Instant Karma’s gonna get you, or so John Lennon sang. I’m reluctant to argue with the late Mr. Lennon, but… here goes.
In the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of westerners descended on India looking for magic and mystery. They believed that what was missing from their lives could be found in there and suddenly Eastern philosophies were being marketed to people who longed to be disciples. Much of the centuries-old teachings were changed. Karma Cola, as author Gita Mehta named it in her book of the same name.
So what is karma?
Here’s an analogy. If you and I each encounter a dog, I may see a ferocious animal while you see a friendly companion. Part of this is because we come into this life with our own unique perspectives. Part of it is our experience with dogs. Part of it comes from our imagination.
In the same way, our souls are conditioned by experience, in this life and in past lives. Those experiences influence our memory that then influences our interpretations and choices, creating our perspective. These tiny kernels build up in the individual soul over a lifetime. The combination of memory and imagination based on experience is called karma. Karma accumulates in the personal part of the soul and colors it.
The personal soul governs the conscience and provides a template for the kind of person we each turn out to be. In addition, the actions we take can effect our soul and change our karma, for better or worse.
But there is also a universal, nonlocal part of the soul that is not touched by our actions. It’s connected to a pure and unchanging spirit.
No matter how much of a mess we may have made of our lives, it is always possible to tap into the part of the soul that is universal and change the course of our destiny.
That’s karma in a nutshell—from a Westerner, yes. But I hope you see that karma is more than a what-goes-around-comes-around, quid-pro-quo, action-and-equal-but-opposite-reaction principle.
We can always take advantage of the connection between the personal soul and the universal soul to shape our lives, to co-create our reality now and in the future, both in this life and in lives to come.