Simple Karma

A simpler view on simple karma.

Karma can be seen as cause and effect, here and now. Although this is a very simple and ordinary (in the sense of nothing special) view, it may be sufficient as a guideline for our lives.

Within small self

On the level of the small self, we see that there are habitual patterns of emotions/thoughts and behaviors. These habitual patterns are formed by the habits and processes of this universe, by biology (evolution of humans), by our culture and by the individual experiences of the particular small self.

These processes and patterns live their own life. They come and go on their own, often triggered by various external/internal situations.

When we are exclusively identified with the small self, we have no choice but to engage in whatever processes of the small self comes up. We either fuel it, or try to push it away. We deepen the groove of the process itself, or the process of resisting it.

When we awaken as space & awareness, all the processes of the small self unfold within us. In this case, the groove of staying as both context (space & awareness) and content (processes of the small self) deepens.

In either case, we deepen grooves which the system is more likely to fall into in the future. In systems language, we deepen the attractor state that we bring attention to.

External to small self

Also in terms of the behavior of the small self, we see that there is a process of "as we sow we shall reap".

The small self is a part of a larger fluid seamless whole. The consequences of our behaviors for the larger whole, becomes the context in which this small self lives. What goes out comes back.

This is a process we find socially. The way we relate to others is often mirrored in the way they relate to us.

And we find it ecologically. The health and well-being of the local and global ecosystems are intimately connected with our own health and well-being. If we damage the health of ecosystems, it comes back to us. If we help preserve it, we support our own life-support system.

Feedback

Karma is feedback. We are embedded in a seamless whole, and when we send something out - it comes back to us one way or another.

If we act from a view of separation, we receive consequences that invites us to see no separation. And this process take place in all our relationships - to the small self (body, energies, emotions, thoughts), to others, to the larger social and ecological systems, to Existence.

As soon as we act from a view of separation, we receive unpleasant consequences. And these invite us to see that there is no separation.

If I ignore the body, I may get sick. If I resist emotions/thoughts, they will come back - in any possible way - until I finally acknowledge them. If I treat others with respect, I am more likely to be met with respect. If I act without thought of the far-reaching and long-term consequences of my actions, these consequences will come back and haunt me, until I bring these into my view.

In a very immediate way, I see that as soon as I attach to a view of separation, there is a sense of isolation and then suffering. And I also tend to act from a limited and fixed view, which in itself tends to bring suffering.

What we sow, we reap.