What it means to believe in Karma: A new image of God

The Buddha recollecting his Past Lives

"If you have a problem, the good news is that it doesn't exist. The bad news is that you believe it exists."~ Luna Feyth

Without realizing it, many of us rely on the force of our personal will to resolve problems in our lives. We try to bend reality to comply with our personal preferences through any number of strategies. We may indeed succeed at resolving certain problems, only for new ones to take their place. So, what’s going on here?

There are many levels through which we can make sense of our experience. At the deepest level, the themes we encounter and the emotions that are brought forth in response to these experiences reveal the rippling effects of past karma.

Understanding our experience at this level takes a great deal of insight, maturity, and willingness to see how we might be more committed to our own suffering than we realize.

It’s not that we consciously want to suffer, but we inevitably find ourselves compelled toward certain experiences because the mind has undergone some form of corruption that has left its mark on the psyche.

The unpleasant experience we now find ourselves offers us both a mirror and an instrument for helping us to come to terms with the ongoing effects of that particular defilement.

Think of it this way:

What better way is there to learn the value of faithfulness than by being betrayed?

What better way is there to learn the value of honesty than by being lied to?

When we accept and understand the workings of karma, it transforms the way we react to "unjust" situations. For these situations are only unjust if we deny karma—(how else would you find yourself in this situation if it wasn’t caused by something that happened prior?)

The premise of karma is causality.

You may have no recollection of these past actions, and yet your present-day experience is all you need to know to get a sense of the type of karma that is now ripening.

Now let’s assume you don’t believe in karma—where does that leave you?

Bad things happening at random.

The belief in a chaotic and disorganized universe.

And because one assumes they live in such a chaotic and merciless universe, naturally this would give rise to many complaints and very legitimate reasons to be a victim.

And that, my friend, sounds like a whole lot of suffering!

The wisdom of karma aids us first through a warning - a warning of the unpleasant repercussions of unevaluated thoughts, words, and actions. This is not a form of punishment in any external sense, but the pain that arises upon acting out of alignment from our true nature.

Acknowledging karma is recognizing that, sooner or later, we will come to feel the effects of our own words and actions.

If we are attuned to our moral conscience, we will be fortunate enough to feel immediate regret, guilt, and remorse in the wake of unskillful actions, which will then prompt us to make amends and act more skilfully in future.

In this sense, the wisdom of karma can be seen as a refuge that steers us toward living a moral life. It is the mechanism reminding us that we live in a morally organized universe, and if we are to disregard this moral order, we will suffer.

This inbuilt intelligence is what I call God.

God does not punish; it equalizes imbalance.

Seen in this way, difficult experiences alert us to disequilibrium in the mind and offer an opportunity to course-correct—an opportunity we will fail to see if we do not accept the view of karma.

And yet, despite those who deny karma, one cannot deny that misused words and actions disturb the sanctity of the mind and heart.

Sometimes we do not consciously intend to hurt others, but due to ingrained habit patterns and defences, tensions build and we end up speaking and acting in unskillful ways.

Conversely, developing morality gives one confidence in their actions and allows for a life free from guilt, regret, and remorse. Morality is the foundation of tranquility and shapes the wholesome tendencies of mind and heart.

If we are truly interested in solving our problems, we must uproot the tendencies that cause them to arise, for unevaluated tendencies of heart and mind will always bring us back to the same patterns.

Using the birth chart as a guide, Luna sheds light on these unseen conditions of mind and presents a way forward with a new lens of perception.