Part 1: The task, the consequences, the methodology & the illusion of injustice
Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer
Part 3: Law enforcement 201: "in kind"
Part 4: Law enforcement 301: "in proportion"
Part 5: Law enforcement 401: inner civil war
Part 6: Law enforcement 501: The neuro-science of karma
“When words are both true and kind, they can change the world.”
~Buddha
1 The task
Do you believe that “what goes around comes around”?
Do you believe that “good things come to good people”?
Do you believe that “people get what’s coming to them”?
Then you believe in karma.
How strong is that belief?
Is it something that you think “tends to be true” some of the time, or even much of the time but not always?
What would you say if I told you that I could prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that karma was 100% real and 100% inescapable with zero exceptions and that all evidence to the contrary is misperception?
What if I could prove to you that karma is absolutely inviolable and that you and I and everyone in this world are destined to receive in kind and proportion exactly what we give?
What if I could prove to you conclusively that no matter how hard we might try that all attempts to subvert karma are 100% guaranteed to fail?
Intrigued? Read on…
2 The consequences
Put your skepticism aside for a moment and just imagine how the world would change if the inviolability of karma could be so conclusively proven that people all over the world began to not only accept it as fact but to make it a core belief which guided all of the decisions we make in our daily lives?
If we truly believed with absolute certainty that the universe would give back to us in kind and proportion exactly what we give to it and that it was absolutely impossible to subvert this, imagine how we all would behave differently.
Imagine the earth shaking consequences if we could all see the hidden chain of cause-and-effect that revealed to us with absolute clarity the startling truth that all of the unhappiness that we’ve experienced in our own lives is a direct result of our intentional decisions to cause unhappiness to others.
Imagine the great wave of transformation that would sweep the globe if it could be conclusively proven that the beliefs we hold about what will bring us happiness are misguided and will actually bring us unhappiness if they lead us to bring harm to others.
Imagine what would happen to all of the selfishness and cruelty in this world.
Picture people everywhere always striving to do unto others as they would have done unto themselves.
What would become of the various ways in which our inferiority complexes drive us to find happiness by placing ourselves above others and to take pleasure in making them feel inferior to us?
What would become of all of the hierarchical power structures we build and the power struggles that we fight?
What would become of the various ways in which our fear leads us to impose our will on our fellow human beings without regard to their feelings?
What would become of the desire to find happiness by taking instead of giving?
What would become of all of the tribes we form to war amongst ourselves?
What would become of the mindset of “us” and “them”?
Imagine if the next time that someone caused you harm and you felt the strong urge to hurt them back that you were able to catch yourself and remember your absolute conviction that all beings are the owners of their own karma and that those who caused the harm will suffer in proportion to the suffering that they have intentionally caused – even if you cannot see any evidence of this.
Imagine if at such a moment you could recall your absolute conviction that if you lashed out at them that you would only be hurting yourself by doing so.
Imagine how an absolute conviction in the “natural justice” of karma could stay our hand and prevent the initiation or escalation of all conflicts when we feel that we have been wronged.
If karma can be proved to be inviolable, what would become of crime, violence and war?
Imagine how our world could be completely transformed if this single belief were to rise to the level of a conviction amongst the population at large.
Imagine if people truly believed that any attempt to experience joy by taking joy from others was 100% doomed to fail and would actually result in a net loss of joy for themselves in the long term.
Imagine if people truly believed with all of their heart that the only way to experience enduring joy themselves was to give joy to others.
Imagine if the scarcity mentality was abandoned by everyone everywhere and we all gave freely of ourselves without fear of being taken advantage of.
Imagine the flowering of loving-kindness that will befall our world when the age of barbarism is brought to an end.
Imagine what 6 billion minds set free might be capable of accomplishing.
3 The methodology
I’ll begin this proof of the inviolability of karma by first asking you to recall the strongest evidence that you have that would appear to contradict it and then illustrate to you why you should consider the possibility that the label of “injustice” you’ve applied to this evidence may be based on misperception.
