Karma

Known by many as the law of cause and effect, or what goes around comes back around. Karma leads our lives and our actions. For many of us, Karma resembles the force that acts as revenge when someone screws you over. For others, Karma is the good that comes after you gave that homeless person a dollar or when we cover an expensive lunch tab.

We analyze the law of karma in such a simplified form.

We’re limited to perceiving the law as debt and credit for good and bad actions. Though this is only partially our fault. In our culture, it is obvious what we truly value and it is evident from our values that we are a materialistic people.

It should be no surprise that we perceive our life experiences from a material point of view, as well. The way that we understand the law of karma only allows us to view the exoteric perception of our truth. What a tragedy it would be to realize that we really have it all wrong.

Remember the "Golden Rule"?

I know we all can recall the most common enforcement in our childhood, The Golden Rule i.e. treat others the way you would like to be treated. Which is essentially the true essence of the law of karma. Karma seeks to restore balance in the universe. Not to correct wrongdoings, but to restore and maintain harmony or equilibrium.

Understanding the law of karma from this point of view allows us to connect to the spiritual aspect of the law. From a spiritual perspective, we can understand that because karma only aims to restore and maintain harmony it can be understood as a law of moral retribution. "He who puts that cause into action suffers the effect" (Humphreys, 2005).

Therefore everything that we inflict on others is ultimately what we inflict on ourselves. Through the Golden Rule, we’ve been encouraged to treat others with respect and unconditional love because that’s essentially what we would want for ourselves.

Sometimes we forget who we are and in these moments we act on impulse.

Our thoughts, feelings, and actions cause us to act unfavorably towards others creating a disruption in the harmony of the universe. Karma acts to ensure that whoever disrupts the harmony is punished in a way that is equal to the disruption they’ve caused.

In other words, the greater the suffering you inflict on others, the greater the suffering you inflict on yourself. It’s not always dark though! The more loving and caring you are with genuine intention, the more you will receive positive energy from those around you!

Boom!