“The conflicts of a human life are directly proportional to the distance at which the energy of personality exists separately from the soul.” - Gary Sukav, The Seat of the Soul
Before we begin, I want to assure you I have zero interest in any particular religion, ideology, or belief system. This has nothing to do with faith, and I don’t want you to take anything I say as truth on just my word alone. This is an impartial analysis, examination and summary of the Buddhist’s law of Karma from the book; The Seat of the Soul, by Gary Sukav.
There's a high probability that the majority of you checked out after you just read the word “religion”, or “Buddhist” and that’s cool, but I promise you, you’re missing out. Instead, how about you ignore the compulsion towards resistance; expand your horizons, open your mind, let your guard down–you never know, you may learn something that shifts the entire trajectory of your life.
This is not an exaggeration, that’s what happened to me! One day, after many many years of suffering from anxiety and depression under the supervision of mental health professionals I finally decided to take action into my own hands. I began educating myself on these mental illnesses and inevitably realized something critical; that they were something happening to me but not me, and that they were absolutely not my fault. However, they were 100% my responsibility–so I took it! I owned it, I took control, I began making changes, cultivating awareness, and in the process accidentally discovered myself.
What do I mean by “accidentally discovered myself?” I mean what I mean! I mean that the “Mike” I believed myself to be when I was sick and the “Mike” whose words you are reading now is not the same Mike. Anxious and depressed Mike was hopelessly and embarrassingly unconscious, chasing pleasure, emotionally unstable, selfish, immoral and lacked awareness of the connection to his soul.
The “Mike” who writes these words (Hi!), is overly (and regretfully I might add) conscious and is all too aware of the energy of the soul. He’d like to believe he’s no longer selfish but that wouldn't be true. However, the degree in which he “self’s” these days has dramatically decreased. We will save my story regret for another blog.
“Yeah okay, but why are you not the same Mike as you were? You didn't really answer the question in which you yourself asked.”
Wow, great catch! You must really be paying attention. Good, glad someone is.
Why, why am I not the same person? Here’s why, because I shifted from being the person who perceives and experiences reality from the seat of the personality (ego), to the awareness that observes reality from the seat of consciousness.
My anxiety just became anxiety. My depression just became depression. There wasn't a sense of me attached to it any longer. I was able to clearly see now, from the seat of consciousness, the inner workings of my mind and its creation of anxiety and depression. I was watching my mind create anxious thoughts, in real time, as I went about my day. I also became conscious that there was a voice inside communicating or speaking these thoughts to me and that voice not only wasn’t me, but that I could learn to quiet down and even completely stop the voice from communicating *cough MEDITATION!*.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, because this shift in my awareness transformed and saved my life. It was the lesson I was destined to learn–my karmic lesson. My biggest issue when I was younger was the inability to handle life’s problems–an inability to cope emotionally. I ran from my issues, avoided confrontation and ignored truth–hid from reality. Hence, the anxiety and the inevitable depression that followed, shocker!
So that was one of my biggest lessons, I had to learn how to face the truth, take responsibility and overcome my adversities and emotional difficulties. Life gave me the precise circumstances and experiences to do so, but I still had to take action, I still had to notice the opportunities and make the difficult choices. The choice between following the direction of my soul or following the direction of my personality (ego).
This is the lesson of Karma.
Which part of you are you going to express? Which part of you are you going to bring into the world, the compassion of the soul, or the fear of the personality? Careful which you choose, the universe is watching, waiting to balance herself out.
It matters not which religion, ideology or belief system you subscribe to, we can all agree we have a soul, right? I mean, I’m like the furthest you could possibly be from religion and I believe in the soul. Believe actually isn't the right word, it may be for you right now, but not me–I know it! I know it because I discovered it for myself, I communicate with it daily, and I’m beginning to embody it. It is my teacher, my guide and the curator of my journey.
But only if I let it. Only if I have the courage to continually choose to follow my soul's purpose, the path of love, forgiveness and compassion. Option two is to concede to the personality (ego), thus adding more negative karmic energy that the soul must balance.
“Every experience, and every interaction provides you with an opportunity to look from the point of view of your soul or from the point of view of your personality. If you choose the personality you add karma, and if you choose the soul you release karma.”
Karma
“Isn't karma just like, you know, treat others like you want to be treated and all that?”
Yes, karma is like the Golden Rule; treat others the way you wish to be treated. But do you know the reason why this is so important that it was awarded golden status?
Here's why, Newton's third Law of Motion; for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whether in this incarnation or another, the energetic polarity of the soul will balance itself out. It’s all about balance! You cannot cause harm to another soul without also experiencing the same degree of harm in yourself–whether in this lifetime or another.
If you are a wealthy prick, you will experience what it's like to live in poverty.
If you're an asshole boss, you will experience what it's like to be a disgruntled employee.
If you treat the homeless like dirt, you will experience what it’s like to be homeless.
If you lie and manipulate, you will be lied to and manipulated.
If you spread hate, all you will receive in return is hate.
The universe is teaching you a lesson, and it will continue that lesson in perpetuity until you finally become aware of and release the negative karmic behavior. So go ahead and be an asshole, stay selfish, continue to judge and criticize–it’s all coming right back at you–like pissing in the wind.
So the Golden Rule, not to be confused with the Golden Shower mentioned above, exists because “you get what you give” right?
No, not exactly. You see, karma isn't exactly instantaneous like people imagine. The soul is immortal and boundless, it doesn't care if it takes this lifetime or the next one or even a thousand more to learn your karmic lessons, to heal, and to become whole. But you better believe you will be paying off those debts at some point–no one gets to cause harm to another and not experience the exact same harm being done to them.
