Karma Models

Karma models

By now you are probably wondering, if reincarnation is true, then how does it operate? What is the purpose of living many lifetimes, and what is the purpose of reincarnation? So far, we have discussed religious, spiritual, and scientific underpinnings for reincarnation. Now it is time to learn how reincarnation operates and to explore which natural laws determine the course of reincarnation.
Most people have heard the term karma. While you may associate this term with India, it may surprise you to learn that it is equally embedded in Western culture. Simply put, the concept of karma states that you reap what you sow—or, to put it another way, you get back what you give or do to others.
As you probably already know, the Golden Rule states that you should treat others just as you would like to be treated. However, you may not have realized that, according to psychologist and past life therapist Hazel Denning, this principle is expressed in differing forms in all the 10 major world religions.
The Golden Rule is one of the first major principles taught to young children—and it is one of the hardest to truly learn and follow. Most religions teach this rule, yet many of our actions are based on our needs and self-interests
At the same time, we are all aware that there are great inequities in life. People hurt others and seem to get away with little or no obvious consequences. Often, it does not seem that treating others as you would like to be treated is rewarded in this life.
While the principle of karma seems quite simple, its operation is very complex. As you begin to think about karma, you might wonder how it works and functions in your life.

The Illusion of Separateness

If you try to practice the Golden Rule, yet think of your life as a one-time experience, it is hard to make sense of the apparent unfairness in the world. Still, when you begin to incorporate the viewpoint of karma and reincarnation, life appears even more complicated. At the same time, however, much that goes on beneath the surface of the material world can be explained and explored by the concepts of karma and reincarnation.
All esoteric teachings emphasize that we are connected to one another spiritually. However, in our material world, it is obvious that we are separate. In addition, because there is incredible diversity among people and the natural world, you often pursue your own interests at another person’s expense.
Yet the evidence, the natural law of Karma, and the Golden Rule are all aimed at helping you pierce through that veil of separateness to see the interconnection of all people and things … to see the oneness of everything. This is not just an intellectual concept—it is primarily an experiential one.

Thinking Exercise: Examining your relationships

Write down the names of people in your life whom you currently see as important. Include relationships that are both negatively and positively charged.
1.Write down relationships from your past as well as from your present life situation.
2.After each name, think about the nature of the relationship and the way you relate to each person.
a.What is the emotional tone of the relationship?
3.Are there strong feelings in the relationship that are difficult for you to explain and understand?

Karma as Memory

In a broader sense, karma can be defined quite simply as memory. That is because the karma you carry from one lifetime to the next is the accumulation of all your interests, abilities, tendencies, and both good and bad moral choices. This is not unlike the situation in your current life, where your childhood experiences have shaped your adult preferences and tendencies. For example, if as a child you showed some musical interest and talent, took lessons, and practiced regularly, as an adult you would be able to play a musical instrument with some skill. This may help you to view karma in this way as well.

Preferences, Talents, and Aversions

As you know, preferences and aversions acquired during childhood can carry on through to your adult life. Perhaps you have a particular sensitivity and/or passion to different kinds of music and art that was acquired through exposure in childhood and adolescence. For example, your parents may have loved classical music. Through exposure, you may have grown to love or dislike it.
This preference may carry on through to your adult life. However, if you have a particular aversion to some foods, a visceral dislike of certain parts of the world, or even some prejudices against certain ethnic groups, these may all be parts of your karmic memory; the results of many lifetimes of experience that are shaping the propensities you carry in your current life.
Think of taking this analogy further, and imagine previous lifetimes shaping some of your interests and skills in this lifetime. It is in the same way that you have a genetic inheritance.
Karma as Learning

What happens here on earth is a process of learning and self-development that occurs on many levels. In this model, situations arise that challenge you to learn and grow or respond … even if they do not directly affect you. This model is much less determinable than other models of reincarnation.
Significant situations offer karmic opportunity. You have choices to make about how to handle different situations and relationships that arise in your life. When, the karma is about learning, not everything is predetermined; but significant situations offer karmic opportunities. In addition, you are simultaneously creating new karma or growth, or setting up future situations in which you will have to continue to work on the consequences of your choices … either in your current life or in a future life. When karma is learning, you can use current opportunities to help you evolve or grow.

Thinking Exercise: Learning From Your Karma

Was there a time when you felt challenged to learn or grow by life events that seemed beyond your control? If so, take a moment to think about that time, and then address the following questions.
What was challenging about that time?
Why did it seem out of your control?
Was another person involved who seemed to be controlling the events? If so, who? Why was that person able to control the events when you could not?
Did you feel at that time a sense of deja vu or repetition? How was this challenge resolved? Were you able to take control of the events or did they resolve without your intervention? What did you learn from this challenge?

Karmic Development of the Soul
You are working on karmic themes through many lives. Your karmic themes represent the repetitive signposts that your soul encounters through its many lifetimes. Many past life issues are psychological in nature and play out through many lifetimes in what can be called karmic scripts. These scripts can involve the same souls, with whom you meet repeatedly over many lifetimes. Sometimes you might be working out problems and experiences together, while other times you may be bonded through trauma or issues of karmic justice. Some souls travel together to help each other. Sometimes, a mixture of motives operates to bind souls.

Thinking Exercise: Finding Karmic Themes

We would like to now discuss the hardest lesson you ever had to learn.
How did the lesson present itself? Did you recognize it as a lesson, or it initially as a challenge?
Did you resist the challenge? Did you try to ignore it, go around it, or otherwise not face it?
How did you ultimately learn the lesson that challenge presented?
Do you feel that you have now learned this lesson, or do similar challenges present themselves repeatedly? If so, why do you think you may not have yet learned this lesson.

Karmic Patterns

Karma is the spiritual equivalent of the law of cause and effect. The existence of favourable or unfavourable karma depends on whether past deeds were good or evil. Most people have both good and bad karma because they have performed both good and bad deeds in the past. So most people lives are a mixture of misery and happiness. Karma is not limited to actions taken during one's present life, but can extend back into the infinite past and forward into the infinite future.
Thus, karma forms the connecting link between one's consecutive lives. Karma applies mostly to the acts of individuals, but it may also be the overall result of actions by many people acting as a group; such as groups of persons, family groups, groups of nations, and the like. In other words, there are such things as group karma, family karma and even national karma.
Further complicating the mix are the needs and agendas of others around you that affect you on a deep and profound level. Sometimes you may have made agreements with other souls to work on certain issues together, helping each other through several lifetimes. Karma is attached only to souls.
There is no such thing as a karmic place. However, strong emotions can easily imprint themselves on the world around us. Homes, workplaces, even hotel rooms, can develop a distinct build-up of emotional residue. These residues linger in the subtle reality, affecting everyone who encounters them on a deep and unspoken level.

Thinking Exercise: Family and Group Karma

Think of your family relationships, including your parents, siblings, spouse, children, aunts, uncles, and in-laws.
Who in your family have you felt close to?
Who have you felt distant from?
Think of your friends. Are there any that you felt closer to than your family?
Are there any that you think that you have been with before?
Think of your neighbours and/or co-workers.
Are there any that you instantaneously liked or disliked for no apparent reason?
Do you feel that there is something more to them than meets to the eye?
Try to visualize it or make a story about them.