Forgiveness and “Karma” · Forgiveness, by anyone, cannot cause us to change. Transformation...

Forgiveness

and “Karma”

Alova

Abstract: Forgiveness is contrary to animal instincts to attack whenhurt, and is also contrary to our natural sense of justice and balance.Forgiveness revolutionized our world, and has fantastic benefits whenused as instructed. What does forgiveness entail? How are forgivenessand the “law of karma” both good, and when? What are the effects offorgiving and being forgiven? Divine Forgiveness doesn’t nullifyactions that have occurred, but it helps us balance those actions moreeasily. Using both intellect and heart, and remembering how much wedon’t know, can help us to forgive.

Anatomy of Harm and Forgiveness

Forgiving someone who has caused us pain or suffering is at first difficult. Ani-mals have a natural fight-or-flight instinct to immediately attack anything that hurtsthem, or to run far away. Retribution is instinctual. Humans have this instinct too. Weadditionally have the intellectual capacity to reason at much higher levels than ani-mals can.

Humans also have an instinct toward justice and balance. When we are wronged,we feel something is wrong in the universe. Something needs to be adjusted. Amendsneed to be made. Balance and wholeness need to be restored.

This human desire for balance is good. It is just. It fosters spiritual growth, indi-vidually and collectively. Forgiveness seems to run contrary to our urge for justice—yet forgiveness is also a hallmark of spiritual maturity. How can forgiveness and jus-tice both lead us toward Goodness?

Restoration

When someone does harm, there is first a need for whomever and whatever washarmed to be restored to wholeness. An injury needs to heal, property needs to bereturned or repaired, words need to be publicly retracted.

Forgiveness and “Karma,” 2020 March 6th ~ of 16wisdom2joy.com ~ Copyright by Truth First Association 2019-2020. All rights reserved.

This document may be printed or distributed in its entirety.

Penalty

Secondly, there is a Penalty which hopefully compensates the harmed for suffer-ing, teaches the harmdoer not to repeat it, and shows others not to do the same. Pun-ishment can be imposed by the harmed person, or socially by a tribal, religious, orgovernment authority.

Restoration is designed to make the situation whole again, to repair damage.

Penalty, after Restoration, is designed to encourage people to choose to not doharm in the future. A choice to never do a certain action again requires a deep, innercommitment, an act of will. When someone demonstrates to themselves, and to oth-ers, that one does not repeat the harmful action, one becomes a more responsible andhonorable community member, and is justifiably proud of one’s increased self-control.

These two steps are outer. They can be externally imposed.

The other important aspects of harm are inner. They involve attitudes of mind,heart and will of the harmdoer and of the person who has been harmed. These cannotbe imposed or forced; they are within the domain of each one of us.

Personal Forgiveness

When one has been harmed, one naturally feels a desire for retribution, for theharmdoer to suffer; at least, one feels resentment. This arises out of our normal animalfight response. In fact, imagining the harmdoer suffering releases dopamine, a feel-good hormone (although actually seeing the harmdoer punished does not).

When we relinquish this instinctive desire for retribution, we personally forgive.This frees us of a tremendous burden. It frees us of resentment.

It doesn’t directly affect whomever we forgive. It doesn’t erase the action fromhistory. It doesn’t eliminate the need for Restoration, Penalty or social consequences.It doesn’t require us to be a doormat.

Personal Transformation

When we realize we have done harm, we normally feel sad, remorse. We want torectify the situation. If we go deep inside and make an act of will, a commitment toourselves to not do it again, and look at what induced us to do harm and reduce thosetraits or influences, then we deliberately become more moral. We grow spiritually. Weactually change. We Transform ourselves.

No one else can do this for us. Only we can do it, by choice.

Forgiveness, by anyone, cannot cause us to change.

Transformation does not start with lip service to repentance. An empty apology,“I’m sorry” without an inner commitment to refrain from repeating it, is a fraud,meaningless. God is not fooled, and we should not be fooled either.



The process of Transformation is part of what life on Earth is for. As souls, wemature, develop self-control and garner wisdom. Physical experience is invaluable.

Hurt and Harm

When someone feels hurt, it doesn’t necessarily mean any harm was done. Dueto someone’s own opinions, emotions, prejudices, or history, one can feel hurt oroffended if we wear orange, write in capital letters, use a word or make a joke withcompletely innocuous intent, or point our feet in one direction or another. In suchcases, someone may actually feel hurt, but that feeling is not caused by anyone else.

