KARMA

Re-incarnation theory includes the conviction that there is a great Law of Karma. Put in more common, everyday Western language, this is the Law of Cause and Effect. Believers in re-incarnation claim that many of the causes from which we suffer the effects in earthly life occurred in previous lives on earth, including being born physically or economically disadvantaged. These are referred to as our karmic debt and they say it is necessary for us to continue returning to earth until we have cancelled all such debt by our actions in subsequent earthly lives. This all sounds very plausible and large numbers of people all over the world accept such a view without question.

I take issue with it because it runs counter to my experience and to views expressed to me by people from the spiritual world. I return to my earlier point that re-incarnation and also karma relegate the spiritual world to that of a glorified waiting room where it is not possible to progress spiritually. Why must it be necessary for one to return to earth in order to redeem ones mistakes? Those mistakes are part of each individual’s education. It is by making mistakes and learning from them to reduce the risk of making the same error again, that we learn and grow. Who has the right to say that one mistake is greater than another and thus becomes part of karmic debt? What I do accept readily is that every individual has defects of character and it is quite likely these have been created, or at least intensified by mistakes we have made and opportunities we have missed because they were not recognised. What I cannot accept is that such character defects as each of us has are there solely due to action or inaction on earth.

I explained earlier my belief that we choose a particular life on earth because we believe at the time we choose, that it offers us the best chance to strengthen our spiritual selves through the effects of certain experiences we are likely to undergo. Sometimes the choice is more altruistic than this and we choose to live a particular life on earth in order to help another or perhaps several. That there is a Law of Cause and Effect that can be called Karmic Law if you like is unquestioned; we see it in operation every day of our lives. I also do not question that some of the results we achieve when faced with certain challenges are determined by our own individual character and that has been moulded throughout our entire existence, not just from the moment we were born on earth. What I do question is the assumption that underlies the theories of re-incarnation and karma. This assumption is that character is shaped only by earthly experience and it is therefore necessary to keep on returning to earth in order to purify ourselves.

We are creatures of spirit. The spiritual world is our natural environment and although earth is part of that world, in my view it is only one of the various and numberless spheres (the many mansions of Jesus of Nazareth) that make it up. Why we should need to return again and again to any one of these spheres makes no sense to me. Our character, the active part of the real self if you will, is formed and reformed by our experiences in all spheres, including the earth. Karmic debt and re-incarnation are too easily used to excuse the inadequacy of our responses to life’s challenges at certain times. I much prefer, whilst accepting the reality of Cause and Effect, to focus on the law of Personal Responsibility.

© Lionel Owen

This is an extract from my book “Please God Why?” which can be bought from my website www.spiritteasch.net