What Goes Around
An atypical exploration of the universal Law of Karma
Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Ev’ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
— “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” lyrics, by John Lennon
Is it pointless to introduce the Law of Cause and Effect (Karma) to the average Judeo-Christian Westerner when the faithful are too busy warding off Satan’s lure to even consider this essential law of life? They will say that the whole karma/reincarnation thing doesn’t appear to fit into Christian teaching. Others, a growing group of nonbelievers, really don’t care or have already decided that if they don’t “believe”, it doesn’t apply to them. An intelligent approach might be to explore Karmic Law as potentially in play and be open to it as an organizing principle of our experience, appreciating its beauty as an equitable way to ensure that life is an educational process, and that there is ultimately justice in life on Earth.
Such concepts won’t be proven inside a laboratory. You’ll have to research and decide for yourself. But your life has value, and we all have the capacity to grow in awareness of things we never suspected might be operating below the limitations of our past experiences. You and I can surely agree on this much. If we don’t understand why we’re actually here living this life, then what’s the point of it all? There is never a bad time for serious self-reflection. Are we courageous enough to re-think what was taught during those childhood years of conditioning?
Any moral authority can tell you what to believe, yet the greatest truths can only be confirmed as they become ingrained into our own experience. It’s possible you’ve witnessed something in your own life or another person’s life that resembled the full cycle of cause and effect. We all like tangible examples on which to hang our hats, so here’s one illustration I can offer of “what goes around, comes around”.
Years ago, while at the airport heading out of town for work, I stopped at a grab-and-go eatery near my departure gate. My flight was boarding soon, but there was enough time to get some food. A flight attendant stood behind me in what was a sluggishly moving line. Fretful and impatient, she mumbled about how a plane was being held up by her tardiness. Upon realizing that her need to rush was even greater than mine, I immediately told her to step in front of me. While paying for her food she expressed thanks to me and then hurried off.
Exactly one week later I found myself travelling out of town again and departing from the same terminal. I stopped at the same eatery and first grabbed a baked potato. While standing in line I noticed a flight attendant was behind me again — a different person than the previous week. Like me, she was debating to herself whether or not to indulge in a freshly baked cinnamon roll. Together we mutually decided to give in to the sugar temptation. Then I learned they were only accepting cash at the register that night. My wallet contained a few cards but no bills. Noticing my predicament, the flight attendant said, “I only have $6.25. How much is his?” The cashier responded with a similar amount for the total charge. After trying to stop her, the generous stranger insisted on paying for my food while somehow convincing the cashier to throw in an extra cinnamon roll for herself. Before walking off she glanced at me with a smile and remarked, “See, everything comes back to you.”
Maybe…just maybe…natural lessons are presented to us all the time, but we rarely pay attention. Many important concepts and aspects of life seem to be subtle in nature.
If the Law of Cause and Effect is real, and if it’s true that every thought, every act is a cause that initiates an effect, then our lives really do matter…we create effects in the world, for good or ill, which effects we may not even realize until we become aware of them. But they exist — and since we are tied to those thoughts/actions/effects, we’d also need a long time to continually experience and work off the “bad” effects so as to learn the importance of creating more good effects through our positive thoughts, words, and actions. So, it seems logical that life would have to be either longer than most of us have in years to learn our lessons, or else “life” would need to be a continuous process.
Unless you have the Bhagavad Gita or Tibetan Book of the Dead sitting on your shelves, allow me to offer a rather superficial analogy for visualizing the process of reincarnation. Let’s say your evolutionary journey on this planet is a really long TV series. Each life is a single episode with all its twists and turns. Some parts move along slowly; some are thoughtful and fruitful; some are full of conflict and violence; others are simply wasted opportunities for learning valuable lessons. Throughout each season, you make varying degrees of progress. You’re building healthier and stronger relationships with family members, friends and community. You’re slowly demonstrating a sense of maturity to your audience. Each season ends with a major crisis, a cliff hanger, that the audience knows will surely be resolved at some point up ahead so that the true You emerges as the superhero who has overcome his or her human frailties. There comes a moment when all is resolved. This is “The End” of the show, representing the end of the school of life here on Earth. Already in the works, however, is another exciting series featuring the now mighty You in an altogether different location with a new group of characters and challenges that test your fitness to achieve higher levels of consciousness, perfection and service to humanity within the community of Masters of Wisdom. This community forms the backdrop for advanced training in altruistic service on planes of being we didn’t even know exist.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The point to consider is that the universal laws of Cause and Effect and Rebirth can explain the varying levels of wisdom exhibited by great leaders and thinkers throughout human history and the tragic events that seem to dog the lives of apparently “unlucky” people.
We need to be courageous by asking unconventional questions. What forms of scientific research have been conducted, and what else can be done, to shed light on the possibility of rebirth? Why does the human kingdom make significant progress — from an intellectual and moral standpoint — over a mere few millennia when animals appear to be more stationary in their overall development? Can the existence of a non-physical aspect of ourselves, the immortal soul, ever be proved?
Regardless of whatever code of conduct guides your thinking, these universal laws do favor and reward harmlessness. Even physically, it’s a fact that states of fear and hatred generate tension in the muscles, restricting your body from functioning in a normal way. People might be attracted and inspired by your harmlessness. If negativity is contagious then so is harmlessness, but it is a choice you will live with over and over again.
Maybe we need to keep asking ourselves this question: What goes around?
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