We usually feel that emotions just come over us, but actually, they are voluntary.It is rare that one’s emotions are actually caused by an event, or anyone else. Nor-mally, adults are responsible for our own emotions. Children do not yet have the men-tal strength and confidence to distinguish and place responsibility where it belongs,so they can be hurt emotionally by others. But adults do, and they have no excuse toblame other people for their own feelings. When one is physically injured, feelinghurt is not optional. But our emotions are under our control.

Breaking a commitment, however, is intrinsically hurtful and usually harmful inother ways as well. It disregards and disrespects the person to whom the commitmentwas made. An intent to insult or denigrate someone can be emotionally hurtful, as it isintended to be, even if it’s untrue.

It is also possible to be actually harmed without feeling any emotional hurtwhatsoever. Someone can try to harm us, but it doesn’t always work. For example, ifsomeone insults or publicly slanders us, we might not be fazed at all if it is not trueand we really know that it is not true. If the person wanted to damage our reputationwe can refute their statements with truthful ones, but we don’t need to feel hurt.

It is also possible to be harmed without even knowing it, in which case onewouldn’t feel emotionally hurt at all. If one’s funds are embezzled and one doesn’tfind out, one is still harmed. If someone sabotages our vehicle and it results in an acci-dent, we may never know the cause. Subliminal images do substantial harm to indi-viduals and to an entire society, even though most people are completely unaware ofthem. Mind control and evil magic do harm, even if the targets are unaware of it orbelieve they’re not vulnerable to it.

We are also naturally more tolerant when someone, like a child, doesn’t knowany better, or is incapable of better. Whether we feel emotionally hurt depends on theharmdoer’s intent and ability.



Revolutionary

Forgiveness is unusual in non-Christian cultures. Older belief systems are strongon retribution, from “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” in Babylonian law 1, toHindu law stipulating that body parts be cut off or mutilated to prevent a person fromrepeating a crime.2

When a person feels wronged, in most non-Christian cultures, inflictingvengeance by any means and to any extent possible is quite acceptable. In fact, if onedoesn’t take revenge, one is disrespected and presumed weak. In most of the world, itis easy and not uncommon to hire rough men or sorcerers to inflict suffering on one’sbehalf.

In recorded history prior to Christianity, forgiveness—freedom from the burdensof one’s own wrongdoing—was obtained by ritual sacrifice to one or more gods orsaints. The offerings range from food or money, to animals or even humans, topenance believed to please the gods—fasting, prayers, solitude, abstinence, or evenself-inflicted pain.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth. His teaching of a forgiving God, and to forgive thosewho repent, was truly revolutionary in the history of the world:

Unheard-of! Subdue our natural, animal instinct to immediately retaliate againstan injury? Unthinkable! And extend forgiveness on top of it? Impossible!

1 Code of Hammurabi, ~1754 B.C., and later in the Bible, “life for life, eye for eye, tooth fortooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” —Exodus 21:23-25, also Deuteronomy 19:21 and Leviticus 24:19-20.

2 Dharma-sutras, ~1,200-200 B.C., and subsequently the Laws of Manu. Punishments include:cutting off body parts for defamation, assault, theft or adultery (8:270, 279-280, 282, 334; 9:276,277); branding (8:281, 9:237); mutilation (9:291, 9:277, 279, 280, 292); thrusting a red-hot ironnail (8:271) or hot oil (8:272) into the mouth or ears; beating (8:299, 369), death for adultery,speaking or flirting (8:359, 372, 374, 377) or for a wife refusing her duties (8:371), or for theft(9:276, 277, 279, 280), dishonesty (9:292), forgery (9:232), or feeding thieves (9:271).http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu0 8 .htm , http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu0 9 .htm .



“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if theyrepent, forgive them.” —Luke 17:3

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” —Luke 6:37

“[Forgive] not seven times, but seventy times seven.” —Matthew 18:22

“Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” —John 8:7

And the supreme example, “Father, forgive them, for they know notwhat they do.” —Luke 23:34

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu08.htm






Yet, during the last two thousand years, humanity has demonstrated that forgive-ness is very possible, and has benefits we never would have imagined.

Rebuke and Repentance

Jesus taught to first rebuke, and then to forgive people who repent—not peoplewho don’t repent.