In “Law enforcement 101” I will introduce you to the enforcer of the law of karma and illustrate how this force is omnipresent, relentless, and undefeatable.
In “Law enforcement 201” I will reveal to you the means by the law enforcer ensures that we receive “in kind” to what we give.
In “Law enforcement 301” I will reveal to you the means by the law enforcer ensures that we receive both “in kind” and “in proportion” to what we give.
In “Law enforcement 401” I will analyze the nature of the inner civil war that we fight when we try to hide from the fate that we have earned and illustrate how such resistance serves only to increase our bad karma.
In “Law enforcement 501” I will eliminate all remaining doubt, by illustrating with hard science exactly why we all receive exactly the amount of happiness or unhappiness that we have earned and that it is absolutely impossible to subvert this.
4 The illusion of injustice
If you are like most people your life experiences have led you to believe that for some strange reason that you don’t completely understand it tends to be true that “what goes around comes around”. However, there are at least a few really big exceptions which prevent you from believing in this totally.
The fact that the word “injustice” is in our language and is commonly used is a testament to this fact.
What is the biggest *injustice* in your life?
By any chance is righting this wrong the passion that drives you?
Is it something deeply personal?
Have you spent a large portion of your life ruminating about it?
Somebody or some group of people did something to you or someone that you care about that hurt you so deeply that at times you may not have been able to stop thinking about it.
Have you re-lived the trauma over and over in your mind and asked yourself questions like …
“Why?”
“How could they do this to me?”
“How can they get away with this?”
Perhaps this trauma has had a transformational affect on your life?
If you look carefully at the important life decisions that you have made since the event do you find that this injustice has been a guiding force influencing them all and has led you to where you are today?
This *injustice* would tend to counter your belief that life is fair, and that people always get what they deserve would it not?
If you believe that injustice exists then you believe that those who perpetrated the injustice have gotten away with something do you not?
Does this lack of faith in karma move you to want to punish them?
I’m going to prove to you now something that might be hard for you to accept.
I’m going to prove to you that the person or persons who you think “got away with” an injustice, in fact, have not!
None of them ever have and none of them ever will!
If karma is real then all perceptions of injustice are misperceptions.
If karma is real then the very term “injustice” must be re-defined to be a synonym for “misperception”.
You may have mixed feelings about this.
Part of you may be gratified to know that those who have hurt you will suffer in proportion to their intention to do so.
But there may be a part of you that fears it.
Changing a core belief can be a very scary thing. Many of us have held onto our pain and anger for such things for so long that they have become a part of our very identity and we might wonder what we would become if we were to let go of them.
But, perhaps a stronger motivator is the fear of having to face our own demons.
Who among us has not done things that we are not proud of? Who has not deeply wounded another human being and fears facing their shame?
If we feel that we have not already atoned for our misdeeds we may wish to cling to the hope that we will not have to do so.
Despite these fears, however, I am absolutely certain that there is a part of you that desperately wants to believe that justice will always prevail and that karma is real. I am certain of it because this desire for justice has a biological origin which is key to proving the inviolability of karma itself.
4.1 Misperceptions of intention
Isn’t it true that it is not the deed that injures us but rather our perceptions of the intention behind the deed?
Who among us has not had the experience of making a negative judgment of another’s intentions and acting on that judgment to hurt them back, only to later discover that we had misjudged their true intentions? Recall how that felt.
Our view of an event can be completely transformed if we understand the true intentions, motivations and feelings behind it.
If those who cause harm do so inadvertently out of genuine ignorance and are sincerely and consistently remorseful when they discover that that they have done so, do we not tend to be forgiving of them? Do we not tend to believe that they should not be hurt in retaliation?
Do we tend to punish ourselves severely when the hurt that we cause is truly unintentional or do we tend to be forgiving of ourselves?
Conversely, if somebody makes a conscious choice to derive happiness by causing or being indifferent to the suffering of others, do we not view the situation differently? Do we not tend to believe that the person deserves to suffer in proportion to the suffering that they intentionally inflicted.
Do we tend to easily forgive ourselves when the hurt that we cause is truly intentional or do we tend to believe that we deserve to be punished?
