Karma. Is It Real?

 

          I feel safe using this generalization: that we're all familiar with the word "karma". The post today is a brief contemplation of whether I want to continue believing that karma exists. Wanna join me? I'd love your opinion.

I'm bringing it up because I've heard it enough times from some speakers I appreciate in the spiritual wellness realm, whether they were giving their take on how karma could result from certain actions, or defining and explaining karma in basic terms. It intrigued me when I heard something different from a shaman named Durek.

credit: biddytarot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

          I got out my Tarot cards on November 28th to ensure that I understood the response when I asked my Higher Self if karma was real, and the response is what made me wanna blog it for you guys: the Three of Swords! I leaned toward considering that to mean 'no', while PracticalTarotTutor on YouTube (whose videos I appreciate) once said that "spiritual advice" from the Three of Swords is this, "Make sure that you are ready to process heartache as it comes; don't bottle up your feelings but at the same time, you don't have to binge or explode with them either". 

         Another way of looking into it was for me to think of something I read early this month in Your Soul Purpose by the talented Kim Russo. As you can guess, I'm still reading the book but I already recommend it highly. If I'm interpreting Mrs. Russo's writing correctly, then one of her points was that a person might make what some would call a "low choice", then try so hard for so long to keep the emotional and/or physical consequences at bay that they employ the Law of Resistance quite a bit, meaning that when we throw ourselves into resisting a change, we are actually creating.
The option is there, every day, all the time, for a person to regard their current situation as a burden, maybe a shameful, embarrassing one, and they could label some of these circumstances as karma created by other behavior of which they were shaming themselves. My ex-roommate Shauna thought exactly that way: she told me repeatedly that this occurrence or another in her world was punishment for what she'd probably done in a past life. 

          I've toyed with the concept of karma for years, leaning more often toward believing than not, and though there are plenty of skilled, knowledgeable people in spiritual communities and YouTube videos who explain it well, there was something about the statements from Shaman Durek that stood out.

          Ooh, I just thought of another example: Last October, I wrote about a guy we'll call Nick, whom I met because a mutual friend introduced us shortly after he had split up with a live-in girlfriend and begun crashing temporarily with a relative. He had a variety of options for how to feel about the break-up and how to look at this new situation, sleeping in the backroom of someone else's apartment, suddenly living on Worker's Comp , in need of a new job, hindered in the latter by not having a car. He also had options when it came to being newly single. At this stage in my spiritual journey, I don't look at any of those options as right or wrong, but the guy was already in the habit of self-pity and associating the idea of being single with a lot of unhappiness and insecurity, so he didn't adjust the horse blinders strapped to his face, just kept going with what he truly, stubbornly believed was his reality. 

          If you can relate to that, you might already be aware that he had options every day during that time. He could change his mind after one day, two months, five years, whatever. A person can steer their life in another direction - it's not impossible. 

I've known that for years, long before learning that the Law of Attraction is real, but when I knew Nick and got occasional updates on his situation, I realized that this dude was, to use fun terminology, casting strong spells all over his life, a clueless wizard, looking off to one side, complaining about how typical bad news was, how unhealthy his previous romance had been but oh, how awful to be dumped and alone, blah blah, while his other hand was dexterously following through on the conjuring of his words, not allowing for introspection, healing, a job-hunt and a possible reimagining of what he specifically wanted most in his love life. This dude could have destroyed the habits and thought processes that attracted his two ex-wives and the selfish girlfriend who showed up afterward. He could have swept away the debris from that destruction, learned from it and started over. The option was there for becoming more aware of negative thoughts and replacing them so that he could enjoy perks of the solo life for the first time in years. Living in a survival mindset all the time has the tendency to keep a person from appreciating what they have right now, and as Aunty Flo dot com says on their page devoted to the Tarot's Four of Cups: you have a lot more then you are willing to see right now. Taking all of your fortunes for granted is a fast way to ensure that you do not receive more.

He simply didn't choose to drastically change his outlook and behaviors. I'm sure that he was unable to see major disruptions as opportunities, and I can't blame him. In my own way, I can relate, as you have probably read on this blog, what with all of my past navel-gazing.

          That fall, Nick was working two jobs and bought a car, which was productive, though soon after that, he chose to pity himself all throughout his brother's wedding, since he was now the only unmarried person in his family. He moved into his own apartment, but within days, a new neighbor crashed into and totaled his vehicle. I felt for him, poor thing, when he told me that story in the yard of his former crash pad, and the conversation was a bit awkward because I was building a snow fort with a little boy. We didn't talk again. After all, he was convinced that hard times and loneliness were his normal and frankly, I wasn't willing to hang out with that.

          The Law of Resistance came into play in this example when Nick fought hard to not sit in his discomfort and let it flow through him as Kyle Cease would probably suggest but to instead search aggressively for a new partner. It seemed obvious to me that he was running from something internal, and that had him co-creating with the universe so that his life reflected his belief that he was downtrodden (and available for someone just as fearful to come and, I don't know, use romantic commitment as a bunker?) Nick, like most Americans, had no idea that he was a resilient, valuable, powerful wizard. 

from The Sword in the Stone (1963)

 

In this way, he very much embodied this Tarot card:

Nick would grouse and conjure, grouse and conjure.

          The reality is what we create, it's not created for us, and we think it's the opposite way...We can't go into the fear... - Kim Russo

          You and I could keep doing that, too. If for some reason I wanted to, I could turn around today and end or resist key elements of my transformation, going back to old thought patterns. I could snatch up a call center job I didn't care about and slog through it, start having creative dry spells again, etc., etc. My social life would once again include casual, flighty stuff, no sustenance. As much as change is an uncomfortable concept and tearing down all you've ever known is scary, it's an option that I find leads to improvement, feeling better, flowing more with the current instead of choosing the unhealthy familiar and feeling like every day is a fight against said current. Oh, and speaking of change, even my grandmother noticed, during the quarantine, that I've been smiling and laughing a lot. My mom asked recently if I had started flirting with someone.

 

           I've given this some thought and as of right now, I'm leaning away from believing that karma is a thing. Yes, it has been talked about by multiple spiritual figures (Christine Pavlina, Elizabeth April, Sadhguru) who have said many things that resonate with me, but not this. For the time being, I'll side with what I learned from my own soul.

        

          Neither Nick nor I are beating the other at life, of course. In all actuality, people can't win or lose at this game, just...exist as equals who may or may not view themselves that way, and they go through life gaining experience, right? 

 

 

          On another note:

          The above interview could be a mood booster after today's topic, so please enjoy! Two brothers who are very accomplished in different fields, interview Kim Russo! There were good stories, first off, and Kim advised Michael that he didn't have to stop at the convenience store for medicine but that he was experiencing a common symptom of spiritual ascension, which was perfect validation for me! Hearing that got me so pumped that I immediately started writing a new essay for my book!

          Another podcast you may like is a discussion between two powerful motivators who are multi-faceted, funny people and I was grinning throughout a lot of their conversation. Just in case you needed more enticing, this episode was titled, "Put the Sassy in Spirituality - with Sah D'Simone".