At the time, the norm was for people to impose vengeance—Penalty—on anyonewho harmed them. Giving up the need to punish, to see offenders suffer, was the firststep in his revolutionary teaching on forgiveness. He did not say there was no need forRestoration. He also prescribed Personal Transformation by saying, “Sin no more.”3

Rebuking the harmdoer is the first step. It is crucial to inform people that theydid harm. If no one tells them, people often have the illusion that their behavior didn’treally hurt anyone. They thus easily repeat it without conscience or remorse.

The next step refers to forgiving the Penalty. The need for Restoration is com-mon sense; Hebrew law additionally prescribed specific Penalties for various offenses,including stoning to death for adultery by a woman. Jesus was clearly referring to for-giving the Penalty—the outer, social punishment.

His directive is to forgive people who repent. This means people who feel gen-uinely sorry for what they have done. When remorse is heartfelt, people want to neverdo it again. They make a choice deep inside. They want to make amends, to remedythe damage they caused—and they also want to change so they won’t do it again.

What happens when we excuse people who don’t repent, from Restoration orjust Penalty? Usually they repeat the harmful behavior, toward us or someone else,often in bigger ways. Either out of reluctance to make effort or to change, or out ofmalice, people who don’t repent and are not punished continue their harmful ways.

Forgiving harmdoers who don’t repent appears to them to be weakness. Whenmalice sees weakness, it has an instinct to attack again and again, perhaps for fun, orto see how far it can go. (Malice is present in animals who preferentially attack awounded animal and take advantage of its weakness.)

It is actually not compassionate at all to forgive anyone from Restoration orPenalty unless the person has already repented. It does not help the harmdoer inthe least. Instead, it sets the person back and encourages becoming entrenched inmore harmful behavior. It is unkind and actually harmful.

3 John 5:14, 8:11.



When someone has done harm and feels no regret, it is foolish to allow the harm-doer the same liberties as before. We should not trust the person with that liberty, forit will result in temptation to misuse it again.

When a society forgives people who don’t repent, the society itself becomesweaker. Harm increases, malice increases—and are actually rewarded. Self-controldecreases, as people who are tempted see that others get away with murder so theydon’t bother making an effort.

Some people—and actually some belief systems—condone taking advantage ofpeople who forgive easily. It is crucial to recognize when one is dealing with a personwho would take advantage of big-heartedness. Goodness requires wisdom. When truerepentance has not taken place, it is foolish and harmful to excuse harmdoers fromRestoration or Penalty.

Most people repent as soon as they realize they’ve hurt someone. But many peo-ple don’t, until they are faced with a scary, painful punishment. Some don’t repenteven after enduring punishment, and require special treatment.

Personal Forgiveness means …

When we forgive someone who has harmed us, we abandon our instinct toretaliate or to see the person hurt. We let go of vindictiveness from our mind andheart. We do not forget or deny what happened, but we give up our personal desire forretribution, to God or to the universe. The desire for vengeance disappears from ourawareness.

We allow healing of our injury to take place—we don’t hang on to it or dwell onour wounds. If a situation still exists, forgiveness will be incomplete until it is healedor until we have adapted. But we can forgive emotionally immediately—even inadvance!

It is very important to realize that when we forgive, it does not mean we pretendnothing happened, or that we were not hurt. We do not need to, and should not, openourselves up again to the same harm. Forgiving does not mean foolishly returning to aviolent or abusive spouse or employer. We can forgive the harmdoer, and at the sametime leave an abusive relationship and protect ourselves.

This seeming dichotomy can be difficult to grasp. Many people think that if oneforgives, it means absolving the harmdoer from any consequences, and everyone issupposed to feel and behave as though nothing happened. They think that if someonefeels hurt, acknowledges what happened, or is on guard in any way, one hasn’t reallyforgiven. This is a misunderstanding which clears up with common sense and reason.



Forgiving does not mean that the harmful action was okay. People often say,“It’s okay,” when they forgive, but this means that the forgiver has dropped a personalgrudge. It doesn’t mean that the action is null and void. It doesn’t mean the harmwasn’t really harmful. It doesn’t mean that Restoration is unnecessary.

Forgiving does not mean exposing ourselves again to being harmed. It doesn’tmean that all is well and relationships can, or should, proceed as if nothing happened.Forgiveness does not mean the harmdoer can or should be freed from personal orsocial consequences.

