The Cosmic Law of Karma
by Kristina Kaine
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. Mt 5:38-42
To seek revenge for damage caused to us means that we do not understand the cosmic law of reincarnation and karma. If someone damages our eye what good does it do if we damage theirs in return; it only doubles the karma. The law of karma is very specific: what we prepare in one life will have its rewards (or consequences) in another. Through karma we are given the ability to redeem ourselves. It is not about reckoning but about the opportunity to develop ourselves.
Karma can work like this: If we cause a person to lose their physical sight then in a future life we could lose the ability to see spiritual truth. Then, in a still future life, that karmic impulse will assist us to strive even harder to see spiritual truth. It is like a pendulum swinging which gives us the opportunity to rise above the polarity produced by the idea of an eye for an eye.
Then it says, “Do not resist one who is poneros,” and poneros does not mean evil, it means that which causes trouble and pain which of itself has no value. However, what usually happens when we experience trouble or pain is that we want to focus on dealing with the cause of the pain. How much effort does it take to deal with something that has gone wrong in our lives? If someone injures our pride for example, how much of our time do we spend with the injury? We relive it over and over again using valuable time and energy which could be put to use on our spiritual growth. Or, if someone steals from us, even simply stealing our time by delaying us and putting us behind schedule, rather than becoming annoyed about this we can change our attitude about it.
If someone annoys us or harms us, if we can immediately move on, it is possible to experience infinite freedom. It has to be in the moment, not tomorrow, but in that split second, that we decide that the annoyance or harm doesn’t matter, if we are to have this experience of true freedom. So, the next time someone annoys us, if we stop thinking about their behavior and how we would like to change it – which is actually imposing our will on them – we free ourselves for something new. If, for instance, someone borrows a book from us and forgets to return it, we can simply buy another copy and see it as a gift.
These actions listed in the text we are considering can be applied to the way we feel, think and use our will. If we adopt an ‘eye for an eye’ attitude then we pull everything towards ourselves, tit for tat, which means that we are held in the grip of our lower ego. This lower ego has served its purpose and must make way for higher soul development.
It is time for us to flow out into the world and contribute wherever we can rather than seek to attract things to ourselves. If we do this we will gain more than we could ever imagine. We start this process by releasing all thoughts and feelings about what is our right, what we should have and how we should be treated etc. and think about how we can help, even when we are badly treated.
When we manage to do this it has a surprising effect. People notice our unusual response. This new behavior sets an unspoken example. Not only that, it allows people to experience life in freedom. When we bear our difficulties with grace we don’t impose our will on others and they are free to express their will however they choose. Even if we are graceful about our difficulties and then pray for their removal it means that we no longer want to deal with our karma.
Furthermore, when we hear about Christ coming to take away our sins what is meant is not the removal of our difficulties, but that he takes away the effect of our deeds on the spiritual worlds. When we do not deal with our difficulties in the right way we cause damage in the spiritual worlds. Not that we should feel bad about this, it is a natural consequence of the process of assuming personal responsibility for our “I Am” – that Higher Self that we are struggling to develop. Our “I Am” is a very powerful thing and while we are still learning how to use it we can set some damaging things in motion. This is why Jesus stresses the importance of letting things go. If we engage with the difficulties we deny ourselves the opportunity of growing further into our “I Am”.
There is another reason for letting things lie. If we allow our anger to build up it can dull our consciousness, leaving room for the anti-forces to enter into us and act through us and cause significant damage here on earth. We are seeing more and more of this in acts like the Norwegian Massacre and Batman Movie Shooting in Colorado.
If someone forces us, imposes their will on us, to go one mile, we dissolve the force of their will by going two miles. These commandments will be necessary tools for life as we move forward into a future where many people do not make the effort to know who they really are as spiritual beings on this earth.
Christine Kaine is an author and business woman who is deeply interested in the quality of human life. In her business she assists people to find angel investors and business partners. In her spare time she writes newsletters and blogs under her pen name Kristina Kaine about this new Psychology she believes will give us the best quality of life possible in a confusing modern world.
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