Firecracker Karma
AS WE SOW, WE REAP according to biblical scripture; such a pronouncement is “karma” in a nutshell. The word karma translates as “action.” It refers to what we think, say and do. It refers to whatever actions we choose, or happen to take, but carries with it a proviso: to every action there is a consequence.
While some of our thoughts and undertakings are noble, some are not. None of us is perfect. Some of what we do can haunt us; most of what we do, however, is minor and it simply dogs us for a time, but not to any persistent degree.
The majority of what goes on for most of us is the result of unconscious behaviors. These are behaviors to which our autonomic systems tend while we indulge ourselves in a small — very small — proportion of conscious behaviors, some of which we are fully aware and in control; most of which, however, are thoughts and actions we take with only marginal awareness as we go about our busy lives.
Alongside the above cited biblical injunction, the Judeo-Christian religion teaches that there is such a thing as “sin.” Through the Middle Ages and into the present, most people took, and still take, a very harsh view of sin, but in the ancient times sin was a word associated with archery and it simply meant to “miss the mark.” In effect, it was behavior which was essentially erroneous, but nowhere in the league of what we hear about from those who espouse a fire and brimstone interpretation of sin. Church fathers, back in the day, were the ones who decided what constituted what they called “mortal” sin and what they deemed was minor in nature which they labeled “venial.”
It is easy enough to extrapolate which types of actions constitute sins of a mortal nature. Certainly, a violent assault against others, especially attacks which result in the killing of a fellow human being, top the list, as well they should. Coveting and stealing things, especially a spouse or a child, from one’s neighbor is pretty appalling, shocking and serious. The current, most horrific, version of that offense is kidnapping children and trafficking them across the globe for profit. As for taking God’s name in vain, lying, cheating, disrespecting our parents, bearing false witness, these fall onto a spectrum of behavior of which a level of offense comes into play. Little lies, minor pilfering, cheating in trivial ways are of slight consequence, while similar activities which amount to higher value stakes have a greater consequence.
Whether “God” holds any of these offenses against us in some heavenly or hellish “afterlife” is another question entirely, but regardless of that people do pay a worldly price for making erroneous decisions by having their reputations tarnished for the remainder of their lives. By that I mean what they did will have their family and others repeatedly associating them with an embarrassing social event of some nature, which is actually a pretty major price to pay. Get caught for shoplifting, for example, is a minor offense, but once people hear about it they never forget it.
Social embarrassment is especially true if we are affiliated with some explosive allegation and subsequently get convicted for it. This type of offense can constitute a fiery karmic detonation which can all but ruin a life. None of us is so perfect that we can never “miss the mark”, however. We do miss the mark on occasion, making little mistakes and, once in a while getting caught out for those mistakes. That is perturbing, certainly, and sometimes embarrassing, but overall, not too big a deal. It is not explosive conduct. It is what we might call “firecracker karma.”
A major event, however, can follow one to the grave and even beyond. Most wisdom masters say that what happens in the afterlife is that we are confronted with our mistakes directly in a life review; mistakes for which we must make some form of restitution, generally by having to be reborn into the human realm and facing the exact kind of circumstance that will force us to deal with a particular issue once more. We must learn our lesson, in other words, but that is for a very specific purpose which is to learn unconditional love; and not just learn about the cosmic importance of unconditional love but to consciously choose one day, hopefully, to radiate that love in the most powerful way we can, the same as the angels, the saints, beings of light and ascended masters.
Most of us, fortunately, are careful about what we do and we care deeply about what others think of us. We, therefore, modulate our behavior and try our best to be good to our family and friends, as well as honest and upright citizens of our communities.
The point is this: we all miss the mark on occasion, but with a bit of sincere regret and a determination to do better, we can, and should, allow ourselves to move on.
Our goal, therefore, if we really aspire to generate the kind of karma we can proud of, should be to make every effort to be cognizant of our every thought, word and deed. And, yes, the little things add up apparently, so be aware of every thought, word and deed, for this is not just a way of keeping out of trouble. It is actually a spiritual technique of the highest order which can have us reaping nothing less than a future of beauty and bliss.
In fact, seers, sages, wisdom masters and those who have had a near-death experience tell us that honing our karma to a superior, loving degree cannot only lead to a life of bliss in the higher realms, it can result in the actual attaining of the paradise of our dreams, which is to say heaven and nirvana all rolled into one!
