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The Truth of Karma
What is Karma?
Date: 5/13/2019 2:19:10 AM ( 5 y ) ... viewed 2441 times June 13, 2022 -
"True happiness is founded on correct understanding."[4]*
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June 8, 2020 -
"... A Course in Miracles states that 'its goal for you is happiness and peace.' (Text, p. 241) (T-13.II.7:1) The Text also explains the basis for fear and guilt, and how they can be overcome through miracles, which are defined as maximal 'expressions of love.' The miracle is defined as the shift in perception from fear to love."[3]
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Comment:
Inspired to quote the above especially regarding: "maximal 'expressions of love.'" This Blog-writer calls these expressions: Agape-Phileo.
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May 12, 2019 - Happy Mother's Day All Mothers Everywhere & Everyone Else as We All Have Mothers!
What is Karma and does ACIM speak of it?
Q: What do you think about karma? Does Jesus speak in the Course (of Miracles) about it, or not?
Answer: Jesus does not speak of karma in A Course in Miracles, and if karma is understood as paying for past wrongs in the present, that would be the ego's view of the human condition. A Course in Miracles teaches the power of the present moment and does say that all decisions are based on belief. So it is important to question and clear away all beliefs.
It is a Course in emptying the mind, and until the mind is emptied of all ego beliefs, it will seem as if the past is causing the present.
Though Jesus does not speak of karma in A Course in Miracles, he spends much time talking about cause and effect, so I will give you some basic metaphysics on cause and effect:
In heaven, cause and effect are together. This is why Jesus taught, The Father and I are one. God is the cause. Christ is the effect. They have an eternal song of gratitude. This is the gratitude of creation.
When the mind seemed to fall asleep, cause and effect split apart and turned around. "Split apart" meaning that that is the gap of time, and "turned around" in that what was made seemed to be the maker. That is why the mind that believes it is in this world believes it has its origin or cause from conception, intercourse, a man and a woman coming together.
When someone asks this mind where it is from, it gives a city and country. It does not say, I am from God, because cause and effect are split off and turned around. This sleeping mind now believes it is at the mercy of a world that seems to have causes in it. For example: the sun makes me hot. . . The ice makes me cold. . . You hurt my feelings. . .You made me mad. . .You let me down. . .This city is too congested and makes me claustrophobic. . .and on and on and on.
So this Course is a course in turning cause and effect back around, seeing that everything is a decision in your own mind, that you are never upset by the world and circumstances, never upset by outcomes, but just upset by ego thoughts. "My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability." "I am never upset for the reason I think." "I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts."
It is an inside job. It does not depend on anyone or anything changing in the world. "Seek not to change the world. Seek rather to change your mind about the world."
So if you feel afraid, or angry, blue or sad, remember that you choose each feeling that you have. Listen for the Voice that's waiting in your mind to help you choose again and help you to decide. There's another way, another way to live. There's another way, a way you can forgive.
Each feeling and each thought is something you have made. Give it back to God and take His love in trade.
Fill your mind with light and let the darkness fade.
That's the other way.
When you bring cause and effect back together, you see that enlightenment is now. There is no gap of time that you must wait for God to give you salvation. God would be cruel if He made you wait for happiness. God wills you complete happiness, right now.
So, to review: Turn cause and effect around and bring them back together.
This is Atonement, complete forgiveness. There is no problem that will not disappear in the power of this moment."[1]
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Comment:
Inspired to search whether A Course In Miracles (ACIM) had anything to say about karma and so now very glad I followed through (with writing a note at the moment I first thought of this and posting my first search result here). I was wondering what about whether I had a karmic relationship with my daughter and especially how to understand that and respond to that as best I can. The "answer" (quoted above) to the central question is very well received by this mind! I am willing to totally and completely accept the idea of karma as an ego belief that points to the need for mind clearing because "until the mind is emptied of all ego beliefs, it will seem as if the past is causing the present."
