Karma
By
James Harvey Stout (deceased). This material is now in the public
domain. The complete collection of Mr. Stout's writing is now at
http://stout.mybravenet.com/public_html/h/
>
Jump to these paragraphs:
- What is karma?
- The subject of karma
has been explored from many perspectives.
- What is the purpose of
karma?
- Karma causes many
problems.
- We can act without
creating extraneous karma.
- We can
develop our ability to recognize karma.
- We can resolve
our existing karma.
What is karma? It is the law of
cause-and-effect. The "cause" can be any type of action (including a
person's thoughts and behaviors); the "effect" is the action's
consequence (including the material and psychological conditions of
our life). Every action creates an effect; thus, we are constantly
creating karma. However, many spiritual teachers have suggested means
by which we can act without creating karma. This discrepancy
is due to a variance of definition:
- In the first definition, karma is viewed simply as an effect.
Every action causes something else to happen.
- In the second definition, karma is viewed as an unwanted,
extraneous effect. This extraneous effect occurs when we do
not comply exactly with the situation's dynamics (as perceived by
intuition). Instead, our action is inexact due to factors such as
the irrelevant imposition of greed or vanity or another
dysfunctional force; for example, a member of a "team" (in sports
or at work or in a family) might care more about "showing off"
than about participating in the group effort. In those situations,
the karmic payback might occur in the form of a decreased quality
of work, and an alienation from the other people.
The subject of karma
has been explored from many perspectives.
- Eastern religions. Karma is a common topic in Buddhism,
Hinduism (particularly in "karma yoga"), and other eastern
religions. Those religions explore various aspects of personal
action:
- The cause of action. We examine the reasons why we act: our
motivations, our inner guidance -- and our sense of duty
and service and morality and dharma.
- Ourselves as the actor. We explore our role as an
impersonal agent of action, such that we are merely doing what
is to be done, without adding extraneous elements (e.g., vanity
or greed).
- The effect of action.
- The psychological effect. We learn to be detached from
the effect; we simply did what was meant to be done, and so
we do not seek acclaim. We are not anxious about the
results; we are satisfied merely to have fulfilled our
responsibility.
- The karmic effect. The religions say that we are not
karmically tied to the results, because we were merely
allowing the actions to occur through us.
- Science. In studying the dynamics of the universe, science
continually deals with the cause and effects of events. This
principle is stated most directly in the Second Law of
Thermodynamics: "For every action, there is an opposite and equal
reaction."
- Metaphysics and the occult. These fields examine the
principles of spirit and the human psyche. In particular, we learn
how our thoughts and actions manifest our world; from this
perspective, we are studying karma as a creative process --
performing a specific act to cause a specific effect.
- Everyday life. As explained in the chapter regarding "The
Grandma Principle," we frequently refer to karma in every aspect
of life. For example:
- The concept as it might be stated by a wise grandma (thus,
"The Grandma Principle"): "You made your bed; now you have to
sleep in it."
- Psychology: "Taking responsibility for our life is a sign
of psychological maturity."
- Business: "You didn't pay your electric bill, so we're
turning off your power."
- Relationships: "She dumped you because you cheated on her."
- Parenting: "You are grounded because you lied to me."
- The judicial system: "You violated a law, so you are going
to prison."
- Slang: "What goes around, comes around."
- Archetypal fields. Whenever there is an interaction with an
archetype, we generate thoughts, images, energies, and physical
material. These "archetypal elements" leave a "record" in the
corresponding archetypal field; for example, if we are interacting
with the Teacher archetype, we leave these records in our
reciprocal archetype, i.e., the Student archetype. This record is
our karma; the a-field elements are our "samskaras" (which
is a Sanskrit term). The elements will affect our behavior during
future encounters with that archetype; the amount of karmic effect
will depend upon our compliance with intuition during the current
archetypal encounter:
- If we comply with intuition, we precisely perceive the
dynamics of the situation. With this perception, we are able to
generate the thoughts, images, energies, and actions which
perfectly match those dynamics; i.e., we respond appropriately
and effectively to the situation as it is. Because of this
match, the elements discharge their charge; all that remains is
a bare record, which serves as a memory and a reference (to
which we will refer when we encounter this archetype again).
- If we do not comply with intuition, we are "defaulting" to
another source of guidance, e.g., logic, emotion, past
experience, etc. These other sources of guidance are not based
upon the wholistic perception which is provided by intuition;
instead, they try to formulate our response in other ways,
e.g., logic's processing of known data (in contrast to
intuition's perception of all dynamic factors, even those which
are not known consciously), emotion's instinctive reactions
(which tend to be unfocused and primitive), past experience
(which differs significantly from the unique matrix of
this experience), etc. Thus, our resulting thoughts,
images, energies and actions do not perfectly match the
dynamics of this situation. Because of this mis-match, the
elements do not discharge all of their charge; for example, our
logic suggested that we say a particular statement -- but the
statement was not thoroughly appropriate, because it did not
account for factors which were not known and thus were not
considered in the preparation of our statement, and so the
charge of our statement does not "connect" perfectly with the
situation. The charge which did not connect (and thus did not
discharge) stays in the archetypal field, and it clings to the
residue of the inappropriate thoughts which we expressed. This
charge is the force which powers karma. It is such a powerful
force that it will compel us (through the processes which we
call "desire" and "attachment") to re-create that archetypal
situation, specifically for the purpose of discharging the
residual charge of those thoughts; when we have re-entered that
archetypal situation, we will be compulsively motivated to say
or do whatever is necessary to discharge that lingering energy.
