Karma

"Merit on a judgmental level is the balancing of evil and good deeds.
Merit is the credit we receive on the side of good…” The Ancestors

Karma is about spiritually attaining merit. According to both yoga and kabbalah everything we do is recorded in the Akashic records or the Book of Life. We get away with nothing on the other side. Karma - the law of cause and effect is unyielding. The laws on our earth plane do not necessarily work across the veil between worlds. One's lawyer cannot help us when we face a spiritual tribunal after death.

“The light and the dark each exist. We may choose to go towards either and will always be pursued or lured by the other…
The ambushes, the side paths, the pot holes are all clearly marked and may be guarded against if you choose to read the map, scope the terrain, plot the journey."  The Ancestors

The higher we get up the “rungs” to God, the more challenges we will encounter, not only from the shadow, ego and monkey mind but also the tricksters appointed to sabotage our path. To them, spiritual transcendence is anathema and a reproach to their mission to sabotage anything of the light.

The factors the dark side can play upon are subtle but powerful.

“The last temptation is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.” 
T.S. Eliot

When it comes to one’s karma, the end never justifies the means.

“Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore of nicely calculated less and more.“ William Wordsworth

We need to do things for their own sake and not because of any ego driven agenda - hidden or otherwise.

“The results of cause and effect are often not immediate because they would influence free will.
God wants us to do things for the right reasons; not out of fear and shame and because of what may result but out of love and justice.” The Ancestors

The Creator does not want us to be motivated by the fear of hell and damnation as our reason for good behavior - good is better than bad but karmically neutral and without merit. Moreover, if rewards were immediate then we would be no better than a well trained animal who gets a treat every time it performs correctly when commanded.

Karma depends not only on what we do but how we do it, why we do it, and how we feel about it. If the last is grudgingly or because it benefits us materially there will be a karmic consequence or it will be karmically passive. It is better to give charity - even if it is to get our face in the media of for a tax deduction - than not to give it but the act may not have spiritual merit depending on our intent. 

Karma is about subordinating our evil inclination or shadow to our inclination to do good, subordinating monkey mind to spacious mind, subordinating ego to the higher Self and the trickster influence to that of our guides and the Creator’s will.

 “To make a choice good and evil must both operate freely.
Choice is either evil or good.”

“There are no good choices or bad choices only the consequences of those choices. Consequences are neither reward nor punishment, they simply are consequences - natural cause and effect, often not immediate but always inescapable.”
Akiva taught;
"Everything is given on loan (impermanent - we cannot take it with us,) a net is set out for the living (the net of samsara, being bound to and tempted by a sentient existence,)  
... and free will is given."
These are the polarities that will push us to the left (good) or to the right  (bad) depending on our choices. If our choices are consistently bad we can experience Soul Sickness or even Loss.

King David wrote; 

"From the sound of my sighing has my essence cleaved onto my flesh."

He is describing 

Essence - being the Soul 
and Flesh - the body

and Sighing 

 equanimity, harmony, balance. No doubt when he was a shepherd tending his sheep he must have felt this more often than after he became king. We have all experienced this "sighing" coming out of a meditation, a yoga class, a really good massage or following a spiritual retreat in a pristine area. 

At these times our essence clings to our flesh and we feel at one. 

However, at other times when we are under severe stress or in survival mode, monkey mind and ego with an element of shadow take over and spacious mind and our good inclination may be put on hold, unless we have an advanced spiritual practice which will bring us back to equanimity. 

If monkey mind, shadow and ego prevail over all else on a long term basis then the soul, being pure, withdraws from the body. This usually occurs due to irresponsibly overindulging in sentient pleasures such as "sex, drugs, rock and roll." If we are only deserving of negative karmic merit soul sickness or even soul loss can occur as the right sided factors on the diagram above take over from who we truly are or should be. 

Who do we want to be and what do we need to see?

“We do not see things as they are

We see them as we are.” Talmud

We all have a shadow side or an evil inclination. We also have an inclination to do good so what happens to our karma depends on which one of these we feed. If monkey mind, ego or the tricksters have any say it will be our evil inclination that gets "watered." Spiritual practice will bring spacious mind, the Higher Self and our guides to our assistance. A regular spiritual practice is an indispensable catalyst to our "Becoming" which will occur with a shift to the left side of the diagram, except possibly under extremely stressful circumstances when it may deviate but then with discipline, rapidly return.

“S/He who has no evil inclination at all cannot give perfect service. What counts is to restrain the blaze in the hours of desire and let it flow into the hours of prayer and service.” Talmud

 The tension between these polarities is where spiritual maturity happens. We might have the intention to do something bad or unskillful but if we act consciously instead, we can attain karmic merit.

