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alice o howell
November 2009 
Credo III - Karma
Posted on Aug 30th, 2007
by 
Eve
Eve
The third of Alice O. Howell's recent messages.
Credo III - Karma
Several decades ago, I had an attack of insight:
A mistake is a loop in consciousness made to expose a greater surface to experience.
This later evolved into the parable of the tree in THE DOVE IN THE STONE, w/the sap running up the tangential branches to the trunk n the leaves on the branches going aha! as they take in the wisdom of the sun......
In my own life, I had another realization - I thought then that becoming conscious was sufficient and sat back pleased w/myself. But - oh no! One has to apply the realization in real life for it to count!
This led me to think of Christ's 'seamless garment" or pure aura n the myths of Achilles and Siegfried whose monthers dipped them in some magic stuff to render them invulnerable - but no! - Achilles was held by the heel n Siegfried had a leaf fall on him. And we all have a blind spot.
My vision was that karma fr one life to another represents holes in our would-be seamless garment, wh we have to fill in by conscious redemption. I felt fairly polka-dotted w/chinks!
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A Tibetan lama pointed out that Christianity puts a spin on karma by the concept of repentance. Jesus said plainly that "As you sow, so shall you reap." But the idea put forward by dogma is thet he died to take away our sins, so all we need is to confess n do penance n in many cases the Church gains power to absolve n the sinner goes off n repeats whatever.
In one of his most passionate letters (I think to Dorothee Hoch] Jung says that by Golly, we need to pick up our own cross n see the crucfixion as a model of what we need to do ourselves instead of conveniently projecting it all symbolically on him!
So karma, rightly viewed, is not judgmental in a moral sense, it is a dispassionate fact of cause and effect. So a cynic, as I once was, thinks "Virtue is really enlightened self-interest!" In a sense that is true: touch a hot stove n u get burnt, etc.
Later in life, I realized what I was missing in the equation: cause/effect is a duality wh the ego is subject to. The missing n healing element comes fr our Divine Guest [Self] [Christ Within] [atman]. It is Love.
Compassion. In forgiving others, we forgive ourselves. Several parables in the New Testament bear this out. N 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive the trespasses of others".
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This led in turn to my Milkstool Principle! [3-legged stools are firm] Love, Wisdom, Power. We need all three!
Love needs wisdom n power to love rightly. Wisdom needs power n love to be compassionate in relation to others. N power should only be used w/ love n wisdom to serve or lead others.
If u think about it, most of us are deficient in one of the three n we need to turn to our Div Guest for guidance.
Many women have to learn ab power n not see it as animus or manipulation. We need to honor the ubiquitous goddesses that represent Wisdom. The masculine gods represent power. But the supreme Unknown Spirit is offering us the Solar Spirit of Love.
Many women have to learn ab power n not see it as animus or manipulation. We need to honor the ubiquitous goddesses that represent Wisdom. The masculine gods represent power. But the supreme Unknown Spirit is offering us the Solar Spirit of Love.
Phew!
love!
ao
ps In the body, the Sun rules the heart wh gives us Life. In alchemy, the sun is depicted as looking towards the invisible Sun-behind-the sun, wh is invisible Spirit. It gives the 'pook' in every atom, in every seed, in every mouse, n in all beauty, hopefully in the"quick and lively word"
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Many years ago, Ganesh Baba told me, “The important thing is to try not to incur more karma.” At the time I had only the most basic idea of what karma was. Over time my ideas evolved, and ao's credo on karma is an apt lesson for me.
I used to think of karma as being like the genetic code we are born with, passed down from other lifetimes but not set in stone, a predisposition or tendency rather than a something that cannot be changed. (Victor Frankl's statement that we can't change what life gives us but we can change the way we respond to it has been one of the core truths I've tried to live by for many years.)
Today I still think that's true, but I've seen too much instant karma to think of karma as a mechanism that only functions from one llifetime to the next. I think karma happens very fast and very slow and everywhere in between depending on the complex, interactive and infinite possibilities of any given moment. Our little lifetimes are nothing to the massive flux and flow of karma. We create and are created by it constantly.
I agree with the idea that cause and effect is a duality which the ego is subject to and that only Love can balance its effect. I think of the mechanism of creation as a scale that's always being tipped by new events. Every thought, word, or action tips it a little, so a new balance must be sought, which creates new karma which in turn creates the need for balance again.
There is no karma only in the momentary stillness at the fulcrum, the moment between moments.The closer we come to loving everything and everyone dispassionately, the closer to the instant of balance we come. The more we recognize the Divine Guest in everyone and everything, the closer we inch toward the fulcrum.
My thoughts.
love this perspective. danke
Bitte!