We will continue to re-create the same circumstances until (1)
we have discharged all of the lingering energy, and (2) we have
learned to confront that particular archetype with the
appropriateness which is possible only through the
perceptiveness and guidance which is available from intuition.
People (consciously or unconsciously) can sense the energetic
charge of our a-field constellations (i.e., groups of
associated thoughts, images, energy tones, and habits), so they
are attracted to us (consciously or unconsciously) if they have
reciprocal constellations; for example, a person who has a
constellation which honors aggression will be drawn to a person
who has a constellation filled with images and thoughts of
victimization -- and vice versa, the victim is attracted to the
aggressor. All the while, the souls observe these two
constellations interacting as the people's conflict and pain
reveal the impropriety of the elements, and reveal also the
individuals' need to regain the objectivity and freedom and
wholeness which would exist in the presence of intuition and of
properly composed constellations.
What is the purpose of karma?
- Karma is a means of education. Karma is simply feedback which
shows us the effect of particular actions; i.e., we discover that
when we do a particular act, we experience a particular result.
Life is thus viewed as a classroom; karma is a means by our tests
are graded. Through our encounter with karma, we study these
subjects:
- We study responsibility. We realize that we are responsible
for the conditions which are in our life. We have no one to
blame; we have no justification for complaint; we are not
"victims." There are no mistakes; there are no accidents.
- We study creativity. Karma is usually viewed as a
destructive force which interferes with our creativity. But the
underlying principle is merely cause-and-effect -- the same
principle which is involved in all forms of creativity. When we
accept the idea that our actions create our personal world (and
thus we willfully direct our thoughts and images and energy and
actions toward a constructive goal), we can use this principle
to create the type of personal world which is best for us; our
karmic education can be one of happiness and fun. When we do
not accept the idea that our actions create our personal
world, our actions are still creative -- but, because of our
lack of focus and discipline, our thoughts, etc., tend to be a
mishmash of conflicting directions which contradict and weaken
one another.
- We study love. Love is not something which we do, or
something which we have to learn; instead it is one of the
innate qualities of the life-energy (i.e., spirit). It occurs
naturally when the contents of our a-fields allow this flow,
i.e., when our thoughts and images and energy and actions are
not blocking the flow. For example, if we indulge thoughts that
we not approve of a person, and that he or she therefore does
not deserve love, we intentionally generate thoughts and images
and energies and actions (i.e., karma) which prevent us from
behaving in a loving manner. The love is still there, because
spirit always connects us to everyone and everything, but we
have created unnatural blockages to the flow in this material
situation. This "love" is not a sentimental type of human love;
instead it is simply the natural dynamic of the impersonal
life-energy which flows between souls. (A further
explanation of this dynamic is given in the chapter regarding
the tao.)
- We study "spiritual" principles. We learn that karma is not
based on "law" in the human sense of the word; if we use the
word "law," we might tend incorrectly to correlate spiritual
law with human law, and thus imagine that we can avoid
consequences with the cosmic equivalent of a shrewd attorney,
or plea bargaining, or a bribe, or an emotional appeal to a
judge and jury. None of those things exist in the concept of
karma. Instead of using the word "law," we might have a
more-productive perspective if we use the word "principle":
"this is how things work" (as in a principle of physics). With
this viewpoint, we can explore cause-and-effect with the
dispassionate attitude of a scientist rather than as a
conniving rogue who is trying to "beat the system" or as a
frightened child of a punishing deity. And underlying those
material things is spirit itself, such that we are not, in
essence, studying material (e.g., people, our psyche, etc.);
instead, we are studying the ways in which spirit moves
through things, inevitably expressing its own nature
even as it passes through the seemingly contradictory nature of
matter. Beyond the superficial appearances of our material
world, karma teaches us about the traits of spirit:
- It is impersonal. It does not value our fortune above
the fortune of others.
- It is wholistic. Its wholeness contains and balances and
unites the dualities of action and reaction, attacker and
prey, yang and yin.
- It is authoritative. It does not yield to our whims, our
desires, our terrors, our human powers, or our social
institutions. When our life is tragic, it is tragic only to
the extent that we have presumed to act in a manner which is
contrary to the irrepressible dynamics of spirit.
- Karma is punishment and reward. We might think of "bad karma"
as a punishment, and "good karma" as a reward. However, there are
problems in this reasoning:
- The concepts of "punishment" and "reward" are merely
value-judgments which are based on our emotional, egoic, and
feeling reaction to a phenomenon; i.e., they are based on
whether we like the phenomenon. However, from an
impersonal viewpoint, there is neither punishment nor
reward; there is simply a result.
- Some people intentionally create good karma (through
generous acts) so that they will gain the corresponding
rewards. However, other people (such as the practitioners of
karma yoga) strive to create no karma, because they
believe that all karma is restrictive, i.e., that "bad karma is
an iron shackle, and good karma is a golden
shackle." (Still other people try to create a balance of
good karma and bad karma.)
- Punishment implies a personal aspect which does not exist
in karma:
- Punishment is an action which one individual does to
another. In contrast, karma is something which we do to
ourselves; i.e., "we are not punished for our sins
but rather we are punished by our sins." I am
receiving my own payback; you are merely an impersonal agent
by which my own indiscretions are returning to me.
