For most of us, karma is an abstract concept. An online search returns this definition, but doesn't edify things:
kar·ma
[ˈkärmə] destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.
Many years ago when I was living in the up in the spectacular Sierra Nevada mountains of California, the uncanny workings of karma showed their unmistakable hand to me. I was single and my best friend was my landlord Dale's mongrel, Moondog. Moondog would spend most of the day tied to a 50 ft line on the property, and looked forward eagerly to the evenings, when I would take him long jaunts in the nearby national forest.
One evening, I returned home from work one evening to find Moondog more restless than usual, having been deprived of a walk for over three days. As we walked along the brief stretch of Hwy 49 that separated our home from the forest road that led into the mountains, Moondog jumped from the grassy, six foot high shoulder alonside the highway straight into the path of a car traveling at 60 mph. He was flung over 50 feet by the collision and died an agonizing death. Dale's brother Joe and I buried him that night on the property. When Dale returned from an out of town visit a few days later, I could barely muster the courage to narrate the turn of events to him, and I turned away with a mumbled half-apology.
One day, a few weeks later, I lost my voice - completely. I could no longer talk, and had to get by at work by scribbling on pieces of paper that I would hold up for my colleagues.
After a couple of weeks of this situation, I went and saw a doctor. Nothing was obviously wrong, and we explored various hypotheses and their related medications, including allergies and vocal cord "strain", all in vain. The doctor referred me to a specialist in nearby Fresno.
I underwent a battery of tests culminating in the specialist video taping my vocal chords in action using a fiber optic camera inserted through my nose. The tests found nothing abnormal - no inflation, no polyps, nada. Having explored all avenues, we gave up. I went back to work and continued communicating via paper for about three months in all. And then one fine day, my voice came back just like that, with no residual soreness, weakness or other lingering symptoms.
At that time, I didn't think about it, but in hindsight I could see the connection. You can think of it as crime and punishment, trauma and neurosis, or as a psychosomatic affliction, whichever model you are more comfortable with. The mind punishes not only mentally, but also physically. The reaction can be immediate or delayed.
From Wikipedia: The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: phalas and samskaras. A phala (literally, fruit or result) is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life. In contrast, samskaras are invisible effects, produced inside the actor because of the karma, transforming the agent and affecting his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in this life and future ones.
Carl Jung once opined on unresolved emotions and the synchronicity of karma:
In the end, with karma, maybe it is not ours to transform the punishment, so much as to transcend the mind.
One evening, I returned home from work one evening to find Moondog more restless than usual, having been deprived of a walk for over three days. As we walked along the brief stretch of Hwy 49 that separated our home from the forest road that led into the mountains, Moondog jumped from the grassy, six foot high shoulder alonside the highway straight into the path of a car traveling at 60 mph. He was flung over 50 feet by the collision and died an agonizing death. Dale's brother Joe and I buried him that night on the property. When Dale returned from an out of town visit a few days later, I could barely muster the courage to narrate the turn of events to him, and I turned away with a mumbled half-apology.
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| Highway 49, The Gold Rush Highway; the home I lived in is on the right |
One day, a few weeks later, I lost my voice - completely. I could no longer talk, and had to get by at work by scribbling on pieces of paper that I would hold up for my colleagues.
After a couple of weeks of this situation, I went and saw a doctor. Nothing was obviously wrong, and we explored various hypotheses and their related medications, including allergies and vocal cord "strain", all in vain. The doctor referred me to a specialist in nearby Fresno.
I underwent a battery of tests culminating in the specialist video taping my vocal chords in action using a fiber optic camera inserted through my nose. The tests found nothing abnormal - no inflation, no polyps, nada. Having explored all avenues, we gave up. I went back to work and continued communicating via paper for about three months in all. And then one fine day, my voice came back just like that, with no residual soreness, weakness or other lingering symptoms.
At that time, I didn't think about it, but in hindsight I could see the connection. You can think of it as crime and punishment, trauma and neurosis, or as a psychosomatic affliction, whichever model you are more comfortable with. The mind punishes not only mentally, but also physically. The reaction can be immediate or delayed.
From Wikipedia: The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: phalas and samskaras. A phala (literally, fruit or result) is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life. In contrast, samskaras are invisible effects, produced inside the actor because of the karma, transforming the agent and affecting his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in this life and future ones.
Carl Jung once opined on unresolved emotions and the synchronicity of karma:
When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.Some interpretations of the scriptures claim that "The law of karma operates independent of any deity or any process of divine judgment." At least, that is my preferred interpretation, since bringing a punishing God into the equation raises troubling questions. I prefer to think of guilt, punishment and salvation as creations of the Mind.
In the end, with karma, maybe it is not ours to transform the punishment, so much as to transcend the mind.
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