“With right understanding and action, we can create the conditions for transgressions to become merits.”   The Ancestors 

in other words if we

"... restrain the blaze in the hours of desire and let it flow into the hours of prayer and service.”

The Talmud says that someone who has sinned in the worst way but then Repents or "Returns to his or her Higher Self 

"... stands higher in heaven than a righteous one. Their degree is above the degree of those who have never sinned because it is more difficult for them to subdue their passions than for the others."
This is also Jesus's teaching of the prodigal son/daughter who returns to the Father/Mother

 “God does not measure results, only the trueness of intent and the fervor of effort. This is why there is such joy in daring one’s best.”  The Ancestors

"If God were after numbers he would have made the way abundantly apparent and attractive - enticingly so, ego free and forever lasting. The Infinite one has also granted us our own lens for seeing and our own will for choosing what we see." The Ancestors

We need to see ourselves as the Creator wants to see us rather than those who may be more interested in our personas than our soul.

“The menu is only the menu.
It offers, it describes, it suggests.
When the meal arrives do not put it aside.
Absorb the reality of your choice.
If you do not taste the nature of God in your selection, you must choose another dish, if indeed you desire to be for the Infinite One, all that He is for you.
For although the Creator's breath will be present, His presence will not manifest for you.

You need to choose the offering He has prepared especially and selectively for you.” The Ancestors

The sages teach that it does not necessarily get any easier as we advance with our practice. 

"The contest is fiercest when the stakes are high and so you may expect to be challenged, tempted and dissuaded in any and all manner of your weaknesses - be they physical, mental or emotional - all of which are attributes of the spirit.” The Ancestors

There are six main factors determining our karma and which challenge our free will. We will talk about them in the future blogs,

Fulfill your destiny

Correct injustice – heal the planet

Do no harm

Subordinate ego to the Higher Self

Love

Be in joy doing all of this

Click on the link to play and meditate on it
03_Light_and_Dark.mp3

 FREE WILL AND KARMA 

 FREE WILL

“Everyone will ultimately achieve the spiritual perfection for which we are created and this may take many lifetimes because of
free will” The Ancestors

 “Before the soul enters this world it is conducted through all worlds. Last of all it is shown the first light which when the world was created illuminated all things and which God removed when mankind grew corrupt. Why is the soul shown this light? So that from that hour on it may yearn to attain the light and approach it rung by rung.” The Talmud

If one spoke to a San Bushman they would say rung by rung is by climbing the ladder or rope to the Great Spirit which is what they do in their out of body, spirit flight, trance dance. If one was a Kabbalist the rungs would apply to the Tree of Life and reaching Keter (the Crown – similar to the Crown chakra,) and the transcendent. 

Free will and karma have a lot to say about where we will arrive after death - which vibration - the Causal Realm for perfected souls - or the Astral where we come back again to get it right. The Buddhists call the Causal, the Pure Land, the Kabbalists, the Garden of Eden.

“Consequences are neither reward nor punishment, they simply are consequences - natural cause and effect, often not immediate but always inescapable”

“There are no good choices or bad choices only the consequences of those choices.”  

“Spiritual laws are operative whether or not we understand them or can explain them or whether or not we even know about them or believe in them.”  The Ancestors

 Whether we know it or not or believe in it or not, karma – the law of cause and effect which is determined by how we activate free will, prevails when we cross the veil between the worlds. In spite of this cosmic law there is still the belief that there is nothing after death and we may as well live for today and enjoy life irresponsibly and to the full since there is no "tomorrow" when we die. Karma and free will are interdependent although they have different qualities. You might ask the question as to why there should be karma, why the tension between good and evil and the right to choose. Why have evil at all?                     

“The sages teach that without the sacred there is no mundane and without the mundane there is no sacred.
They are different sides of the same reality. They are unique but not separate from the whole.” The Ancestors

Spiritual perfection would not be possible if not for this dynamic. Some are further ahead than others on this road, -  old souls versus the young ones. Karma, free will and the other spiritual laws not recognized by most are a template for spiritual perfection. Karma is built in as a default to the soul. Hence the Ancestors teach;
"God's love is not a test, God is not a test of love."
God does not play favorites - S/He loves us all and hopes, like the prodigal son or daughter that we all will eventually be redeemed and return to the Father/Mother.

“Everyone will ultimately achieve the spiritual perfection for which we are created and this may take many lifetimes because of
free will.”  The Ancestors

Without good and evil, the sacred and the profane, life would present no challenge. If everything was all sweet and good and there was nothing bad, life would be like spiritual diabetes, spiritually deadly and boring.

“You are free always to change course at any time or place; if you were not, there would be no challenge, no discovery, no victory, no fulfillment.”

“If the burden were taken away the lesson would not be there, coping with it is what is important and is what will count.”