- Punishment includes extraneous elements, such as the
punisher's anger, impatience, and vindictiveness. Thus,
punishment is more concerned with the punisher's
satisfaction than with our benefit; i.e., our ability to
learn the lesson which is to be learned. In fact, when we
are subjected to punishment, we might miss the lesson
entirely, because we are distracted; our attention is
focused instead on the character of the punisher -- his or
her cruelty and unfairness and other apparent flaws. If we
demonize the punisher, we might easily overlook our part in
creating the condition -- and we might go one step farther
and actually project our own shortcomings onto the punisher.
From this position in which we are denying the facts, we
cannot learn the lesson which is implied by the facts.
- Punishment derives from the infliction of one person's
values against our own; for example, we value loud music,
but the punisher values serenity. The conflict is between
the values of one human being and the values of another
human being. In contrast, karma derives from the impersonal
dynamics of spirit. Spirit is a tangible (though
non-material) substance which behaves according to
particular principles (like the principles which we would
find in a material substance, like water which is
studied in hydrodynamics); if our values are contrary to
those spiritual principles, our conflict is a foolish one
against life itself -- and against our own life.
- Punishment is based on a battle of wills and power; we
become injured because the punisher is stronger than
ourselves. However, in karma, it is spirit which is
stronger than ourselves with our contrary will. Thus, we do
not experience our defeat as a personal humiliation, which
might lead to desire for revenge or the thought that "if I
were clever and powerful, I could have my way." Instead, we
recognize that spirit cannot be defeated, and that it is not
to be defeated; we have no course but to surrender -- not as
to an external enemy but as to our own life.
- Punishment denies the integrity of the person who is
punished. The punisher does not offer mere feedback by which
we can learn but instead it imposes its own personal
viewpoint which we must internalize in order to stop the
punishment. Because punishment stifles our right to explore
our own perspectives (and our right to make mistakes), we
are "shamed"; that is, we are perceived to be fundamentally
incapable of learning and so we need someone else to tell us
what is real. In contrast, karma itself is a system of
self-education; we can have self-esteem and dignity in the
knowledge that spirit trusts us to learn and master even the
most difficult of spiritual challenges in the long run.
- Karma is a healing process. A karmic payback can be
destructive and painful (and even fatal). And yet it is a healing
-- a balancing, a re-uniting, a restoration, and a regaining of
wholeness. The pain in karmic paybacks is part of the healing
process; it is the part which drives us to seek relief in
spiritual understanding by which we learn about the principles
that must be obeyed in order for the pain to cease. Ultimately,
the goal is not to ease the pain of karma but to understand the
larger dynamic of life in which karma is only one part, and
in which the pain is only a motivator for us to get on with our
lessons in life.
Karma causes many
problems. Despite the assertion that karma is part of an ultimately
benevolent system by which we gain our spiritual education, we tend
to view karma as an unwanted guest in our lives. However, karma is
simply the result of our actions; some of our actions create pleasant
conditions, and some create unpleasant conditions. For example, when
we perform well at our job, our "karma" is expressed in our big
paycheck. Our actions (i.e., our creation of karma) have made our
life the way it is (for better or for worse), in terms of our
relationships, our financial state, our physical health, our skills,
our personality, our psychological and emotional traits, and our
other conditions. In addition to these individual situations (some of
which we might label as "problems" or even "evil"), karma can be
perceived as a disruption with regard to the following points:
- Karma forces us to respond inappropriately and thus
ineffectively. Instead of responding to a current situation in its
unique character and dynamics, we are responding with the charged
thoughts and images and energy and actions which have been
implanted in an archetypal field. Thus, our painful karmic payback
lies in our inefficiency in producing the desired result, and in
the person's (or object's) reaction to our clumsy outburst of
inappropriate emotions and words and actions. "Good karma," too,
is an unwanted commodity; indeed, if our a-field is a collection
of "positive" elements, we respond in a manner which is
overly trusting and giving, rather than a manner which is balanced
and appropriate. The correct response is to intuitively deal with
each situation in its uniqueness, considering the blend of the
situation's requirements and our psychological and material needs
(including, but not dominated by, the need of our a-field elements
to discharge their residual charge from previous encounters with
this archetype). We are still creating a-field elements (because
the mind continues to record our behaviors for future reference in
case this type of situation happens again), but the elements have
such a slight charge that they will be mere non-compelling
reference points when the circumstance recurs.
- Karma restricts our freedom. In any given situation, spirit is
present, and so all archetypes are present, but our attention is
drawn to the particular archetypes with which we need to interact
(because we want to learn about them, or because we have a
residual charge from previous encounters with those archetypes).
Much of our daily life is a confrontation with karmic paybacks;
thus, instead of being free to move on to new adventures, we must
deal with circumstances from our past. However, in payback
situations (and even in new situations), we are free to respond
creatively to the given problem; if we do so (as guided by
intuition's perception of the archetype, the elements of the
archetypal field, and the ideal action at this moment), we can
resolve the past karma such that the condition will not recur.
Perhaps spiritual freedom occurs when:
- All of our unwanted debts have been paid.
- The only conditions in our life are the ones which we want
at this moment. We have not eliminated all of our karma; if
karma is simply an effect from action, we still need to create
effects in order to create our human life -- our home, our
relationships, etc.
- We understand the dynamics of spirit such that our actions
do not create unwanted karma which would bind us to any
corresponding unwanted circumstances in the future.