I deeply appreciate the presentation on "cause and effect" as this way it may appeal to those who say they are scientists or individuals who like science and/or like to think scientifically. However the "cause and effect" in ACIM is identified as metaphysical and that might still be a stretch for some people who generally dismiss metaphysics. Therefore I don't know if I can readily refer this to my daughter and I certainly will not make any assumptions about that! I count the "answer" as sufficient for me as it gives me greater peace of mind. I no longer imagine that I need to search for a past-life reader to reveal my karmic debt to my daughter. I no longer think I need the input of an advanced analyst regarding some kind of final insight I imagined I might have needed to have the peace of mind that I now have. I am all grateful for this!
"God wills you complete happiness, right now."
Let it be so!
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Release Karma with Forgiveness
The law of karma is an ancient principle that teaches that every action has and equal and opposite reaction. In other words, every thought, word or deed is a “cause” that generates an “effect” at some level that we must each play out in this life or the next… However, A Course in Miracles explains how we can release karma with forgiveness.
What is Karma? -
Karma is a basic principle of several Eastern religions that refers to a person’s acts and their ethical or physical consequences. Although there are various schools of thought pertaining to the exact nature of karma, in Sanskrit the word basically means “action” or “deed.”
It teaches that everything we’ve ever thought said or did, even in a past life, can cause effects in our present, future, or future lives.
Based on the universal laws of cause and effect, the teaching of karma might make a lot of sense to many people. After all, even A Course in Miracles teaches that ‘cause and effect is the most fundamental law there is’ and that ‘our thoughts are always producing form at some level.’
The Vast Illusion -
Yet, when we really look at the law of karma, it is a principle that is based on past cause creating present and future effects. However, according to new age schools of thought, and indeed science itself, sequential time is actually a continuum. In essence, there is no past, or future. Now is the only “time” that actually exists.
In other words, the belief that a non-existent past, that includes our past lives, childhood experiences, or even our genetic makeup, determines our present and future is part of a “fallacy” that cannot be true. Therefore whatever effect we seem to be experiencing in the present, its cause must ALSO be in the present.
The Power of Now -
Understanding that the cause AND effect of our present situation are happening at the same time, may be a little confusing, but it is also incredibly liberating. To know that we can be free from an on-going cycle of “karma” simply by changing our minds in the present gives us an awesome power to let go of our past once and for all; or at least as often as we are willing to choose again in each moment.
It’s also important to understand that the only reason our past seems to continuously dictate what happens in the present is because of our unwillingness to let go of past influences now. In other words, most of us have baggage that we carry with us like precious cargo using our pain from the past as the present criteria that defines our choices and experiences.
Willingness to Forgive -
Being willing to release our grievances in the present moment is the key to releasing what seems to be the effects of karma. To do this, A Course in Miracles gives us an amazing tool called forgiveness that we can use to put down our past baggage right now, if we choose. This radical form of forgiveness is not about seeking forgiveness from outside, but forgiving ourselves and others by ‘overlooking what never really happened’ in a non-existent past and seeing everything as it is now, fresh and new.
This form of forgiveness does two things: First, it re-establishes the awareness that we (not the past, others or the external world) are the cause of our own reality and we cannot blame anyone else for our own situation and circumstances. Accepting responsibility for ourselves allows us to withdraw our blame onto others and the world, and choose a life based on our own terms.
Second, it affirms that if it is only US holding onto pain in our minds from an illusory past, then the cause of our current situation is illusory; therefore the effects must be illusory as well. This recognition is crucial because it not only increases our level of willingness to release the past, it also creates a state of mindful awareness where we can choose love, peace and joy in each and every moment, thus helping us to release “karma” with forgiveness for good.
Miracles Affirmations -
“I AM free from the past.”
“My mind is healed of past thoughts.”
“The past is over. It can touch me not.”
“I seek a future different from the past.”
“My future rests in the hands of God.”
© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.
Posted by Rev. Cheryl Ford.
