Karma – The Golden Rule and the Law of Ethical Causation and Impartial Justice

Posted On August 3, 2015 / Written by Dr. Linda Gadbois

Karma is a major component of Eastern Philosophies and Ancient Wisdom, all of which include as a foundation the idea of reincarnation and the eternal nature of the soul within the timeless realm of consciousness that exists in multiple levels and varying degrees simultaneously. While many people grasp the principle of cause and effect that’s inherent in this idea, many fail to recognize the conscious and ethical considerations, as well as the true nature of human beings as three-part in nature while spanning multiple dimensions, only part of which we are conscious and aware of in the direct sense. This fundamental three-part nature includes an aspect of the mind/self as the Higher-Self, that never fully incarnates in the physical realm of the two lower-physical minds, but resides on the plane above the material plane and not only oversees it from a neutral and impartial perspective, but acts to orchestrate many of the meaningful events that take place within the lower plane.

 The true nature of karma is not as individual or random acts per say, but actions that come from the sum total of our evolutionary development which is expressing in every moment as out whole being. Our current mental model (mind) is shaped out of the culmination of all our life experiences formed into memories based on how we interpreted the events of our life to give them meaning. The meaning we give our experiences forms what you can think of as a life theme as a kind of template that we use for shaping all our experiences to be congruent and logical. Our karma is a product of our accumulated experiences as thematic overall memory that forms our character and inner nature, out of which we shape all our experiences. Our mental model forms the lens of our perspective, perception, intention and desires, all of which combine to form the motivation for all of our actions and reactions.

 Though karma has been trivialized in the West, as most spiritual ideas are, we don’t experience or incur karma from or in random events or activities in which we were not at cause, or that didn’t come about out of a desire or intention of some sort. Karma is created through willful acts that are deliberate and intentional in nature, where we are actively and purposely causing something. It’s not random, cold, mechanistic action, but intelligently regulated and infused with spiritual compassion, even in the smallest areas of our life, because the universe exists for the enactment, benefit, and welfare of all involved. Every time we’re involved in acting out and creating more karma, it’s always with others who share the same karma, and act to give it back to us as reactions to our actions or rendering direct consequences of our actions.

 Yet even though we’re always in the process of receiving the consequences to our actions from the outside world, we are solely responsible for our self, and are the only ones creating our karma, keeping it alive, and continually expressing it through our attitudes and behavior, and ingrained tendencies. Because it’s a part of our essential self as our mental paradigm formed solely from our own self-created experiences as our memories, it can only be resolved by changing our own mental paradigm and moral character. Most karma is developed through the activity of our ego, physical desires, and attachments and the need to somehow control others by exercising power over them. When we seek to control others and the circumstances that involve others through an intentional act of some sort designed to produce a specific reaction or outcome, we create and incur karma.

Any willful act is karmic in nature and something we alone are fully responsible for. Any quests we undertake for lust, greed, and to attain power of some form, is usually the expression of existing karma that acts to create more of the same type of experiences born out of consequences of our , over and over again. Karma is a cause and effect relationship that gives back to us actions of the same nature that we put out as a corresponding reaction. Every action produces a like reaction. But not all actions are karmic. Any action or event that wasn’t produced out of a desire or intention, while it may still render consequences, are not caused by us intentionally and do not remain with us as unconscious tendencies that continue driving our behaviors. Neutral events that happen without intention or deliberation, and that don’t produce a pronounced reaction in us, are NOT a form of karma. So things like not getting a parking place, having someone be rude to us, or being rear-ended while at a stop light, is not karma, but is merely a cause and effect relationship going on around us in which we had no direct or intentional part in creating. If they came as a direct consequence or reaction to our actions, though not intentional or with a motive of some sort, then they’re still not considered karmic. If however they come as a direct response to an intentional and deliberate act on our part, which involved deliberate thought and motive of some sort, then it’s karmic in nature and draws more of the same karma on us through the consequences it brings.

 Karma isn’t a singular act that comes out of nowhere and is not a product of a persons normal character, but rather comes out of the summation of a persons development and is a natural tendency they display and engage in as a part of their attitude and normal mind-set. The tendency to control, manipulate, or try to exercise power over others, is karma as character traits that cause more of the same type of karma. Likewise the person that allows themselves to be controlled or manipulated, and who give their power away to those manipulating them, is also karma, and is a part of the same type of karma as the one seeking control over them. Because they share karma as a natural cause and effect relationship that cooperatively participates in complementary roles of the same pattern, they live out their karma through the natural relationship that forms between them.

Because karma is the result of conditioned tendencies and unconscious patterns that are emotionally driven by desire and attachment of some sort, we are born into and naturally incur various forms of karma as shared tendencies that are acted out with a group. We have family karma as tendencies acted out within various roles by the whole family, as well as race karma, national and cultural karma, and karma of the present age. The best way to become aware of our karma is through self-reflection and noticing what we have issues around, strong emotional reactions too, or agendas that are emotionally driven and come about in what is largely an unconscious manner. We can notice the patterns that govern our life and what ideas we play out in an intentional manner that tells a story of some sort. We can begin recognizing what themes underlie all of our relationships. Naturally we can look at any area where we feel a strong compulsion or aggressive action, or frequently have an intense reaction to that draw very distinct consequences as the thematic patterns that govern our life experiences, while giving up our need to defend our actions by justifying them. It’s this tendency to defend and justify our right to do something that keeps us unconscious of the reality it produces through what are for the most part, natural and automatic behaviors.

 Key points to consider:

• Karma is produced by willful acts that involve desire, intention and are done with a distinct motive of some sort and intentionally.
• Karma is when we are directly at cause and the one producing an effect or reaction that draws on us the consequences of our actions.
• Our karma is acted out with others who share the same type of karma as behavioral dynamics. Other people play a complementary role and cooperatively participate in our dramas and agendas.
• Karma is regulated through a form of spiritual compassion of our Higher-Self that works in an impartial manner for the benefit and welfare of all involved.
• Random, neutral, and mechanical acts that we had no part in causing are NOT karma for us.
• Karma stems from the summation of our evolutionary development as our mental paradigm and natural or conditioned perceptions and tendencies.
• We are participating in multiple levels of karma all the time as family, community, work place, national, cultural, racial, and the karma of the present age of humanities evolution as a whole.
• To change or resolve our karma is to recognize and become aware of our own subconscious tendencies and the motive behind our deliberate actions that are creative in nature, and cultivate qualities and beliefs that counteract them. It always comes by working with our own subconscious mind and bringing light to tendencies we act out without direct awareness of what we’re doing exactly or why.

   Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Personal Transformation Coach, and Spiritual Teacher