- Karma is one of the reasons why we are reincarnated. If we
believe in reincarnation, we can see it as a progression of
lifetimes, each of which furthers our spiritual education and
which also provides an opportunity to pay back karmic debts from
previous lifetimes. Many people dislike their human existence, and
so they dislike the karma which retains them in this world for a
continual series of karmic paybacks. However, after the death of
the physical body, their archetypal fields remain intact and so
the unresolved charge from the field's elements requires a rebirth
in which they will recreate the same unsettled circumstances so
that the charge might be dismissed. Other people appreciate
their human existence as an arena in which to learn about life
(i.e., spirit), and they accept (and are even grateful for) karma
and reincarnation as a part of the process. Some religions say
that there is a world of pure spirit where we will dwell when our
karma has been resolved, and where we will experience love and
wholeness (i.e., no duality); in my model of archetypal fields, we
attain this "heavenly" state as we achieve the following
conditions:
- We are familiar with the nature of every archetype as it
exists within us and outside of us (in any possible person,
object, and situation).
- Our archetypal fields contain the particular elements which
allow a free flow of spiritual substance to every archetype.
The charge has been dismissed from any elements which would
block that flow; those elements remain as mere memories.
- We recognize the archetypes as aspects not only of human
life but of spirit. This recognition gives us an overview such
that we can switch from the human viewpoint (in which we are
encountering archetypes) into soul's viewpoint (in which we are
encountering parts of ourselves).
- Now that we are familiar with spirit's archetypes, and the
dynamics of each -- and we understand that the archetypes and
dynamics are those of spirit itself -- we no longer need
the material worlds which were merely fields which we created
in order to study those archetypes in their physical,
emotional, and mental "dimensions." We re-integrate those
fields back into spirit. Also, we no longer need the mind,
which was a part of the soul which the soul used as an
instrument to discern the individual archetypes of spirit; we
can "turn off" the soul's mind function.
- I speculate that the next step -- and I am sorry that I
cannot write about that state on the basis of personal
experience -- is that we dwell in pure spirit (which is the
tangible substance of which each soul is composed). We are each
still an individual -- different in our unique history and in
our singular viewpoint, but identical in our common substance
of spirit. Our only course is to recognize the spirit within
other souls, and to offer unconditional love which is merely
the nature of spirit which flows like a river around the stones
in its path without prejudice against the stones' shape or
color or other marks of individuality.
- Karma can cause us to be afraid of life. Some people are so
afraid of karma (and the possibility of reincarnation) that they
hesitate to commit any action at all. (At its extreme, this fear
is exhibited by some practitioners of the Jain religion, who
generally just sit in a chair all day, because any action at all
would create karma.) However, we can choose other perspectives:
- We are here to learn about life (and its archetypes)
through action and interaction. To be inactive is to betray our
very reason for being in this world.
- Life itself is constantly changing, constantly active,
constantly giving intuitive messages which guide us in each
moment; if we ignore this guidance -- and we choose instead to
be inactive -- we create karma through the inaction itself,
because karma is created whenever we fail to obey intuition.
- Karma can be painful -- but our love of life can be so
great that we are willing to tolerate the bruises. As we learn
more about life, through our experiences, we are likely to
experience less of the pain.
We can act without
creating extraneous karma. Every action creates karma; i.e., it
creates an effect. Our goal is to act in such a way that we create
the appropriate karma (e.g., a productive conversation) without
extraneous karma (e.g., the energy tone of resentment which
could be generated in a conversation which is characterized by lack
of intuitive communication). We can use the following approaches to
avoid the creation of extraneous karma:
- We proclaim ourselves to be a mere agent of a spiritual force.
Traditionally, this has been the standard prescription for
karma-less action; if we are acting "in the name of spirit," we
are not karmically responsible for what we do. However, this
procedure has an obvious flaw: we might do any action (including
theft or murder), and then simply recite this magical statement,
"I do it in the name of spirit," and thereby be absolved of
responsibility and karma. (Similarly, some authors have said that
we do not create karma when we are fulfilling our duties to a
secular authority; however, we have seen what happens when
soldiers are "only following orders" -- as in the case of
the Nazis.) In one sense, the process is the opposite of that of
intuition; in intuition, we first seek direction from spirit and
then we act -- but in this technique, we first decide
our direction and then we turn to spirit to say our magical
statement (even though our direction might be derived from the
foulest element in an archetypal field.) And yet, despite the
potential for abuse and misguidance, the thought that we are
acting in the name of spirit does change the dynamic of the
circumstance:
- When we act in the name of spirit, we tend to think
about the spiritual part of ourselves. Because of this
directing of our attention, we might become more aware of our
intuition (which is a recognition of the dynamics of spirit as
represented in this material circumstance), and so we would
gain some spiritual guidance which might indeed be contrary to
our original plan. However, "turning inward" does not
necessarily make us more aware of spirit; instead, when we turn
inward, we might simply become more aware of the demands of
dysfunctional a-field elements which we would then enact.
- When we act in the name of spirit, we consider the
religious concepts which are associated with our spirit. Those
concepts might guide us to perform the action in a manner which
does not create a large amount of extraneous karma. However,
even if those ideals lead to an improvement in our plan of
action, they are only generalized templates for behavior, and
so they do not consider the unique dynamic matrix of this
situation; the difference between our stereotyped religious
action and the action which was truly required in this singular
circumstance will be registered in our a-fields as karma.
- We act on the basis of intuition. In every situation,
intuition grants an overview of all dynamic factors -- our needs,
the needs of all people and things in this circumstance, the
elements in everyone's a-fields, etc. Because of this impersonal
perspective, intuition is focused on the resolution of the
encounter for the good of all; it does not seek undue gain for any
person or thing, and so it does not add extraneous elements, such
as thoughts of greed, vanity, attachment, and other perspectives
which might be considered "evil" but are merely irrelevant
entities which diminish our effectiveness and which create karmic
disturbances in our life. If we are not acting from intuition, we
are acting from an a-field constellation, and thus our behavior
expresses the nature of that constellation -- a nature which is
unbalanced simply because of its limited perspective, i.e., its
need to resolve a specific charge from a previous situation.
