spiralofhope

Beliefs > Karma >

by the Mind, Body, Spirit Academy of Martial Arts
https://web.archive.org/web/20000919072934/http://www.flowinghands.com/mbs_htm/mbs.art.karma.htm

We seem to live In a world comprised of accidental and haphazard events and experiences. Our situations, from the heights of elation to the depths of despair, appear random and unpredictable. We use words like luck, fate, and destiny to make sense of wide ranging experiences that seem to "just happen" to us. Often, lost in despair or exhilaration, we do not notice the affective energies, the karma, that weaves the fabric of our lives.

Karma does not mean holding fanciful ideas about what we might have been in a past life. It is simply the law of cause and effect. If you plant a banana tree seed, you don't get an apple tree. If you move quickly and insensitively, you will be clumsy. It sounds easy, but it seems not many people get it. If we practice hatred or greed, it becomes our way and the world responds accordingly. Its all very direct.

Like an artist making a painting, we paint the landscape of our lives with the colors of our thoughts, values, feelings, and actions. Then the quality of our lives is affected by the character of each feeling, of each action, of each gesture. We will be the heirs to our own actions. We will reap the results of the intentions we bring to every instant. We make ripples upon the ocean of the universe, then, in essence, receive the consequences of our actions.

To understand the laws of karma is to understand that we and the world have a direct correspondence. There are no ifs, adds, maybes, or buts about it. The only question is how and when. Give out negatives and you set in motion the energies which yield more negatives. Give out positives and you cause positive energies to be activated.

There is clarity in the working of karma. It is very straightforward -- what we create, how we act, and how we respond embodies itself not only in our own lives, but in the lives of our communities, our children, and the future.

Understanding the implications of karma means to seethe importance of being awake and aware in each moment of our lives. It means to respond with compassion and caring. To care for the future as well as the now. It means to see the link our actions have with effects and know that there is no escaping or beating the laws of karma. Many people think they can get by "this time", that tomorrow will be time enough, but karma starts right this instant, its truth takes effect immediately. There is no time out from karma.

Karma plays no favorites. It is without bias. You cast the mold yourself -- then both you and the world reap what you sow.