Dec 2, 2024

Karma by Care’n Mooney

Karma, an ancient Indian concept, refers to the idea that a person's actions and intentions have consequences or effects on their future. The word comes from Sanskrit and literally means action or deeds.

Hinduism describes the relationship between a person's mental or physical actions and the consequences following that action. It also signifies that the consequences of all the actions of a person in their current and previous lives accumulate, causing an effect in morality.

Does karma really affect our lives?

For thousands of years, there have been those who believe that we are always trying to overcome the mistakes of our past. That when we reincarnate, we pick up where we left off, so to speak. That we will keep trying to fix or repair something that we did not finish in the life before. And they teach that all the suffering we face is because of our wrong deeds.

I think the new concept of realizing that we are a product of our families, our cultures, and our own personalities, that we have been taught ideas of ourselves that are the perceptions of those who came before us.

Some philosophies say you cannot overcome karma, that you will pay for your sins over and over until the end of time. Even in the Bible, it says that as a man sows for himself, so he reaps. This is energetically true, that the kind of energy we hold, we will receive that kind of energy back.

Karma is a basic understanding of the law of cause and effect, and since it literally means action, there is movement in cause and effect. Karma does not imply judgment, punishment, or reward. It is simply the action that allows you to be aware that what you think will become.

I think karma has been used to point out that how we treat others, we also are treating ourselves, allowing us to gain better awareness of our actions.

Then, in earlier years when people did not have the means to recognize how their actions would affect others, I think it was useful to have something beyond themselves that would explain why these things happened. We do know that genetics and environment, culture, and upbringing are contributing factors to how we handle things in life.

We now understand that energetically every action has an opposite and equal reaction; it takes great force pushing against the earth to make a rocket rise. Nature seeks balance.

We now have a greater means to look within ourselves and realize that we create many things in our life. We're seeing this more and more as time speeds up, for we are seeing the effect that comes from our actions rapidly experienced.

For instance, let's say a bank robber got away with robbing banks easily for 25 years and never got caught. Then, karma catches up, and he jaywalks and gets arrested. It took 25 years for his action to result in an effect.

However, now we are experiencing the effect of what we do faster and faster. In a positive way, you may be thinking you need a parking place and voilà, one appears for you. You may be thinking the test you are going to take will be hard, and it will be hard.

We are now learning that we do not have to carry our sins and misconceptions of ourselves forever. We are learning that acknowledging what we need to change, changing it, blessing it or its lesson, and letting it go is freeing us of accumulated trauma. Karma has been a tool, a guide, and awareness to get our attention. It has shown us we are capable of greater things.

We are now learning about self-love, being off, and being able to let go of the things that do not serve us. We are each responsible for fixing our own attitudes and resolving our own challenges so they do not need to follow us lifetime to lifetime.

With dedication and love and the desire to find out your authentic self, we can stop the patterns of lifetimes of having to redo the things we need to really learn in relationships. I find many people will say that their relationship is something from the karmic past, or that they are soulmates, and they have things to work out. Energetically this may be true; however, that does not mean that you are here to resolve their problems.

I have seen too many times that they use this as an excuse to not do their own homework, or to not leave the relationship that is caustic because they feel they have a karmic responsibility.

I think karma was put in place for us to do our own homework, and not be strapped in a situation that is unhealthy or unproductive. Learning to be completely honest with yourself and asking yourself why you feel compelled to continue if it is not changing your perception of yourself or being able to allow the other person to grow.

Every Tuesday evening, I have a heart-centered meditation at my center in Mesa, Arizona. I call it the open-heart meditation. I guide the group into our heart’s center, feeling it with joy, feeling it expands and vibrates faster and faster until we become our true essence as beings of light.

If anyone is in the Phoenix or Mesa area, please give me a call and be part of our open-heart meditation.