Because of this narrow focus, it does not consider the other
parties in the encounter, and so it moves us to behave in a way
which does not resolve the overall dynamics of the situation; this
unresolved energy (and the elements which we generated
inappropriately in order to position ourselves for an unfair
advantage) remain in our a-field. This is our karma. And yet, the
dynamic cannot be viewed solely within this one encounter; for a
broader perspective, we must consider that our action in the
encounter occurred because of a pre-existing a-field charge, and
so our field is in a state of continual change -- affecting our
current actions, but also being altered by our current
actions so as to affect our future actions because of the
sustained presence of the charged elements (and because of the
addition of new charged elements). To free ourselves from
the compulsiveness of our existing karma, we need to do two
things: (1) Discharge the residual energy from previous
encounters, and (2) Implant the particular elements (thoughts,
images, and energies) which will facilitate our interaction in
subsequent encounters. Intuition, in considering all factors in
any situation (including our need to be liberated from our karmic
compulsiveness), can guide us into archetypal situations where our
past can be resolved -- and it does this by suggesting the
thoughts, images, energies, and actions which both (1) allow for
the release of the trapped energy and (2) provide the elements
which can be implanted into our a-field for future successful
interactions with this archetype. When we act from intuition, we
do not act from the mental position of religious ideals, and yet
(only coincidentally) our intuition-based actions do fulfill those
ideals:
- We are not acting from ego. Many have said that the ego is
innately troublesome and contrary to spirit. However, as
explained in the chapter regarding the ego, there is nothing
innately "wrong" with the ego; it is associated with problems
only to the extent that we have implanted inappropriate
elements, such as those which cause behaviors that we label
"vain" or "jealous" or "greedy." When we act from intuition, we
include all dynamic factors, including the rightful claims of
our ego and also of the other person's ego; the ego is part of
a mix, and so it does not dominate (nor do any of the
potentially disruptive a-field elements which might be
associated with the ego).
- We surrender the fruits of our work to spirit. When we
declare ourselves to be mere agents of a greater force, we do
not claim the rewards (i.e., the "fruits") for ourselves; by
analogy, a soldier does not claim the territory which an army
conquers, because he or she was merely obeying commands.
However, "surrendering the fruits" does not mean that we cannot
gain something from our actions; for example, the soldier still
accepts a paycheck.
- We do not care for personal gain or loss. This concept --
if it is interpreted on a superficial level -- denies the
nature of the psyche which is continually measuring gain or
loss; this is a necessary activity for survival and growth.
Thus, if we try to live by this ideal, we must repress our
survival instinct. However, the ideal can be re-interpreted
from the perspective of intuition; our intuition does not
measure "gain or loss" in strictly material terms but rather in
terms of the flow of life-energy through us. Sometimes, we need
to experience a "loss" in order to discard something which this
stifling this flow; for example, we might need to lose a
mediocre relationship so that we can proceed to a better one --
"better" in the sense that it allows more opportunity for us to
express love and to resolve charged a-field elements. When we
are obeying intuition, and we have learned that it is the
trustworthy voice of life itself, we know that any loss is
occurring simply to make room for something else, the quality
of which will depend upon our alignment with that intuition.
Even though we are not acting for the purpose of personal
reward, we do gain rewards:
- We might learn a lesson about intuition and spirit. Of
course, this education can occur even when we are not
dedicating an action to spirit -- but it is more likely to
occur if we are intentionally looking for the spiritual
dynamics in a situation. When we look at situations from
this perspective, we tend to discern both ourselves and the
other person as "soul" which is exploring itself through the
form of archetypes which we are each presenting to one
another.
- We might resolve some previous karma. In other words, we
might release the residual energy from previously implanted
elements in our a-fields, while we implant new elements
which are more conducive to the flow of spiritual energy in
our life. Again, this can happen in any situation, but our
attentiveness to spirit makes it more plausible.
- We might gain in other material ways. For example, our
work might result in a better neighborhood, or new
friendships. Contrarily, our action might cause disruption
and alienation, because spirit's movement does not always
suit our human preferences and ideals (e.g., a peaceful
neighborhood). In surrendering the fruits, we
surrender our ideas and preferences about what the
fruits should be (whether peace or war, a paycheck or a
dismissal); we stop trying to over-control a situation, and
instead we simply play our role while allowing the natural
evolution of events, and allowing also the responses of
other people and materials. Regardless of our immediate
material gain or loss, we experience a type of gain; our
willingness to act according to spirit's guidance assures
that we will achieve a greater flow of this life energy --
and because spirit is life itself, it will enhance our
experience of life, spiritually and materially
(perhaps not with great wealth but with the essential needs
and comforts as our past karma is resolved).
- Psychologically, the surrender is beneficial:
- We might learn about human nature, and about our own
psyche. When we follow intuition's guidance, we will
inevitably be instructed to perform actions which are
contrary to our habits, our attachments, our desires, and
our preferences -- all of which might be recognized only
now, specifically because of this contrast. As we
struggle against those familiar patterns of behavior, we
learn about ourselves and about the dynamics that are at
the core of our motivations -- whether those motivations
derive from our soul, our ego, or our a-field elements.