It is important that both forgiver and forgiven recognize that a wrong really wasdone, and things cannot and should not be exactly the same again. Like water thatflows in existing channels, it takes effort and will to change a behavior pattern once ithas occurred. One who has been harmed is, and should be, on guard and have protec -tive mechanisms in place until the harmdoer has refrained from repeating the behav-ior after enough tempting opportunities.

Being blind, or pretending to be blind, is not wise, or spiritual, or good. Neitheris forgetting the incident or our lesson. Releasing resentment is wise and good, butoblivion is not.

The universe, its Creator, is no fool (unlike our present societies). When someonedoes harm, it hangs energetically around one’s soul until genuine repentance andTransformation occur.

Forgiving is not a purely intellectual decision. It occurs deep inside the heart. Itis never the result of convenience, expediency, or feeling that one has no choice. It isnot just words. It is a complete release, a letting go. It is facilitated by a trust in univer-sal order, or in God, although this trust is not required.

This letting go has enormous benefits to ourselves! People who forgive havegreatly reduced stress levels, better health, and are happier. They have more success-ful and fulfilling relationships. They have better self-esteem. They have betterimmune systems, lower heart rates and blood pressure, and require fewer medica-tions. Their hearts are healthier. They have less chronic pain and drink less alcohol.These good effects are powerful and profound.

When we forgive others, we free ourselves of a tremendous burden! When othersforgive us, they free themselves—not us!



The “Law of Karma”

When we do any action, it remains in our field—ourconscious memory, our subconscious memory, our mind, ourheart. This is true of all actions, whether they are good or bad,beneficial or harmful, or a mixture of both.

All our actions, good and bad, eventually return to us.This is called the “law of karma.”

Leaves and branches of a tree do not exist without roots.Our circumstances are rooted in what we have planted, what wehave done before, in what choices we’ve made.

There is much misunderstanding about the term “karma” and about this lawbecause people have superimposed their concepts of sin and punishment.

The word “karma” simply means “action” in SanskÃt.4 A karma is an action. Notnecessarily a bad action. It is just an action.

The truth about what has been done, including the thoughts and feelings ofeveryone and everything at the time, does not vanish. There is always a record inmemory. Forgiveness—even Divine forgiveness—does not eliminate the truth, despiteclaims of the wishful. In order to escape the difficulties and responsibilities of Earthlyexistence, some people imagine that one can simply transcend, or ascend, or decide to“repent” and be saved from it all. People can become quite wealthy by promoting thisattractive fallacy.

The law of karma is simply the law that all actionsreturn to their source. It does not refer to retribution or pun-ishment, although when a harmful action returns to the doerthe person may experience suffering. The law of karma is not aset of regulations like human laws that we can follow to avoidconsequences. It is not punishment or reward by a deity fordisobeying or obeying rules.

The law of karma is simply a statement of how thingswork in the universe.

This law is a statement of balance. This law is Love,aware of unity. This law facilitates and promotes love, theawareness of our unity with all. This law is dispassionate, bal-anced, just, magnificent, awesome in its beauty.

4 The word “karma” derives from the root verb kÃ, to do. It simply means, “something that hasbeen done.”



Once we know the truth about how things really work, being immoral is notappealing because its long-term effects are far more unpleasant than any short-term,ephemeral advantages.

A saying goes that when “bad karma” comes due, reason and memory temporar-ily disappear. This is part of the universe’s mechanism for Restoration and providingopportunity for Transformation.

Sometimes hardships in life have roots in past harmful behavior. Difficultiespresent opportunities to do things differently, to grow stronger, and to gauge our char-acter.

An important caution: the law of karma does not imply that if someone is suffer-ing, it is because they did bad things in the past, or vice versa. This could be the case,but people can also choose to experience very difficult circumstances in order to growspiritually at a more rapid rate. People who wish to grow at a slower rate can alsochoose to experience easier circumstances.

A soul can incarnate on Earth for the very first time, with no previous actions.The present era is an extremely difficult time period on Earth, and it is not possiblefor someone to not be abused, poisoned with toxins, dominated, and otherwiseharmed in numerous ways. This harm is certainly not deserved by a new soul, and isnot deserved by most of the rest of us either. It does, however, afford extraordinaryopportunity for spiritual growth!

