Our Life on Planet Earth – Part 5: Karma - Realizing the Law of Fate.
Hi steemers!
Nothing in life hits you without having created the conditions beforehand. Basically the law of karma is a law that we use to know already. It stipulates nothing else but the fact that every action you make is followed by a corresponding reaction. We all have learned something very similar at school as well, we learned about the physical law that says ‚action equal reaction‘, the classic law of mechanics.
We looked into reincarnation last time and I talked about a book, repetitive lifes, about our free will. I think it helps to know more about karma to get a better understanding about the book and chapters we go through, about the chances and possibilities we took and missed. And why our path is planed as it is.
All of us have certainly heard about it in different variations in common parlance:
- What goes around comes around.
- Every man is the artisan of his own fortune.(Appius Claudius Caecus, 340 – 273 before christ)
- Life is what you make it.
- Man forges his own destiny.
et cetera et cetera.
We have all heard these quotes a couple of times.
These are descriptions of what we use to know as the law of karma in philosophy. Essentially it says that we are responsible for all actions we decided to do – using our free will – and therefore we will ‚harvest‘ a corresponding reaction in the form of happiness or suffering, that we will experience good or bad karmic reactions. And that we take responsibility for either the joy or the suffering created or evoked by this reaction or reactions.
The law of karma is by no means a law of punishment or atonement although it is sometimes described like that. Actually it's not entirely wrong and it isn’t entirely right but the law of karma is a law that exists in the very nature of the world to assume responsibility. It’s there and made for us human beings.
That means I myself assume responsibility for my own fate.
Something you may have heared as well is: ‚Each one of us creates his own reality‘. It means the same again. According to my actions and thinking – which initially lead me to my decision and action – I am responsible for the reality I find myself in afterwards. I’ve designed this reality myself. And if you are aware of the law of karma and if you take the law into consideration to create your life, it will ultimately lead to a more responsible way to treat yourself, your environment, your next ones, simply everything.
If you occupy yourself with the law of karma and if you try to observe the ‚work‘ it does or the effect it has in your own life, you may recognize that:
a) it works
b) that you really harvest what you have sown
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The Bible / Galatians 6:7:
‚Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.‘
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That’s an excellent description of the law of karma.
On the one hand you can see that the law of karma works. You can see the work it does. On the other hand we can learn to be very sensitive and responsible with our lifetime and with the vital energy we have. To make decisions not only for a short-term satisfaction, not only for an immediate advantage but to have in mind for all your smaller and bigger decisions in life what these decisions create/produce/evoke karmically.
Do I really want to harvest what I am sowing now?
It makes you treat everything more lovingly and more carefully, yourself and the environment you live in, if you are aware that when you live carelessness and unkindness you’ll experience them yourself someday again. You'll find yourself in an unloving environment where everyone is careless with you. I don’t believe anyone wants that. That’s not desirable. At least not for me.
Pretty blunt but I want to be happy, I want to be loved and I’d like people to understand me. But if I have the desire to have all that I have to offer the same to the world, to the world around me. In advance. Treat my next ones carefully, treat my friends respectfully. To get into the right vibration first to be able to enjoy it at a later point.
The law of karma is individual I think. It’s loving, it’s caring. The law itself is very loving actually, it’s there to give me what I want. ‚I want‘ means what I decided in free will. The law shows me exactly what I have to do to get what I desire.
It’s not a law you have to be afraid of, it’s not meant to punish you. This view is not entirely wrong though.
You get what you deserve.
I came across a pretty cool similar quote today : ‚Karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve‘.
I would like to view it neutral. If someone is really evil to reach his goals, if he lies, if he literally walks over dead bodies and kills someone, the law will work the same way. This ‘someone’ didn’t really understand that it is not within the meaning of creation to act this way. And quasi to educate him, to offer him the possibility to learn what is within the meaning of creation, he’ll experience the same things, this time on the other side though ('Other side' means to change roles; offender and victim). And he agrees to live this life of course before he incarnates. He’ll be betrayed, he will be told lies, maybe he’ll be slaughtered. To say that it is pure punishment would be too superficial. I don’t see only good or bad here. That’s why I mentioned ‚neutral’. It’s all about taking responsibility. That’s the essence. Take responsibility for everything that happens to me in this world as a consequence to what I have done before. In the end we have to learn something.
Now let’s imagine everyone would be aware of the law of karma. It could be an immens enrichment for our society because we all would treat each other more lovingly.
The law does not only apply to this current life. You experience now what you have sown before. You may experience things in your next life what you sow now, every day, with everything you do.
To finish it up today:
No one can run away from the reality in the future.
Thank you again for your attention.
To be continued…
<3
For those interested I wrote an article about this whole charade trending lately on the front page
https://steemit.com/life/@kyriacos/how-to-become-awesome-like-me
Again, I really enjoyed the write up and look forward to the follow up of this one, thrive on. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Thank you again @eric-boucher! Happy to see you stick around! Awesome, namaste :)
This "law of karma" is the westernized thought of what karma is. In the original culture and context it isn't positive, negative, or neutral for that matter. It's actually more about someones reputation within a community. So the idea of positive atraction and doing things for others does apply but it was never meant to be a mystical force around to punnish and reward people. It is, like life, simply what you make of it. This more closely relates to your reputation score rather than curating some missed content that deserved reconition (hidden gem post) then receiving a massive upvote reward for your positive actions.
For every action there a is an equal and opposite reaction... or in this case a reciprocating action ;)
I really like this quote from Robert Anton Wilson. You know, about how the westernes completely misunderstand the wheel of karma, and how it actually works.
Great post! I was a victim a few years ago when a supposed friend totaled my car. I am a very forgiving person, but the way she handled the situation was wrong, and it had really hurt me in many ways (emotionaly, financially, etc). I worked hard to try to forgive and let go, but it was a very tough process and every time I thought I was over it, a reminder would come along and show me that I still had anger in my heart.
A few months ago a different friend of mine let me borrow her car. It was raining and I was following someone and the traffic light malfunctioned and it went green/red in a span of 2 cars without any warning and needless to say I ended up totaling her car. In that moment all I could think was "Omg, I am the agressor this time!".
Remembering what I had gone through and knowing that this was my karma for not learning my lesson over 2 years, I quickly worked out a deal with my friend and have since paid her back in full what her car would've been worth before the accident.
And that is one of the ways that karmic cycles work :).
Awesome read and thank very much for sharing it @mscleverclocks! I
Good post! Karma runs to meet each of us. We must live in such a way to make it a happy reunion.
I hope Karma does not forget anyone :) The sooner we realize that it works and how it works the better. A reunion is an interesting thought, thank you very much @team101!
Steemon Fellow Steemian
Will do, thank you @anns!
The funny thing is, once you open yourself up to learning, or accept the learning experience, even with the often attendant pain, be the lesson sweet or bitter, love and positive things start happening in your life
Terms like 'luck' and 'coincidence' are no longer part of your vocabulary then :) Thanx @onetree!
I really enjoy your perspective on these themed pieces @sascha, thanks for another in the series :)
Thank you @clevecross!