- We are relieved of stress and worry regarding the
results, because our responsibility is simply to act as
directed. The results are the responsibility of spirit
which initiated the action. We act, and then we release
the action, without neurotically pondering it -- before,
during, or after the action.
- We might be less self-conscious, because our
attention is not on ourselves and our performance but
instead it is on the task and the impersonal force which
is guiding us. We are not perfectionistic according to
human standards, but instead we know that the perfection
lies in intuition's exquisite understanding and
administration of the forces in the situation.
- We do not seek personal recognition. We are merely acting
out the movement of spirit -- with its direction, wisdom, and
power -- so we cannot rightly claim the quality of the results
as our own quality; we know that the results are better than
the results we could have created with our own talents and
skills. Even if our fruits put us into a spotlight, we know
that we are only one part of a team which includes not only
other people and spirit itself (as perceived intuitively), but
also all parts of the psyche (such that the ego or a-field
constellations be wrongly perceived as the sole creator). Thus,
we develop humility -- not as a self-denial but instead as an
accurate assessment of ourselves as only one valuable part of a
larger process.
- We see the "inaction in action." This is a paradoxical
statement which has been offered by some spiritual teachers. We
can interpret the statement in various ways:
- When we act according to spirit's guidance (as discerned
by intuition), we might feel as though we are not doing
anything (even though we are physically moving); instead,
spirit is doing something through us. Thus, we
experience a type of "effortless effort," because spirit is
providing not only the direction but also the energy by
which we act. (Another perspective regarding this
differentiation is to say that we -- soul -- are not doing
anything; instead, the action is being performed by the
body, senses, and other material things which are not our
true self.)
- "Action" and movement exist only in terms of reference
points. If our reference point is the physical world, we see
action; i.e., we are moving in relation to physical objects.
But if our reference point is spirit, and we are moving in
accordance with the movement of spirit, we experience no
sensation of that movement; in terms of relativity, this
situation would be analogous to a situation in which two
trains are both traveling at 100 kilometers per hour and are
thus motionless in relation to one another.
- We experience other conditions that are associated with
both intuition and the qualities which are attributed to soul.
In the intuition chapter, those qualities are described:
awareness, balance, benevolence (and even love), exhilaration,
the accuracy of the information which we receive, and the
wholism of the experience.
- We realize that we will be in the opposing archetypal
situation someday. Every material situation is based upon the
interaction between an archetype within our soul's
spirit-substance and the reciprocal archetype within the other
soul's spirit-substance; for example, if a beggar asks for our
money, that person's Poverty archetype is confronting our Wealth
archetype. Intuition tells us what to do -- whether to give money,
or not to give money (though the refusal is performed with
compassion). If we do not act according to intuition, we act from
another motivation; for example, a dysfunctional constellation
might cause us to think that "poor people are inferior and so they
do not deserve to be helped." Because this thought was not
generated within an intuitive perception of the dynamics of the
situation, it does not connect with those dynamics; this lack of
connection means that the thought cannot discharge, and so it
lingers in the field with its charge. The thought is not
condemning the person; it is condemning the Poverty
archetype which this person is displaying. (That same archetype is
within us, because it is an aspect of spirit which is the
substance of which every soul is composed.) Someday, we will find
ourselves in a reversed situation, where the Poverty archetype
within our soul interacts with the Wealth archetype
within someone else's soul -- perhaps not because we are
experiencing financial poverty but because we are
experiencing another type of poverty, e.g., emotional
poverty (as in loneliness). In this interaction, our residual
elements will seek to release their charge; thus, the other person
might agree (consciously or unconsciously) to play out the role
which is scripted by those residual elements, thus acting toward
us as though "poor people are inferior and so they do not deserve
to be helped." (The person's "reward" in "playing the devil's
advocate" is that he or she acquires the thought's trapped energy
for his or her own use.) In life, we have to play all roles, so we
are wise to act toward others in the same manner by which we want
them to act toward us; we are actually acting toward an archetype
which is within our own spirit-substance. And we know that when
our circumstances turn around -- and we have to play the
reciprocal position -- we have treated that archetypal position
fairly, so the dynamics demand fairness for us. When we recognize
this principle, we carefully look for the underlying thoughts
which we are creating; for example, if we are being dishonest, we
are creating the thought, "It is okay to steal" -- and we know
that our thought will be detected and used by people who are
wondering whether it is okay to steal from us.
- We create a balance between what we receive and what we give.
In the normal course of intuition, this balance will be
established, as intuition tells us to give, or receive, or buy, or
accept as a gift -- such that we have the goods which are required
for our life and our spiritual lessons. Those goods can include
material items (including money) and also items such as thoughts,
images, energy tones, and actions. Greed (or another behavior
which arises from a lack of attunement to intuition) can lead us
to acquire items (and even people, as in a relationship) which are
not suited to our needs; thus, even if we pay for something with
money, we cannot pay for it with our whole being, because the flow
of spirit is not supporting it. When we take something which is
not sanctioned by spirit to be in our life at this time, we
create an imbalance which can be explained in various ways:
- We would disrupt our individuation process and our personal
"dharma." In any moment, intuition prescribes only one unique
action -- and it will provide the items for us to perform that
action (if we cooperate with our own efforts and our
field-work). When we wrongly take goods (material or
non-material), we are distracted from whatever we need to be
doing. If we want to have what is ours, we must discard what is
not ours; if we want to be who we really are; we must
discard what is not really us. (When we want to receive
something new in our life, one way to "make room" for its
energy is to throw out unneeded possessions; by doing so, we
create a type of "vacuum" which must be filled.)