We need to be very careful before applying the concept of “deserving” to anyone.Windfalls are not necessarily due to recent good behavior that we can see, andtragedies are not necessarily due to recent bad behavior that we can see. In this age,windfalls can actually be due to very bad behavior, and miseries can be due to verygood behavior.5

Is there any one of us who has never been misjudged by people who didn’t knowthe whole story, who didn’t know our intent, what was really in our hearts? As NativeAmericans say, “Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”Much hurt is caused by misunderstandings and by presumptions that are inaccurate.

Let us remember the exhortation of our great spiritual revolutionary, “Let onewho is without sin cast the first stone.” We should not ignore what has actuallyoccurred, but if we adopt a self-righteous sense that others deserve suffering, we treadon perilous spiritual ground.

5 As an example, when asked why a man was born blind, Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor hisparents sinned, but this happened so that God’s works would be displayed.” John 9:3.



Communities: Restoration and Penalty

Parents, teachers, and valid social authorities have a duty to rebuke harmdoingand to teach, foster and exemplify good behavior. When someone does not repent,these valid authorities have a duty to prescribe and enforce Restoration and Penaltyin order to establish balance and discourage further harmfulness.

For harmdoers to want to Transform, they normally need to feel or experiencethe type of suffering they caused. People often need to see the hurt and damage first-hand. They need to look into the eyes of those they harmed. They need to know theresults of what they did. Most people empathize and feel compassion when they seeother people suffering, and most harmdoers are less likely to repeat what they didwhen they realize what the effects were.

Whether someone repents or not, valid authorities must make an attempt torestore wholeness and balance by requiring harmdoers to repair the damage theycaused. Restoration, to the extent possible, is necessary in order for younger souls tolearn, and in order for any society to be healthy.

In addition, it is necessary for harmdoers to compensate the harmed, or societyat large. This is a type of Penalty, although it should not be administered with harsh-ness, condemnation, arrogance, or glee. Its purpose is to teach and to encourageTransformation.

The personal benefits of relinquishing a need to see retribution do not accrue tocommunities or to people acting in a valid authoritative capacity. When one has beenentrusted with authority, one has a consequent duty—to serve the welfare of the entiregroup. When harmdoing is not followed by Restoration, the group is internally out ofbalance. If imbalances are allowed to grow, the entire community eventually suffers, isvulnerable to external attack, and can ultimately disintegrate or be destroyed.

Sri Yukteshwar, the guru of spiritual teacher Yogananda, brought lawsuitsagainst people who made fraudulent claims to acquire his ancestral property.6 It is notspiritual or good to allow people to steal or defraud. It is not spiritual or good to allowevil to thrive in any community.

It is vital for any community to face harmdoing that occurs, rebuke it, seekRestoration, and maintain balance.

6 Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 12, p. 101, https://www.holybooks.com/ wp-content/uploads/Autobiography-of-a-Yogi-by-Paramahansa-Yogananda.pdf, p. 108.



https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Autobiography-of-a-Yogi-by-Paramahansa-Yogananda.pdf



Personal “Karma” and Transformation

When we do anything harmful, it is like a weight around ourneck. The more harm we do over time, the heavier the weightbecomes.7

The heaviness comes from doing harm, even if it’svery subtle—not from disobeying rules. We can feel it some-how, if we pay attention. Following rules can never guar-antee that we won’t accumulate a burden.

This weight is both psychological andspiritual. It keeps us from progressing farspiritually, until we come back to the levelat which we did it, make amends, and dothings differently.8 When balance isrestored, we can continue growing.

This makes sense. If the harm we did is in our “field”—our memory, our mind,our heart—then when we grow more powerful, the pattern can erupt and we could doit again, creating more damage this time. We are not ready for more power until we’vedemonstrated—to ourselves—that we’ll use our power well.

Each of us is responsible only for our own actions, our own decisions, not foranything we are truly forced to do. If a master really has the power to make someoneelse do something, the master is responsible for those actions. If a deceiver or fraud-ster induces us to make a decision, the deceiver is responsible—unless we wanted tobelieve the deceit due to our own greed or other motive.

When we have caused harm, we of course need to repair and make amends assoon as possible. If we caused damage we can’t remedy, we first of all need to see thatwe never do anything like that again. We do this through an act of will, deep inside.When we make this inner commitment, our self-esteem is restored.

