have advanced to a point spiritually, that we no longer would even think about doing something that would create negative Karma. Then we could advance to a higher level. To an exsistance where there is no pain and suffering. There are no earthquakes, tornados, floods, droughts or extreme weather. There is no hate, greed, or any negative human emotion.

I am not a religious person. I try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. I don't go to a Church, or follow any established religion. I do believe there was a person named Jesus, that tried to show his fellow humans how to live, to be more spirtually advanced. One of the things he told his followers was "These things you shall do, and much more". I think he meant we would be able to do things that to some, would be called Miracles. I think that when we have advanced to the point, that knowing the consequences of negative Karma, the thought of doing something that would hurt another, or cause negative things to happen, would not even enter our thought process. At that point, we would be able to do the things that would be considered Miracles. We would have only the ability to do good, and not be able to use our abilities to do things that would hurt another soul.

Hopefully, we will all soon realize, that the only way out of this life, in an exsistance where there is so much pain, and horrible things, is to, love your fellow human beings, be honest, helpful, caring, giving, and realize everything we do is recorded in the book of life..

I have a few questions to ponder upon. What does forgiveness do with karma? As I think about it I recall karma as some sort of battle, a clinch. A some sort of hate towards eachother where one doesn't want to be less than the other. There exists and end to karma. Free of karma. (while alive!!)

Personal transformation.

It's very weird. Karma is something you don't want. Looking back it seems useless. There is no order in karma. Justice? What has justice got to do with it?

I think about God. Put God into the scene and you get forgiveness, and justice and so on. The world is to fckd p to argue with.

"getting sick again".

byez

p.s. karma makes me think about psychosis. yoo!

Originally posted by etherical waterwave
I have a few questions to ponder upon. What does forgiveness do with karma? As I think about it I recall karma as some sort of battle, a clinch. A some sort of hate towards eachother where one doesn't want to be less than the other. There exists and end to karma. Free of karma. (while alive!!)

Personal transformation.

It's very weird. Karma is something you don't want. Looking back it seems useless. There is no order in karma. Justice? What has justice got to do with it?

I think about God. Put God into the scene and you get forgiveness, and justice and so on. The world is to fckd p to argue with.

"getting sick again".

byez

p.s. karma makes me think about psychosis. yoo!

There is good karma + and bad karma -. You want the book to be positive. That you have done more good than bad. All books could be positive since you do not remove good karma from anyone when you do good things. The end of karma probably means the chain of karma between two people that have done each other wrong is broken. Forgivness is about letting go both for victim and the one responsible.

What if the victim will not let go and waste a life hurting the responsible back in the next life and the cycle continues. If I am a victim then I will let go because I dont want to be involved in the stupid karmachain. If I am responsible then I will do what I can to make it right and if not possible let go because me overthinking the bad action I have done will not make it better. Learn the lesson and move on and do good things to build up more good karma.

For me I do not really do good things for the karmabook. I don't really care about my balance. I do it for how it makes me feel good and I like seeing other people smiling. I would still do what I think is right even if there was no karma because it is the right thing to do. I am all about striving to be a better me. Namaste

Sorry....but Karma doesn't exist. If you knew how incarnations worked here....you would know this.

I don't doubt that Karma exists....it's really what people in the west would translate to "Luck"....

Why are some people Lucky ?

And some people very unlucky ?

Also, have any of the doubters ever heard of the old saying " What goes around ...Comes Around. " ?

This is in essence the same thing and ....

Whatever the terminology there exists positive and negative energy.

Dish out lots of negativity....it's all comes back to you...

Dish out lots of positive....it also comes back in return in kind.

And you reap exactly what you sow.

And translates into what we commonly call "Luck".



Peace

Originally posted by larnhr
Sorry....but Karma doesn't exist. If you knew how incarnations worked here....you would know this.

Welll, if we have the karma theory wrong & you know how incarnations work here, won't you share these views?

karma is like water trying to level out

Originally posted by etherical waterwave
I have a few questions to ponder upon. What does forgiveness do with karma? As I think about it I recall karma as some sort of battle, a clinch. A some sort of hate towards eachother where one doesn't want to be less than the other. There exists and end to karma. Free of karma. (while alive!!)

Personal transformation.

It's very weird. Karma is something you don't want. Looking back it seems useless. There is no order in karma. Justice? What has justice got to do with it?

I think about God. Put God into the scene and you get forgiveness, and justice and so on. The world is to fckd p to argue with.

"getting sick again".

byez

p.s. karma makes me think about psychosis. yoo!

RA via the "Ra Material: "In forgiveness lies the stoppage of the wheel of karma."

think about it. it's deep.

Great thread...
S & F for you my friend.
We get back what we throw out there, every last bit of it.
If you believe in karma you recognize it right away.
When you regognize it, you learn not to make the same mistake twice.
Those who believe in karma, also have a tendency to bring karma.

PLPL

I find this sadly and ironically amusing. If this was a Christian thread, then the haters would be all over the place.

However, if its some Eastern philosophy with, of course; zero evidence of reincarnation, zero evidence of this 'energy', zero evidence of Karma in a verifiable scientific manner, people giving only speculative opinion on some magic force or some experiential 'proof'...

well that's all fine & dandy, and your are enlightened.... unbelievable!