Karma and the Law of Attraction

The law of karma, the law of attraction, and the law of cause and effect are all essentially descriptions of the same law in different terms. What you put out you get back, what you sow, you reap, yadda yadda. Although these laws are framed in different ways, and people hold different beliefs around them, they are in essence the same. Karma is unique mostly because it’s proponents believe that it follows you from life to life; this is not generally what people think about the law of attraction or cause and effect. However, whether you believe in reincarnation or not, and whether you believe that Karma follows you or not, no matter how you look at it, it is undeniable that there is a force which attracts to you the energies which you put out. These ‘energies you put out’ can be thoughts, intentions, words, actions, or a combination of all of the above. I believe that Karma is more forgiving than most people think. This is evidenced by the fact that positive thoughts seems to have so much more power than negative thoughts. Positive intentions often manifest in ways that are greater than what was ever imagined. Most of us have examples of this in our lives if we are paying attention. Aren’t many of the truly good things in your life even greater than what you would have expected? Aren’t many of the bad things in your life not really all that bad when you look at them in perspective? The system is rigged toward the positive. Positive feelings and thoughts will always create more and create faster than the negative. The problem is that most of us are caught in the negative so much of the time that we are still manifesting the negative – what we don’t want. We are still creating negative karma even though it is easier to create positive karma.

Karma often seems like something that we are a “victim” of, but that is only because the negative karma we create is usually done in unconsciousness. It happens when we are not paying attention. Lama Surya Das gives an example of a pickle jar. Imagine that you open a jar of pickles and become distracted after opening them (the phone rings, you get a text, etc.), then while you are distracted you put them back in the fridge without sealing the lid. What happens? The next time you go to the fridge to get the pickles, the lid comes off and you drop them. Now you have shattered glass, pickles and pickle juice all over the floor. You probably curse. If you don’t remember doing this yourself you might even instantly blame someone else like your spouse or child for being careless. Most of us have experienced something like this. Our action that we do in unconsciousness, (while we are distracted) causes an effect that is undesirable. In “The Secret” they discuss how the law of attraction is working all the time, even when we are not paying attention. Karma is the same, since we are essentially talking about the same law in different terms. It is working all the time, each moment of each day, with each thought, each action, each reaction, we are creating new karma, new manifestations. Thus, when you drop the pickle jar, remember that you still have a choice. You can react in anger and blame, or you can simply clean up the mess and move on. The latter decision will not create any more bad karma on top of the mess.

The unconscious stream of dialogue that most people have running through their heads is creating their karma, it is setting the law of attraction in motion. For most of us, it is difficult to pay attention 100% of the time, but regular meditation can help you learn to quiet and control your thoughts. What is going through your head most of the day? Are you thinking good thoughts about others? Good thoughts about the past or future? Or are they disparaging thoughts about others, and negative or fearful thoughts about the past or future? Whatever you are thinking will create more of the same, your thoughts are an energy which will attract like energies. Your feelings are a feedback system, so if you have trouble tracking your thoughts, which most of us do, pay attention to your feelings. They will tell you if what you are thinking in any given moment is in alignment or out of alignment with your highest self. When you feel “bad” it is generally because the thoughts you are having at the moment are not in alignment with your highest self. How do you turn that around? Listen to your favorite music, take a bath, meditate, breath, slow down, laugh, whatever you need to do to find your center. From the still place inside you, from the place of pure presence and awareness, you can hit the ‘reset’ button. Once you’ve made a new choice on where to focus your thinking, you are instantly creating new karma, and attracting new manifestations to your reality. Thank goodness for the ‘time delay’ of these laws. The effects do not happen instantly, and this gives us time to stop and hit the reset button when we need to, in order to create something new and better. This allows us to create from a place of consciousness instead of unconsciousness. That means no more broken pickle jars, it means you become aware that all things are your own choosing.

Love and Light,
Rhea Jamil

Love and Karma

The cycles of Karma have been perpetuated by love. How so? The origin and destiny of all things is love, the cosmic consciousness which connects all things is love, there is no getting away from that. We are all connected through karma, and Karma originates out of love as well. Think of it this way: could you go to heaven if your beloved is in hell? No, you never could. You might go, but your heart would remain with your suffering beloved and would never be at peace, and therefore you would never be fully in heaven, since heaven is eternal peace. In Buddhism, The Bodhisattva is one who achieves enlightenment, an end of their suffering, but stays in the karmic cycle out of their commitment to love, to be with those still suffering and show others the way. In a sense, we are all a kind of Bodhisattva, choosing to return to the darkness out of love. We are all one, so if you cannot go to heaven, neither can I. We will ascend or perish as one.

I believe what may have happened is this: in the beginning, we were one with source.  At some point, we decided to see what it was like to experience separateness. When we separated from source (which was done via the creation of an illusion that we were not of source), we became lost in unconsciousness. Since the Source sees us as beloved sees the lover, the source sent more and more parts of itself to bring back the lost ones back. This is like the shepherd analogy in the Bible, who will always look for his lost sheep. The source chose to not allow the lost sheep to wander forever in darkness, but has done everything it can to bring all beings back to itself, back to the light from which they originated. We, as humans, are all part of this divine project. We are the beings who have made this choice to go into the darkness and bring it back to the light. And in so doing, we have learned great lessons about what we are. We have learned by virtue of facing the energies which are not of source, namely fear, and in response we have expanded the energies which are of source, namely love. This love is not just love of what is good and beautiful and right. This is love that is unconditional, it does not require perfection, this is love that cannot be conquered by fear or darkness. This is the human love that stands strong in the face of suffering and has the power to transmute the dark illusionary forces into light. Our martyrdom has expanded the universe, which is built on love, since it has pushed the very boundaries of what love is capable of.

Your purpose, therefore, is to be the light in the dark place. The light is consciousness, the dark is unconsciousness. You brought the light here with you, it is you. Therefore your purpose is to be yourself. You release yourself from the cycles Karma by being the light that you already are, and then you become a beacon for others to release themselves. I believe Karma is much more forgiving than most people think, because the universe itself is without judgment, it is only here on this earthly unconscious plain that we judge. We are not here being punished for past misdeeds, rather we are here to learn how to shed the light in the darkness, and we have been willing to come here as many times as it takes for the light to fully penetrate the dark. In that process we have often gotten lost in the dark, but that is OK, it is all part of the process. In order to transcend the darkness of unconsciousness, one must fully experience it.  After all, you cannot transcend anything that you do not fully experience.

Namaste,

Rhea Jamil