It does no good to anyone for us to walk around with heavy guilt. In due timeand place, when we’re able, the universe will present us with an opportunity to rem-edy similar damage, perhaps with different people. Until then, we need to continuelife cheerfully and help others when we can.

Other people do not have the capacity to make us act better—only we have thatability. Similarly, we do not personally have the power to make anyone else change orrestore the imbalances they have created.

7 Jesus referred to this accumulation in John 5:14, “Don’t sin any more or something worse mayhappen to you.”

8 It is often our soul’s wish to do things differently that draws us back to physical incarnation.



It doesn’t matter at all to our own souls or “fields” whether the people weharmed forgive us or not. What matters is whether we actually do things differentlythe next time.

What matters even more is that we do things differently againand again, until our goodness grows into a permanent part of ourcharacter and memory of our soul. Even the tendency to do thatharm disappears completely. At this point, we are free of the harm-fulness and the stone is completely gone. We have Transformedourselves. We are in balance with our universe: “pono.”9

We feel freer, and the responsibility that comes with it is now natural, habitual.Our freedom is a direct result of paying its price: doing the right thing (“dharma,”pono). It’s well worth it! This freedom cannot be obtained by any other means. If itcould, our Creator would be a fool, and the universe would have fallen apart long ago.

Sometimes a person harms us and it doesn’t even faze us. We take it in stride,we’ve forgiven in advance. We might have done such an action long ago, but if so,we’ve already eliminated our tendency to do it again. We’ve changed inside and builtgood character. When we’ve Transformed, “bad karma” is easy to bear. We might noteven notice it.

When we are “pono,” our bad actions are not erased as if they never happened;they are balanced by our good actions. In the process we grow our character and ourgoodness.

Divine Forgiveness

When we forgive, we remove a burden from ourselves. Although our forgive-ness could inspire someone, it doesn’t intrinsically affect the person we are forgiving.We do not have the power to erase the deed from history as if it had not been done.We don’t have the power to nullify the law of karma! Only the Creator of the universehas that power.

Jesus prayed to the Father to forgive. He said, “Your sins are forgiven”—not, “Iforgive your sins.” Sins were forgiven by the Father, or by one who was one with theFather.10

There is much misunderstanding about forgiveness because people have claimedfor centuries that if we give money or valuables, or if we repent verbally once, all ourprevious bad actions—and even future ones too—are eternally cancelled out as if they

9 “Pono” is a Hawaiian word meaning a state of balance and harmony with all, resulting fromdoing right by oneself, other people, and the world.

10 Luke 5:20, 7:48, Mark 2:5; Matthew 9:2, 9:6, Mark 2:10.



had never occurred. If this were true, the universe and its Creator would be dishonest,stupid, and corrupt. Instead, evidence all around us indicates that the universe and itsCreator are wiser than we can imagine, of genius greater than we can imagine, and arecharacteristized by Goodness itself.

Another misconception is that if we forgive someone, God automatically forgivesthem too, and their bad actions are cancelled as if they didn’t occur. This suppositionwould imply that we human beings have the ability to alter the three-dimensional sys-tem in which we live and move. If this were true, our entire three-dimensional worldwould fall apart—there would be no cohesion, no facts, no history, nothing could beagreed upon, everything would be changing and disappearing constantly. The systemin which we find ourselves is only able to be changed by its Creator with full aware -ness of the process of creation, including the mechanisms and reasons for everyaspect of that system.

Imagine that we receive a loan and after some regular payments, we have a set -back and get behind. We have no reserves and our income equals our loan payment.We’re stuck—there’s no way to catch up.

However, we have some skills and abilities. If we could purchase some equip-ment and materials, we’d have the ability to produce something that could earn agood income, and then we’d be able to pay our loan back. But we don’t have anyresources with which to purchase the equipment and materials.

Imagine that our lender sees our plight and believes we could and would work toproduce our new products. Our lender suspends our loan payments for a period oftime in order for us to use our income to purchase what we need. When our productsare ready for sale, our loan payments resume. We are able to pay our loan in full. Webenefit, the lender benefits, and others benefit from our products.

Divine forgiveness is like a temporaryreprieve on a loan. If we have truly repentedand then Transformed, developed good char-acter—which includes forgiving others ofwhat we have done—and deeply wish tobenefit others, then sometimes we are given areprieve from suffering that is due. We havemuch more energy to help others than wewould have had. We often have a sense ofelation, feeling inside that we were headed forpain or tragedy, but Divine Grace has savedus. We feel grateful and even more committedto doing good and being good because of thisGrace.