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ACIM Q & A for Today -
Q: I have a friend who is being “cleared” of her karmas and is having what I consider to be great results, such as having the ability to heal others. Could you please comment on what Jesus’ message might be about this? Would A Course in Miracles consider this subject to be beyond its scope?
A: Your question raises two issues: what is the Course perspective on karma, and where does it stand on being able to heal another. You are correct that neither of these topics is the focus of the Course. So let us explore why this is so.
Perhaps the most cogent description of Jesus’ stance on healing can be found in the following passage: “Whom you attack you cannot want to heal. And whom you would have healed must be the one you chose to be protected from attack. And what is this decision but the choice whether to see him through the body’s eyes, or let him be revealed to you through vision? How this decision leads to its effects is not your problem. But what you want to see must be your choice. This is a course in cause and not effect” (T.21.VII.7:34,5,6,7,8).
We will examine the last sentence of that passage first: “This is a course in cause and not in effect.” By cause , Jesus means the mind — specifically the part of our mind, which has the power to choose to listen to either the ego or the Holy Spirit. When we listen to the ego (which tells us we exist at God’s expense), our mind fills with guilt and fear, causing us to project anger and attack. This is the dynamic that compelled us to fall asleep and dream up a world of separate bodies in the first place — our unfortunate response to the ego’s cunning proclamation that we could remove all the guilt from our mind if only we had bodies onto which we could project it. By effect , Jesus means the world , which is nothing more than a nightmare we are having because we continually choose to dream with the ego rather than awaken with the Holy Spirit.
To Jesus, then, physical sickness is simply one more element of our dream, which reflects the guilt in our mind. Thus, since sickness is but an effect, Jesus and his course are not concerned with physical healing. Rather he wants to help us make the shift in our mind that “takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible” (W.pI.140.4:5) . This is the shift Jesus refers to in the passage quoted above when he speaks of the choice whether to see another “through the body’s eyes” (meaning the guilty eyes of the ego) or by letting him be “revealed through vision” (meaning the loving vision of the Holy Spirit). When we choose the body’s eyes, we will always have an underlying motive of attack. When we look with the Holy Spirit, we will see the innocence we share with our brother that remains hidden in the mind, beyond our seemingly separate physical identities. This will automatically lead us to extend love, thus protecting our brother from attack by rejecting rather than reinforcing his guilty perception of himself.
Jesus tells us that how this decision leads to its effects is not our problem. But making this choice is. In other words, we do not need to worry about how our state of mind gets reflected in this dream. We need only concern ourselves with changing internal teachers so that we can experience the Holy Spirit’s Love regardless of what appears to be happening in the physical world.
When we achieve that, we will be able to be with others whose bodies appear to be sick and know that their physical illness can have no effect on the reality of who they are. There may be times when our knowledge that they are not guilty allows others to release the fear that created their need for physical symptoms. There will also surely be times when both their fear and their illness seem to remain unaffected by our love. Again, this is not our concern. Our concern is only with our own mind and the thought system with which we choose to align it. (For more about this, see Chapter III of the Song of Prayer pamphlet.)
This focus on the present state of our mind is why the Course does not address karma. From Jesus’ perspective, what we did lifetimes ago or five minutes ago is all the same — part of a dream from which we need to awaken. What matters is not our past, but the internal teacher we are choosing right now . This does not, however, negate the fact that dealing with past life issues could be very useful for some people. And if your friend has found a process that facilitates her letting go of guilt, then this is very helpful. But from a Course perspective, this is not really due to her karma being cleared. Instead, it is the result of her finding a symbol that finally allowed her to accept forgiveness and let it wash away the imagined guilt for her imagined sins of her imagined past.[2]
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Notes:
[1] https://livingmiraclescenter.org/question/question.php?questionid=260
Top search result (of about 55,900 results) for: acim"karma"
[2] https://understandacim.com/tag/karma/
[3] http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=A_Course_in_Miracles
[4] https://www.prosveta-usa.com/2022-06-14
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Also: https://fromanxietytolove.com/no-karma-an-example-of-this-teaching-from-a-course-in-miracles/
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