IS KARMA A DIRTY WORD?
WE HAVE LOOKED AT HOW KARMA BEGAN. PART TWO OF THIS CHAPTER WILL LOOK AT HOW MIGHT END.
BUT A CRUCIAL QUESTION WE NEED TO ADDRESS IS THIS : DO WE REALLY WANT IT TO END?
IS MEMORY A BURDEN? IS KARMA AN OBSTACLE? IS SAMSARA A CURSE? IS LIFE UNMITIGATED SUFFERING?
NOT IN THE LEAST.
LET ME STATE THIS UNEQUIVACALLY: KARMA IS NOT A DIRTY WORD.
CERTAIN RELIGIOUS STRAINS HAVE, OVER TIME, BEGUN TO VIEW THE HUMAN BEING AS INHERENTLY IMPURE OR SOILED OR SINFUL. THEY SEE HUMAN LIFE AS A CURSE RATHEN THAN A BLESSING - A CONDITION FROM WHICH ONE NEEDS TO BE CURED OR SAVED OR RESCUED.
WHILE FREEDOM IS A LAUDABLE ASPIRATION, LET US NEVER FORGET THIS FACT: KARMA IS THE BASIS OF HUMAN LIFE. KARMA IS WHAT GIVES YOUR PHYSICAL FORM AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE SOLIDITY AND STABILITY. IT OFFERS A FOUNDATION FOR YOUR LIFE. WITHOUT THIS FOUNDATION, THERE WOULD BE NO POSSIBILITY OF TRASCENDENCE. YOU, YOUR BODY, AND YOUR MIND ARE BOUND TOGETHER ONLY BECAUSE OF THE KARMIC PROCESS. WITHOUT KARMA, NEITHER YOUR BODY NOR YOUR MIND WOULD EXIST. "YOU" AS YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF, WOULD NOT BE AROUND!
SO KARMA IS, FACT, A TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITY.
EVERY MOMENT, IMPRESSIONS ARE FLOODING IN TORRENTS INTO YOUR SYSTEM THROUGH YOUR FIVE SENSE ORGANS, AND EACH IMPRESSION IS BEING RECORDED. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS. THIS STORED INFORMATION IS VERY USEFUL FOR YOUR SURVIVAL. IF YOU DELETED ALL OF IT, YOU WOULD NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE EVEN THE SIMPLEST ASPECTS OF LIFE. KARMA IS THE GLUE THAT MAKES YOU STICK TO THIS BODY-MIND MECHANISM. IF YOU WASHED AWAY ALL YOUR KARMA, YOU WOULD EXIST YOUR BODY THIS VERY INSTANT!
YOUR SOFTWARE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT TURNS INTO A PROBLEM ONLY IF IT BECOME THE RULIN FACTOR IN YOUR LIFE. KARMA IS JUST YOUR OWN CREATION. IT IS NEITHER VIRTUOUS NOR EVIL, GOOD NOR BAD. IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING AT IT THROUGH THE PRISM - OR PREJUDICE - OF MEMORY THAT SOMETHING SEEMS WONDERFUL AND SOMETHING SEEMS HORRIBLE. KARMA IS THE BASIS OF YOUR INDIVIDUALITY, BUT IT IS ALSO BASIS OF YOUR PREJUDICE.
THE PROBLEM WITH KARMIC MEMORY IS THAT IT HAS STUCK TO YOU. IF EVERYTHING THAT PASSESS BY STICKS TO THIS MIRROR, IT IS A NO-GOOD MIRROR. YOUR MIRROR CAN NO LONGER SHOW YOUR LIFE THE WAY IT IS. YOUR PERCEPTION IS NOW SERIOUSLY CLOUDED. NOW KARMA BECOMES A LIMITATION.
OF COURSE, THERE IS MUCH TO CELEBRATE ABOUT MEMORY. MEMORY MAKES US UNIQUE. MEMORY MAKES EVERY INDIVIDUAL DAZZLINGLY SINGULAR. IT IS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BIODIVERSITY AND CULTURAL VARIETY WE SEE AROUND US TODAY. IT IS MEMORY THAT MAKES THE WORLD SUCH AN INCREDIBLY INTERESTING PLACE TO LIVE IN. MEMORY IS UNDENIABLY A PRIVILEGE. AN ENORMOUS PRIVILEGE.
THE RUB IS THAT MEMORY IS NOT JUST A GLUE. IT IS ALSO BOUDARY. IT OFFERS YOU FORM AND DEFINITION, BUT OVER TIME, THAT VERY FORM BECOMES A LIMITATION, AND THE DEFINITION BECOMES A WALL.
YOU ARE GRADUALLY FETTERED BY THE DEFINITIONS YOU SEEK TO ACQUIRE. YOU JOYFULLY CELEBRATE THESE DEFINITIONS - PERHAPS OF FAMILY, CLAN, TRIBE, CLASS, GENDER, RELIGION, CULTURE, LANGUAGE - BUT OVER TIME THESE DEFINITIONS HARDEN INTO RIGID MARKERS OF IDENTITY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, YOU HAVE CRAFTED YOUR OWN PRISON. WHETHER GILDED OR IRON BARRED, A CAGE IS STILL A CAGE.
THE TRAGEDY IS THAT YOU ARE IMPRISONED BY WALLS OF YOUR OWN MAKING. THESE ARE WALLS AND BARS YOU HAVE ERECTED UNCONSCIOUSLY, AND WHICH NOW DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE. YOU ARE THE BUILDER, BUT YOU HAVE NOW ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE. YOU ARE THE BUILDER, BUT YOU HAVE NOW IMPRISONED YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN HOME. YOUR CREATION THAT WAS A SOURCE OF SANCTUARY AND IDENTITY HAS NOW TURNED INTO A CARAPACE. YOU HAVE SPUN A COCOON OF CONFINEMENT AROUND YOURSELF THAT NOW YOU CANNOT FLY FREE. YOU HAVE BECOME YOUR OWN JAILER.
PART TWO OF THIS CHAPTER EXPLORES THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN WORK WITH, AND THROUGH, YOUR KARMA TO ADDRESS THIS UNQUENCHABLE HUMAN LONGING TO BE FREE. IT OFFERS YOU WAYS TO ENJOY MEMORY WITHOUT BEING OPPRESSED BY IT. IT OFFERS YOU WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN LIVE IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT ADDING TO YOUR ALREADY BURDENSOME FREIGHT OF KARMA. IT OFFERS YOU A CHANCE TO NAVIGATE YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH THIS WORLD WITHOUT BEING WORN AND ABRADED BY THE RIDE.
YOU CAN FEEL THE BREEZE ON YOUR FACE AND THE SUN ON YOUR SKIN, BUT YOUR DON'T GATHER NEEDLESS GRIME AND AREN'T AT THE MERCY OF CHANGING WETHER. THE NEXT SECTION EMPOWERS YOU TO MAKE THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD BY SHOWING YOU A PATH THAT THE GREATEST SAGES HAVE KNOWN SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, HOW YOU CAN BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT.
THIS PATH REMINDS YOU THAT WHILE KARMA IS YOUR BONDAGE, IF YOU HANDLE IT RIGHT, KARMA CAN ALSO BE A STEPPING-STONE TO YOUR LIBERATION.