- We would disturb the integrity of the archetypal field.
This is analogous to a random extra note which fouls a musical
chord. We might feel this disturbance as an alien presence --
something which is disrupting and blocking our energy; this
blockage is one cause for the unpleasant sensation of "guilt"
(when we have taken something which is not meant to be ours).
- We would weaken the energy field. Energy is consumed by
everything which is within our personal life's field -- even by
the junk in our attic. When we acquire items which are not
supported by the flow of spirit (as expressed by intuition), we
try instead to support them with our personal energy, and thus
those new items drain our energy, no matter how much we
want them or like them. We can be much stronger and more
energetic if we streamline our life to contain only the items
(material and non-material) which are a vibrant expression of
our spirit-filled life, and we remove the dead objects which we
possess only because of habit, or attachment, or an incorrect
assessment of who we are, and why we are here, and what we need
and want.
- We would "hemorrhage." As we give and receive items (even
such things as thoughts), we can imagine this exchange
occurring through a doorway which opens to give and receive,
and then closes again for protection (in the same way in which
we would open a physical door for guests, but then we
would close it to keep out prowlers). This exchange occurs in
alignment with the "movement" of the spirit-substance, which
attracts the items which we need, and then creates openings for
those items at the proper moment. When we ignore intuition, and
instead we randomly grab items from outside of us, we violate
this process; by analogy, these items are crashing through our
wall instead of using the door. This hole is created even if
the item is meant to be ours but our timing is wrong.
Through the hole, we hemorrhage an outflow of our personal
energy, and we become vulnerable to the uncontrolled inflow of
other people's energy and influence (i.e., their thoughts and
images). The hole will never be completely sealed until we
give back the improperly acquired item. During the
time-period in which we have this hole, we continue to suffer
from the uncontrolled outflow and inflow. In this dynamic, our
loss can be much greater than our illicit gain; a small theft
can result in a continuing -- and very expensive -- hemorrhage
which lingers long into the future. (For example, a criminal
record of our $5 shoplifting can cause us to lose a
$100,000-per-year job.) This long-term effect occurs because
karma is not a strictly one-for-one process, but instead it
occurs because we have chosen to enter a particular "field of
possibilities"; this field includes other similar possible
actions, and the possible natural reciprocations for those
actions. The field is like a room which we enter; the other
occupants are people who have gone there to do the same things
which we want to do, and so this could be a "love" room or a
"violence" room or another type of room. As long as we remain
in that field, we continue to pay for the consequences simply
for being there; of course, our "being there" is perpetuated by
our continuation in generating the corresponding elements. The
condition ends when we leave that field, i.e., when we change
the elements of that archetypal field.
- We create faulty ideas regarding the nature of life (i.e.,
spirit). We are not here to acquire goods merely for the sake
of ownership; we are here to learn about archetypes' nature and
dynamics (as expressed in the actions of giving and receiving
from the reciprocal position of those archetypes). As we study
these dynamics, we learn that there is a balance in the giving
and receiving within the material worlds and among human beings
(which are really just "graphical user interfaces" of the
underlying reciprocal archetypes).
- Worldly knowledge. Some of our karma occurs simply because our
intuition is not adequately supplemented by knowledge and skills.
For example, if our karma is a result of imprecise action (such
that we are not performing our duty in an ideal manner), the
inaccuracies might be due to our lack of social skills, job
skills, or technical knowledge. As we develop ourselves in those
areas, we create less karma.
We can
develop our ability to recognize karma.
- We can look for the results of any action. As we study the
cycle of cause-and-effect in regular life, we are more likely to
see it in more subtle manifestations. For example, regular-life
karma is exhibited if we fail to pay our telephone bill and then
the telephone company cancels our service. We can notice the
effects of everything that we do -- physically, emotionally,
mentally, socially, financially, etc.
- We can look for extraneous features in any interaction. There
is the pure contact with an archetype, but there are also some odd
details -- for example, our inexplicably angry response, or the
other person's apparently unwarranted reaction to us, or the
strangeness that this event would occur at all. These extraneous
features occur because we are discharging the residual charge of
elements in our a-fields.
- We can investigate the reason for an event. We might simply
ask our intuition, "Why is this occurring?" We can meditate upon
the question, or "sleep on it" (i.e., put the question to
ourselves before going to sleep). The answer might come to us as
an intuitive insight, or in a symbolic sleep-time dream, or in a
message from a spiritual teacher, or in some other way (such as a
synchronous event).
- We can consider the possibility that reincarnation occurs.
People who do not believe in reincarnation will not recognize a
cause which was created during a previous lifetime. Some people
believe that our past-life karma determines the conditions into
which we are born -- the particular family, any birth defects,
some of our childhood illnesses, and some of the conditions with
arise later in our life. (One common belief is that we continue to
reincarnate with the same people in order to resolve the karma
from our previous, and on-going, conflicts; for example, our
spouse in this lifetime might have been one of our parents in a
previous lifetime.)
- We can consider the idea that we do not need to know the
specific cause of all phenomena in our life. Although a problem
might be resolved more easily if we know the cause, we can manage
it without having that information. Sometimes the cause is
obvious, but sometimes it is not, for these reasons:
- Our karma is intertwined with the karma of everyone and
everything. We are part of a complex fabric of cause-and-effect
which ripples throughout the universe, such that -- to some
extent, individually -- we are the cause of everything,
and we are the effect of everything.
- Cause and effect tend to perpetuate themselves. If we look
at a cause, we see that it is the effect of a
previous cause, and so on, extending backward in time.