Divine forgiveness doesn’t erase the history of what happened. It doesn’t elimi-nate the natural consequences of action, or nullify the law of “karma.” It does give usa boost to do good, build good character, and make spiritual progress without beingweighed down. It helps us to restore balance more easily and quickly.

Forgiving More Easily

How can we forgive more easily so that we can live more freely and experiencemore of its wonderful benefits?

Forgiveness with wisdom requires us to utilize our memory and intellect.

First, it’s important to remember that we’ve harmed other people. Most of thetime it was by mistake, or we didn’t realize that what we did would be harmful. It’sthe same with other people too—most people don’t want to do harm. The vast major-ity of harm is unintentional. Remembering that we’ve made mistakes helps us to for-give others who make them too.

Most hurt arises from misunderstandings and presumptions that are incorrect.We humans project what is in us onto others. We assume that other people are thesame as we are, with the same goals and motives. But we’re actually so different!

Even though we may not be able to imagine that someone else doesn’t realizewhat we think everyone knows—maybe they really don’t! In Europe, one is supposedto stand when the king enters, but in Siam one had to sit down because one’s headshould never be higher than the king’s. Some people believe it’s sinful to point one’sfeet toward someone else but it’s okay to tell lies, and others believe it’s sinful to liebut the direction of one’s feet doesn’t matter. Some people feel it’s rude to burp, andothers feel it’s rude not to burp. Many people assume that everyone else has the samegoals as they do, and they impugn motives to others. But very often other people havevery different motives and goals!



If we knew everything someone else knows, and had the ability (or lack ofability) that they did, we might very well do exactly what they did.

Someone might be operating under extenuating circumstances or severe pressurethat we’re not aware of. This happens routinely in politics, and not infrequently inpositions of power.

Once a father was riding on the subway with his many children who were rais-ing a ruckus, completely out of control. He was not paying attention to them, sofinally an irate passenger voiced a strong complaint. The man said, “Oh, I’m terriblysorry. Their mother just died and we’re returning from the hospital.” The passenger’sanger quickly turned to helpfulness and complete forgiveness.

Sometimes harm occurs truly by accident—no one was negligent, and no one isto blame.

Sometimes the harmdoer really didn’t know any better. In these cases, someoneneeds to point out the results, explain why one shouldn’t do that, and suggest betterways.

The best way to forgive is to leave judgment and retribution to the universe, to“God,” or to beings who know a lot more and love a lot more than we do. Letting go iseasy when we realize that we don’t know everything—in fact, we don’t know mostthings! We haven’t walked a mile in everyone else’s moccasins. We don’t know every-one else’s heart, or circumstances. We don’t know everything we have done to others.We know so little!

Most of us don’t want to harm others in our pursuits … but we do. We’ve beentrained to believe that hurting others is unavoidable, resources are fixed, and when wegain, someone else has to lose. There are many examples to the contrary, but deep-seated collective beliefs do not change easily.

Despite these beliefs, most of us wish each other well. Time after time, especiallyin emergencies, humanity naturally pulls together and strangers help one another.Even animals in loving human care nurture and protect orphans of other species.

Compassion is natural—and humans naturally lead the way.

We can practice finding the divine spark in each and every person. We are allsouls created by the same Creator.



“I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans,the stars, and everything created in the universe.We were all made by the same hand, and we havethe same soul.”11

As souls, we are spiritual family members. Remembering our essential point ofunity helps us to forgive, and helps all of humanity along our way.

11 Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (1988), p. 348.



Artist acknowledgements: Anonymous (stickmen), GDJ (heart) jean-victor (musical notes), netalloy (airship, bar graph, boat, clock, gears, papaya), unknown (bicycle) @ openclipart.org, Pavel Naumov (stone) @ 123rf.com, Embe2006 (trees), Melitas (people talking), Evgeniya Malakhova (rainbow), and Connie Larsen (circle of humanity) @ dreamstime.com.

op. 5

Forgiveness and “Karma” · Forgiveness, by anyone, cannot cause us to change. Transformation...

Documents

Transcript of Forgiveness and “Karma” · Forgiveness, by anyone, cannot cause us to change. Transformation...