Karma means action. According to the Yoga Sutra, the cause of suffering is grasping at events we want more of and resisting what we don’t want.
Part of the art of living is learning to “go with the flow” and avoid getting in the way of where life wants to take us. This doesn’t mean not acting, but rather learning how best for us to act in the world. There are common principles but also variations due to our nature and gifts. For example, it’s natural for one to be outgoing and another to be more inner-directed. But all types need relationship in some form.
This way, we act in harmony with life, and with ourselves. We notice what’s supported and what’s not, in the moment. And we stop leaving a trail of incomplete experiences and pain.
Another part of the art of living is resolving that history. Not just learning how to be now, but resolving the residues of what we could not meet in the past.
Those unresolved experiences and the seeds of karma seem very similar. But they’re different temporally.
Our unresolved experiences now create seeds of action in our future. But if we resolve the contractions sooner, they don’t become those seeds.
Our unresolved experiences and karma seek resolution. Thus, they come up over and over. We experience the circumstances arising – through others or life itself – repeatedly. But when we’re caught up in it and resisting, it’s not seen and completed. It remains unresolved and will cycle back again.
We see the same repeating problems in our relationships, or whatever. For example, we change jobs and get the same style of boss. We can’t escape it, so it’s better to learn to work with it.
Actions out of harmony with life can also create the seeds of karma. Yet even here, it’s not about blame. These types of actions are often caused by the state we’re in because of past trauma; those unresolved experiences.
When we’re less conscious, we make unconscious choices based on reaction or impulse. As we get more conscious, we can better recognize the dynamics and make more conscious choices that are more in our own interest. Even deeper, we can make choices in alignment with our nature.
This is all so much easier as we develop presence. We become more conscious when our nature as aware presence becomes more active. This may initially be an observing (and judging) mind. But in time, it becomes the neutral, observing awareness. With regular transcendence, we develop that inner presence. Then when events arise, we’re not as caught in them. We’re more conscious, maybe even witnessing them.
Then it’s much easier to see the dynamics, to experience what needs to be processed, and to resolve the repeaters.
Also, our capacity to process experiences grows. And we step more deeply into who we are. We stop acting out of alignment with ourselves and the world around us. We stop resisting. And thus, we stop producing unresolved experiences. We stop creating seeds of future events, aka karma.
Then, what remains is our unresolved history. The key is getting to the unresolved core that is driving events. Usually, that’s emotional, somatic, or both. We could say they’re of two types: the reactive vasanas and the somatic samskaras or impressions.
At first, events arise to be experienced and resolved. But in time, we can feel the impulse arise within, before it turns into an event. Sometimes, we can resolve it on that level, energetically. But when it involves others, we may still need to live it out.
Yet if we’re just observing, we’re not caught in it. We’re healing and resolving those seeds of future events.
Further, as our energy no longer feeds the old patterns, they’re weakened and can fade. The light rises and the shadows dissolve.
Yet this healing process can go still deeper. It’s hard to have a golden age of light when collectively, we have a long history of violence and pain. Even if we’re fully healed and neutral about our history, that memory is still a shadow.
Even the shadow of our history can be healed. Deep enough and even our historical behaviours are healed, changing history. For example, if we went on a killing rampage in a prior life and we heal the trauma that caused it now, it may even remove the original motivation. Then the rampage doesn’t happen, and history is changed.
We could say that dark ages “forget” golden ages, as now. And golden ages “forget” dark ages. Our history reflects consciousness and grows with it.
We could say memory is a function of reality. When our reality evolves, so does expression, including history.
It’s not that the past goes away; it’s that everything adjusts to the new reality. Time expresses our reality.
Davidya
Hi David
The man in the picture has 4 fingers on one hand, classic AI mistake! 🙂
Right. And where’s the fluid coming from?
But it illustrates the idea of the article, without copyright issues.
Hi David,
A lot of food for thought in this perspicacious article. Makes me want to tweak the well-known quote: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
Great quote, Scott.
The art is in our relationship with the past. Simply remembering the past helps learning but can bring with it the unresolved baggage. Feelings of regret, sadness, etc. That often leads to forgetting to cope. Better to heal the past so it’s a learning and not a burden. Therein lies the path to wisdom.
Hi David
What are the consequences of a killing rampage on the future lives? Probably some traumas are involved in lives of people who do that, choices, enviroment etc. Also there is a diference, if somebody is directly involved in those crimes vs somebody, who is in a position of power, a politician or mafia boss. They only influence people, but usualy they don’t kill them directly. Good (or bad) example of that is Hitler. Dictators probably suffer a lot and a long time in future lives. Also i’ve read about the “perpetrator traumas” already in this life . Do you have any insight about this terrible dynamics?
Hi Bojan
The consequences of karma are complex. There are the consequences of the action itself, but there are also the consequences of those consequences – for example, how the person affected is influenced. Yet how much of that is yours and what theirs? We see just obvious physical consequences.
There is also the balance of other karmas in play. For example, a perpetrator may be resolving being victimized by the others actions in a prior life. They may acting out the collective karma – theres a lot of that going on in US politics at the moment. There are many possibilities that are not obvious.
We’ve all lived as perpetrators and victims. It’s part of the learning of this world. The key is balance. Actions that take things out of balance have consequences. Actions that restore balance and harmony resolve those. Favour the balance and work to resolve what arises and we make good forward progress.
Try to figure it all out and you’ll go nuts. (laughs) Easy principles but very complex in practice.
Hi David
Yes, a perpetrator may be resolving being victimised by others people’s actions in a prior life, but we have a choice to not inflict harm and do something else insted. Healing traumas and genuine forgiveness.
So maybe balance can be acomplished in some other ways.
Exactly, Bojan
Once we become more conscious of our reactivity, we have a choice. We can react and harm or we can stop the process and resolve the triggers.
There’s a section in the Bhagavad Gita where it talks about this.
First, we see what we’ve done afterwards.
Then we begin to recognize during the action and might redirect or make amends.
And then we begin to notice the first impulse to act. Then we have full choice. Do we act it out? Or do we feel into it and resolve it before it expresses.
So often, our acting out harms us the most. But it’s hard on relationships, especially when we blame others for triggering our stuff – the reactivity was solely ours.
Hi David
You mentioned acting out karma in USA. It’s truly insane what is going on there! And around the world too, especialy with populism, spreading like a fire. This is happening already more then 10 years. But maybe this is just a short outburst of unresolved issues and after the 2030 it will get better. In one of your answers you said that in the year 2033 the situation will be much better and looking back from that year, our current time will look really primitive. Do you still hold this view?
Right, Bojan, it’s not just the US. Just think about what populism represents. It’s a seeking of past security when the world is changing in ways we don’t like, or where we feel triggered. They seek simple, pat answers and confident leaders who have them. Often, there is a straw man or enemy created. Jews, Immigrants, Blacks, Women… things that are not us we can blame for our insecurity. Yet it has nothing to do with them and the “answers” prove false.
I don’t know when the tide will fully shift but have heard some use dates like that. Some feel 25-26 is the thick of it. It’s certainly been more intense. And yes, I suspect we’ll look back at it as primitive. Just consider how we look at the 1950’s now. 🙂
I live in a rural area and unfortunately some people here are still stuck in the 1950’s…