So today I was talking with a friend about Karma.... we were talking about the way it works... To me karma is all about perspective - the way that our perspective of our experiences, our interpretation of them, completely shapes our emotional experience of the world, people and our lives. In a simple sense Karma is a law of cause and effect... what we do now we will experience the results of in the future... like the law of gravity in which the world spinning simply causes objects to be attracted towards its surface... so too karma it is not a punishing or rewarding power - it is simply cause and effect.
On some levels this is interpreted literally - if I murder someone so I will be murdered in a future life.... If I steal I will be stolen from... but to me it makes more sense on a more subtle level. The way I understand Karma is that everything we experience is a product of our perception. There are no independently good or bad experiences in life - "pleasant" or "unpleasant" are products of our mind.
So when we inflict harm, or when we act out of pride, anger, attachment to our own pleasure over others... we shape the nature of our mind to be sensitised to negative thinking, to unpleasant experiences and perceptions. Thus whatever happens to us in the future tends to be interpreted more negatively. And because we are interpreting the world more negatively, so we are more unhappy. So someone is rude to us in a shop - and we interpret this very negatively and get angry and have a horrible day and we come home and say "boy, the world was mean to me today... I must have bad karma"
However if we have been practising kindness towards others, overcoming angry thoughts and realising that it is through caring for others that we find true happiness... well... what ever happens to us in the future becomes opportunity for kindness, and thus opportunity for happiness... So someone is rude to us in a shop and we interpret this as a chance to be kind to someone who must be having a hard day... so we smile at them... give them a kind comment... walk away feeling happy...and at the end of the day we come home and say "wow, what a great day I had today... I must have lots of good karma"
But of course what happened to us was identical in each scenario... we just saw it from a different perspective because of the nature of the mind we had created in the past, through our past experiences...
This is how I understand Karma.
Its so hard, but so important, to keep remembering that the way we see a situation is completely a product of our own interpretation.... it looks real, it feels real, it tastes real.... but it only exists for us....
One person's love is another person's weakness
One person's anger is another person's fear
One person's attack is another person's gesture of peace
One person's empathy is another person's pity
One person's truth is another person's misunderstanding
No-one is right
No-one is wrong
None of it exists beyond perception.
3 comments:
Rhi,
Just checked in and found your thoughts on the question of karma. I think you are quite right- a simple case of cause 'n effect. I was pissed off with Lucie this morning (and she with me)...we both acted out of anger and now we are having a lousy 'bad karma' kind day. Kindness and love would be so much better, turn things around.
Hugs, Sanj XO
So true Rhi, and it is our choosing too.... which, unfortunately, so many people don't realise and act upon. lolomas, J :-)
Nice one Rhi-
As the friend mentioned above this conversation has been the gift that keeps giving. After meditating on the beach this morning I decided to re-frame my thinking on my current situation and walked along the beach writing my Karmic words in the sand.. instead of viewing the situation as emotionally draining and hurtful and reacting with anger - I decided it was an opportunity to show compassion to another person's situation, to be wise about my choices and to release the attachment I had to a particular outcome. Hopefully some of that bad Karma washed out to sea!
K x
Post a Comment