”The Definition of Karma is: You Get Away with Nothing!”
Jack Kornfield, Buddhist Teacher, Co-Founder, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, Ca.
“What if at times we attract something that we do not want? What about all the things that we have already attracted into our lives? Must we still suffer until the last farthing be paid? Are we bound by Karma? Yes, in a certain degree we are bound by what we have done; it is impossible to set law in motion and not have it produce. What we sow we must also reap, of that there is no doubt; but here is something to think about; the Bible also says that if a man repents his "sins are blotted out, and remembered no more forever." Here we have two statements which at first seem not to agree. The first says that we must suffer from what we have done, and the second that under certain conditions we will not have to suffer. What are those conditions? A changed attitude toward the Law. It means that we must stop thinking and acting in the wrong way."
Ernest S. Holmes - Creative Mind and Success - Transcending Previous Conditions - Page 40
So...LET'S TALK!!
Oh, No! “You get away with nothing”?
Karma. I, like many of us, resisted with all I could muster the absolute meaning of this darn word and its demonstration in my life. "How could this be?", I would ask myself. "Has God no sense of Humor? Surely something so trivial (my infraction of the Karmic Law), can’t interfere with my good!" And yet, the answer has never wavered: Yes, it can...and does. Simply put, It always fried my heinie, 'till I got the lesson, and cleaned up my proverbial side of the road, my backyard, and sometimes even my basement.
The year was 1972, I had just gotten my Practitioner License, and I had a conversation about Karma with the distinguished and world-renowned Dr. Jack Kornfield. (Jack was my neighbor in the wilds of Marin County prior to the founding of the famous Spirit Rock Meditation Center.) His answer was swift: "Lloyd, just be thankful you learned this lesson early in your life. It will be your greatest asset going into the future.“
My Catholic Mom would say, "Binky!" (my family Pet name for me, no laughing please) .."You must think before you speak or do something unkind or not true, for surely you will fall from Grace if you do!" Honestly, that admonishment never took. Nope, it was Jack's "You get away with nothing..“ that inspired me to embrace the law of Karma. I started the practice of noticing when I may have an unkind thought and neutralizing it before it is released. This is exactly what Dr. Holmes is addressing in the above when he says that ”We must stop thinking and acting in the wrong way”!
So my advice is to take your time - heed those gentle reminders before you act or speak - and remember that the Law works both ways. Bless your so-called enemies, do good works, and "be bound" by the GOOD Karma that will bring!
Love, Lloyd