Words are only as valuable as the meanings we bestow upon them. If I say “tree”, we may have a similar idea of what a tree is, but you could be envisioning an oak tree whereas I am seeing a tree in a tropical forest, and someone else may bring a baobab tree to the forefront of their mind. We can have multiple understandings of the very same word, and few words are as misunderstood as karma.  

Many believe that karma is an action of cause and effect: I do something good, so something good will happen to me in the future, and vice versa. But this notion of karma barely scratches the surface, as karma in its entirety is our attachment to the energies of life. You see, everything in life is cyclical. Seeds grow into trees that produce flowers and fruit that contain seeds, and when the seeds of the flower and fruit meet the ground again, they grow into a new tree. We can see this cycle in everything in life. Why, then, do we separate human existence from this cycle? Why do we only see human life as linear with a beginning and an end?

To answer these questions, we must first explore reincarnation. We need to accept reincarnation as a universal truth because when we die, we are released from consciousness and awareness. There is nothing. To be alive is to be aware, so to die is to be unaware. But just because we can’t remember doesn’t mean that we didn’t travel from one life to the next; we simply cannot speak on something that we were not aware to experience. 

What does that have to do with karma? Well brothers, if we follow the mirror principle and the inversion principle then we know that we are here for ourselves and that what we witness in others is their own karmic release, not ours. That means that only we can control what we give to the world and what we choose to accept from it. Karma is what we choose to attach ourselves to in this world. It’s the shiny things that keep us trapped in cycles of lust, greed, and envy. When we reincarnate, we do not receive blessings from all the good we’ve done. Rather, we reattach ourselves to what held our attention in our previous life. Ultimately, the only way to release karmic tension is internally.

Today, you’ll learn how to identify and acknowledge your karmic attachments and begin the work of release and surrender; to merge back with the source of the divine being that you are, accept that you cannot change anything, and embrace it, then release it and let it go. When you heal yourself, you heal the world. Until next time, brothers, I love you.