Karma refers to cause and effect, as it shows up in our daily lives in many different ways.

Innocent conditioning

Generally, it can be seen as ordinary and innocent conditioning, the habitual patterns and responses, of this human self. There are innumerable causes of this conditioning, reaching into the full past and extent of this universe, and the form of the conditioning is always new and different as well.

This conditioning is inherent in the world of form. It is the movements within this seamless whole, appearing as cause and effect. It is what keeps us, and any being, alive. Nothing in the world of form, including our human selves, can function without conditioning. A human self cannot "escape" conditioning either, no more than a wave can escape an ocean. And it is not needed.

Karma from beliefs

One way karma shows up is any time there is a belief in a thought.

A thought arises as an innocent question. It is attached to, believed in, made into something that appears real and substantial. And through being attached to, it has real consequences in our lives.

I believe I am an object in the world, and get caught up in - and act from - likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. I believe the world is a dangerous place, and experience fear. I believe I am a man, and exclude feminine qualities. I believe people should be considerate, and cut down in my mind anyone I see as not considerate.

Existential terror as karma

When the Buddhist psychotherapist told my friend that her undercurrent of terror is karma, it may have been accurate in a certain way.

There is a belief in the thought I, and in subsequent thoughts such as something terrible will happen, and this necessarily leads to an undercurrent of terror. It can appear mild and in the background and go unnoticed for a while, and it can come more to the foreground in other situations.

There is a simple cause - a belief in a thought, and the effect - in this case a current of terror.

Karma falls away

And there may not be any need to make up stories about what created this in the past. Those are only stories. Instead, we can just to notice these beliefs and examine them. We can more clearly see their nature as ephemeral, their effects on our lives, who or what we would be without them, and that the reverse statements are as true as the original one.

Seeing through the beliefs, they fall away. And with them, their effects.

Karma falls away.

Karma from beliefs falls away, the other ones stay

At least this one particular type of karma falls away, the one coming from beliefs in thoughts. The one creating the whole drama of our human existence, the suffering, the dis-ease.

The other forms of karma, the innocent conditioning, is fine. It can and will stay. It is what allows this human self to continue, survive and function in the world of phenomena.

Where there used to be an attachment to a thought, leading to getting caught in this conditioning and a sense of drama and struggle, there is now an absence of attachment to the thought, and the same conditioning now functioning within a sense of ease.

Labels: karma

One of the many ways to explore selflessness is through inquiry into causes. Take any activity in your daily life, and explore the many contributing causes to that activity.

For any activity, I can find infinite contributing causes. There is always one more, and one more.

I brushed my teeth this morning, and the tip of the iceberg of the contributing causes to that simple activity is...

• I have teeth
• I have a tooth brush
• I have an arm to brush with
• I have time to brush
• I had a thought of brushing teeth
• I had the intention of brushing teeth
• There is an awareness within which all this unfolds
• My parents and my school encouraged me to brush my teeth, establishing a habit for me
• Someone invented the toothbrush
• Someone manufactured this toothbrush
• Innumerable people was part of that manufacturing, indirecty or directly, going back innumerable generations
  
• I am alive
• I am a human being
• I have eaten food my whole life to stay alive for this brushing
• Innumerable beings brought this food to me, directly and indirectly
  
• I have not died yet, from the innumerable things that could have made me die before this moment
• Innumerable unbroken generations of beings, humans and pre-human, allowed me to exist so I could brush my teeth this morning
  
• This planet and solar system was formed from a number of supernovas
• The whole universe has evolved as a seamless system, allowing this planet, humanity, our culture, and me to exist

And so on... I see that the universe as a whole contributed to this simple action. There is not really much room for any separate doer. It seems far more true that the act of brushing my teeth was the activity of the whole of the universe, of the whole of Existence. I cannot find any separate I here acting as a doer. I as a separate doer seems to be just a story added to what is.

Labels: infinity, inquiry, karma