Hey, seems fair to me!
Because of the fact that karmic retaliation isn't instant, humans don’t give a shit–it’s that simple. This is why people don't treat others the way they wish to be treated–no consequences. If they knew that they themselves would be subject to the same treatment, if they knew that every thought, intention and action they bring into form (reality) goes towards their karmic bar tab, maybe they would think twice–maybe not, I dunno.
One cannot bring with them into the world negativity or evil without paying a price–it's not possible–everything comes back into balance–it is a Law of the Universe.
A personality who is considered “evil” is one without attachment to the energy of the soul–someone who is unable to find their reference point–their way home. This is what allows conscious human beings to inflict acts of great violence, hate, oppression and corruption–they’ve lost connection to their soul. This isn't a metaphor, this is as literal as one can possibly be.
Yes, those fine folk waving relic flags from the losing side and marching in white masks–they are lost souls.
Yes, those politicians who would rather take money from veterans and see children slain in schools than consider losing their power–soulless.
Yes, those CEOs whose income ratio is 4000x that of their average employee–they are ghosts, shells of human beings, pretending to do good and be normal but realistically they are the cause of great suffering, inequality and economic failure–and they will suffer for it.
All of these examples above, they will pay a price, trust me! They have some unavoidable and difficult lessons ahead, this is their fate. We all eventually move towards wholeness–towards the evolution of our soul.
The Personality
Okay so we all have this thing called a personality, what is that?
The personality is those parts of the soul that require healing. So for instance, if you’re the jealous type, or insecure type maybe, your soul wants to heal those fragmented parts of itself. Your life will be about overcoming those major obstacles in the soul's attempt for wholeness. If you have a major issue with jealousy, your life is going to be filled with experiences that invoke the emotion of jealousy. Why? Because the soul has graciously given you numerous opportunities to learn and evolve past your jealousy, your biggest barrier from expressing the energy of your soul.
Remember the insecure neo-nazi douches marching in white masks above? They’re surrounded by karmic lessons day in and day out, in the form of hate. Hate of; change, challenge, others and most importantly hatred of themselves. As nazi’s they cannot live any other way, this is how wildly insecure personalities who are unattached to their soul operate–they cannot see another choice–the conscious choice–the choice of the soul.
Do you see now that the karmic lesson of a heart filled with anger and hate is empathy and love? The nazi’s karmic lesson is empathy and love because they have none–which is why they are surrounded by people who also have none. The soul is compassionately delivering them experience after experience of hate so they can become aware (someday hopefully) that the hate originates from within themselves and a deep seated sense of fear–also that they’re giant pussies! Your vagina is so large you can fit the entirety of your kiddy porn collection in it, or about the size your asshole’s gonna be when you spend the rest of your life in federal prison–when we toss you aside, forget you ever existed, throw you away like garbage.
(If you have an issue with my language and how I address Nazi’s, please take it up with HR)
It’s tricky to understand so let me give you a few more examples of how the soul uses karma to teach us.
If you speak or act from jealousy, you will create the karma of jealousy.
If you speak or act from anger, you will create the karma of anger
If you speak or act from compassion, you create the karma of compassion
Any judgment or negative reaction directed toward life or anything in it creates karma–more lessons for the soul to learn–more karmic debt for the soul to pay.
Your soul is giving you signals! It wants you to see and experience the very thing you have put out into the world. “If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect.” This is the role of karma. If you give the world your anger and negativity, the world will give it right back, one way or another. However, if you give the world your unconditional love, you will be rewarded in reciprocity.
“Every cause that has not yet produced its effect is an event that has not yet come to completion. It is an imbalance of energy that is in the process of becoming balanced.”
Karma has nothing to do with morality, for that is of human creation–the universe does not judge. Karma is the law that governs the balancing of energy. “It serves humanity as an impersonal and universal teacher of responsibility.”
The Fix
What's the fix then, Mike? How do we go about our lives navigating karma?
For one, we must stop adding more negative karma. We do this by not reacting negatively with our splintered, healing personalities, but instead by responding to life with the intention of our soul. When you express judgment and criticize, when you get angry–you add negative karma–you lose power. When you express love and compassion–you bring forth the energy of the soul–you gain power.
Secondly, we must allow our soul to balance its energy–it must experience the effects that it has caused. We must allow ourselves to feel and accept the whole world and not shut out the parts we don't like. We must acknowledge, feel and process our sadness, fear and anger. We must acknowledge Truth! This means we must learn to keep our hearts open and not shut down in the face of fear.
Lastly, non-judgemental justice. This is “a perception that allows you to see everything in life, but does not engage your negative emotions… non-judgemental justice is the freedom of seeing what you see and experiencing what you experience without responding negatively.”
“Your struggles themselves do not create karma,...only your responses to them”
Knowing that the Universe is doing the work for us, via the Law of Karma, we no longer have to be judge and jury. We do not have to get emotionally involved in other people's realities. We do not have to add more negative karma.
Wrapping up
So yeah, karma isn't cutting off someone in traffic and then stubbing your toe in the middle of the night. It’s not that being a bad person will necessarily have negative consequences in this lifetime. Karma is about balance and responsibility. We all have a soul that is moving towards wholeness, towards healing–whether you're aware of your soul or not is not required but what is required is making a choice–made consciously or not. It is the choice of personality vs. soul. Every moment you have a choice and your choices either bring you closer to suffering or closer to freedom–it’s 100% your call–that’s free will baby!
Thank you for choosing to read my words today!
With Gratitude,