We cannot isolate any event as pure cause or pure effect.
- The cause might have occurred during a past life. If we
look for the cause within our current lifetime, we will not
find it.
- We experience "group karma." Not only do we have our
individual karma, but we also partake in the collective karma
of every group to which we belong -- our family, our community,
our nation, our corporation, the human race, etc. Thus, an
effect in our individual life might be due primarily to the
actions of our group (although our individual karma determines
the impact of this group karma upon ourselves). Group karma can
be manifested in economic depression (or prosperity), war, and
other group-wide events.
- We can develop the character traits which allow us to view our
karma. (These are the same traits which facilitate efforts to view
our shadow.) In order to see our karma clearly, we need to
have:
- Humility. Our delusions of holiness are shattered if we
acknowledge that our suffering might be due to the suffering
which we have inflicted. An awareness of our wholeness allows
us to view the idea that we have the potential for any possible
action, including, for example, a brutal action which might be
responsible for our current problems.
- Self-acceptance. If we recognize our capacity for
maliciousness, the only way in which we can go on with our
lives is to accept our past and our present. This acceptance
does not mean that we like what we did, but merely that we
still love ourselves as we learn about the nature of life. If
we deny ourselves that love -- i.e., if we shame ourselves and
we hate ourselves -- our own protective mechanisms will prevent
us from seeing the parts of us which trigger that shame and
hatred.
We can resolve our
existing karma. There are many ways in which we diminish or eliminate
the effect of unwanted karma (i.e., the extraneous effects which we
created in addition to our intended effects). In each of these
methods, intuition -- the communication mechanism which translates
spirit's perspective into human understanding -- can assist us. To
resolve our karma, we can approach it from various perspectives:
- Straight payback. This is the standard means by which we repay
karma -- usually unwillingly, and usually without knowing the
reason why we are experiencing the particular hardship or bounty.
For example, if we have been dishonest in our finances, we will
encounter financial hardship (probably because we have implanted
that idea that "it is okay to steal" and then people have adopted
our thought in their dealings with us). In payback situations, we
can use our intuition:
- It can tell us the cause of our present circumstance; for
example, "My relationships have been unsatisfying because I
have been cruel to people." With this knowledge, we might be
able to change our behavior so that we are no longer
perpetuating the situation; our intuition can direct this
change by suggesting thoughts, images, energy tones, and
actions which will be implanted in our a-fields. As those
elements change, we change, and our karma changes.
- It can tell us whether a present circumstance is a
resolution of old karma or the creation of new
karma. For example, if someone is hurting us, intuition
indicates whether this is our old karma which we are resolving
(and thus we should simply accept the injury, without
retaliating against the person) or new karma which the person
is creating with us (and thus we should act to create a
resolution, perhaps through a lawsuit).
- It can tell us whether we need to enforce a payback.
We might usually think of karma as something which happens to
us -- but sometimes we need to be an agent in someone
else's karma (either "good" or "bad"). For example, perhaps we
are usually a gentle person, but intuition might tell us to
speak harshly to someone, because that person needs to resolve
some unpleasant karma.
- Giving. Some people believe that we can resolve karma through
the giving of love, service, money, and other commodities. Through
our sacrificial giving, we "repay" the energy and substance which
we unfairly received. (To resolve "good" karma, we would
open ourselves to receive the pleasant goods which are due
to us.) When we decide that we want to resolve our existing karma,
we usually engage a "scatter-shot" method -- doing random deeds of
kindness and generosity; however, we might be more efficient (in
effort, time, and money) if we identify the specific archetype
with which the karma is associated (in the form of dysfunctional
charged elements), and then we "give" directly toward that
archetype. For example, if we recognize the elements of
prejudicial thoughts toward a minority group -- thoughts which
block the flow of spirit-substance which is due to those fellow
souls -- we can do some volunteer work (or offer a heart-felt cash
donation) to an organization of that group. We are delivering more
energy into this particular situation than is required by the
situation itself (as when we give money to a charity but the
charity does not reciprocate with an equivalent amount of goods as
would be the case when we give money to a businessperson
and we receive an equivalent amount of goods). When we give this
energy (through physical, emotional, or mental effort), we are
releasing the energy which we had withheld during previous
archetypal encounters; we had used thoughts, images, energy tones,
and actions to "dam" the natural flow of spiritual substance which
is meant to be passed between two souls in every encounter.
- Religious rituals. Rituals have a dynamic of their own, by
which they might resolve karma. They can also help to resolve
karma by implanting new thoughts, images, energies, and actions
into our archetypal fields, particularly if the ritual contains a
symbolic representation of that archetype. We can resolve some
karma through social rituals, e.g., the statement, "I am
sorry."
- "Healings." In some types of healings, we are apparently
relieved of the ailment; i.e., the karma is apparently resolved.
However, in many instances, these other dynamics occur:
- Our ailment recurs, because the underlying karma is still
there.
- The "healer" experiences the ailment, perhaps years later.
Despite the good intentions, the healer has interfered with the
karmic process, and so he or she pays this penalty.
- Balancing of reciprocal karma (i.e. "good" and "bad" karma).
After we create a-field elements, they remain in the a-field
forever; i.e., our "good" thoughts do not "destroy" our previous
"bad" thoughts. However, I believe that these new elements (i.e.,
our "good" karma) discharge the residual energy from the existing
contrary elements (i.e., our "bad" karma) -- as in a contact
between matter and anti-matter -- such that the existing elements
no longer have a dynamic charge by which they can influence our
life; they remain as mere memories.