Isn’t it true then that the intensity of our desire for justice stems from the perceived intentions of the individuals to be indifferent to or even derive pleasure from the suffering of the person or people that we care about?
Karma is not about the deed.
Karma is about the “intention” behind the deed.
How certain are you of the true intentions of those who caused your injustice?
Is there even a remote possibility that you might not being 100% accurate about the perceived maliciousness of their intent?
4.2 Misperceptions of remorse
Isn’t it true that behind our anger is hurt? Hurt that comes from our perception that we or someone we care about was harmed and that the offender refuses to show remorse?
Isn’t it true that what we really want from those who caused the harm that we have labeled “injustice” is to show some genuine and enduring remorse and to take responsibility for healing the harm they have caused?
Is there not some part of us that wants them to feel a connection with those they have harmed and to feel their pain as if it were their own?
Is not the desire for revenge really an admission of defeat in our quest to get those who caused the pain to show remorse and seek to atone for their wrong-doing?
When we make the decision to “give up” are we not implicitly adopting the belief that they are without conscience and cannot be reached?
Is it possible that they really do have a conscience?
Is it possible that they really do feel remorseful but cannot allow themselves to show it?
Is it possible that as strong as the pain of the guilt is there is a stronger pain that is preventing them from asking for forgiveness? Perhaps they fear that they can’t handle facing their shame? Perhaps they fear appearing weak and vulnerable?
Is it possible that their apparent lack of remorse is actually an act to goad you into lashing out at them because doing so would help them to alleviate the pain of their guilt by making it easier for them to see themselves as the victim instead of the victimizer?
Is it possible that their sense of powerlessness is so overwhelming that the only way they can feel in control of their lives is to hurt other people?
Perhaps they perceive your desire for them to show remorse as an attempt to control them?
Is it possible that their fear leads them to misinterpret your good intention to elicit compassion as a malicious passive-aggressive intention to cause them pain?
If behind your anger is hurt, isn’t it possible that the same is true for them?
Have you personally ever felt anger that was not rooted in pain?
Is it possible that even if their intention was malicious that behind their anger and seeming remorselessness is an excruciating and unrelenting pain which is so intense that it overwhelms the pain of guilt?
Do you have it within yourself to identify with that pain and feel compassion for them?
How certain are you of the true feelings of remorse of those who caused your injustice?
Do you remain unconvinced?
Do you believe that some people really don’t have a conscience?
I will prove to you that, despite appearances, all human beings – without exception - have a conscience.
We should never give up on our belief in the potential for goodness in others.
4.3 Misperceptions of the cause of suffering
Have you ever known anyone who continued to obsess about a traumatic event long after it had occurred?
Have you ever known anyone for whom this continuous focus on trauma was debilitating?
Did you get the sense that the cause of this person’s suffering was not so much the trauma itself as their continuous focus on it?
But isn’t this what we all do?
Picture in your mind the image you most associate with the pain of your own great injustice and feel now as you did then.
Consider the possibility that our tendency to ruminate obsessively on traumatic events is an innate trait that is hard-wired into the circuitry of our brain and serves the purpose of forcing us to learn the correct lessons from an experience so that we don’t subject ourselves to danger again.
Consider the possibility that the vast majority of the suffering that we experience from a traumatic event is not caused by the event itself, but rather by (1) our decision to craft a story of the experience that places ourselves in the role of the victim and (2) our decision to tell ourselves this story obsessively.
Is it possible that if we make a decision to change our disempowering victimhood story to an empowering one that places ourselves in the role of the hero that we would feel differently?
Is it possible that no one can really hurt us without our consent and active participation?
Is it possible that no one can really hurt us but ourselves?
Is it even remotely possible that all non-physical pain is entirely self-inflicted and that the mind can be trained to be less masochistic?
Is it possible that when we blame other people for our pain that we are not only making a mistake but we are actually dis-empowering ourselves?
How certain are you that the people who caused your injustice are responsible for your suffering?
Part 2: Law enforcement 101: the enforcer
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