“We are continually being tested - not about how much we know or how well we perform but that our trust, love and faith are being always tested at unexpected times in often unrecognized guises…” The Ancestors

Krishnamurti said; “discernment is choiceless” - this statement applies usually to the spiritually mature. … 

“Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given.”  Rev. Akiva

Free will resides in Narrow Mind (Monkey Mind)
 In the clarity of the awareness of Spacious Mind (Big Mind, Buddha or Christ consciousness) there is no need for free will.
Hence everything is foreseen but only in Spacious Mind.
Narrow Mind is limited to free will and clings to the perception that there is choice.
With the clarity of awareness choice is seen as illusory.
Hence free will is a responsibility for those who do not see things clearly.” The Ancestors

We can only be redeemed to the extent to which we see ourselves.”  Talmud. It is only when we have exquisite spiritual awareness and can really see our flaws that choice disappears and we know exactly what we have to do - "discernment is choiceless."

“To make a choice good and evil must both operate freely. The only way to do away with evil is to continually choose the good. Evil is not the cause but rather the consequence of not choosing the Creator's revealed will. This is what gives it birth and sustains its life. “

Free will is always neutral, motivated and catalyzed by desire (intention.) 
You cannot say; “the devil made me do it!

”We have both a dark and a light side to our nature. When we choose God's revealed will the consequence is good. This too is what gives goodness its birth and sustains its life. It is important to understand that it is neither evil nor good that cause our choice but rather that they are the consequence of it.” 

“Free will as we tend to think of it implies choices so that we may decide upon them. Where there are no choices there is no freedom of will to be exercised. 
Where choices are limited by circumstances, one may still at least determine what one's attitude will be, how we respond not in action but in deciding our thoughts, intent and opinions.” The Ancestors

The Ancestors advise; 
“if the law does not serve love do not serve the law.” They do not say to disobey the law because the penalties could be spiritually counterproductive. We do not serve an unjust law if we have right thoughts, intent and opinions even if we cannot do anything about it.

“Another cannot help you neutralize anything you have not freely, willingly and deliberately given up.” The Ancestors

I come across this frequently during divination when someone has a toxic partner and it is clear that it is time to move on. I often say; “if you are quite certain you want to leave him/her, I can help strengthen your resolve with rituals for spiritual assistance.” 
However, because of free will, even if they said they were sure, but were not, free will would disallow any spiritual help. 
Most of the time they equivocate when I ask the question and I cannot help them through my guides who must obey the law of free will.       

“The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, albeit a stubborn one.”  A. Einstein
                Free will is the cosmic law. There is no time on the other side of the veil between worlds. Spirit guides live in the present moment and hence free will is also in the present moment. When we ask to receive from either our guides or the Creator – because of free will – we must be very specific. Moreover, because these forces exist in a timeless reality one needs to affirm, maintain and sustain the intention and the request.   

“The Ancestors cannot save but only alert, advise and warn and only according to your openness and willingness. They cannot change or deter you from your own insistency no matter to what it’s due. Only you can change!”

Click on the link and play

11_Golden_Husks.mp3

DESIROUS ATTACHMENT 
AND IMPERMANENCE

The Light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed… the shadow of shadows, on the deed alone.” Yeats

Desirous attachment is one of the faces of ego, judgment is the other.  It is easier to talk about them separately for explanation's sake.

“One day the people came to the master and asked: “How can you be so happy in a world of such impermanence where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness and death.” The master held up a glass and said. Someone gave me this glass and I really like it. It holds my water admirably and glistens in the sunlight. One day the wind may blow it off the shelf or my elbow may knock it off the table. I know this glass is already broken so I enjoy it incredibly.” Achaan Chah Subato

The lesson of impermanence - and through it managing attachment to the object of our desire is simple - but not easy. It is ok to have "stuff" but the stuff should not have us.
Everything is already broken or temporary, life is given on loan, so savor the moment without attachment. Entropy is relentless. Once we pass over and leave our sentient bodies we are no longer able to enjoy sensory pleasures. So now is the time to enjoy them responsibly while not being attached. Everything in our material world is dominated by impermanence. We come into the world naked and we need to cross the veil between worlds  naked as well. The one who dies with the most toys - especially if attached to them - loses in the realm of spirit. 

“You cannot control results, only your actions. You cannot decide outcomes, only your choices. So it is best that you practice non attachment  to any concern related to outcome.”

The Ancestors

Desire is normal but attachment to the object of our desire has karmic consequences.

Non-attachment is trusting and surrendering to something bigger than oneself... 
a giving in to, and not a giving up, (as in a waving of the "white flag.")

Non-attachment is doing things purely for their own sake. Surrendering is going inward, being in the flow, connecting to the Field, having meaning and purpose.
“Prosperity comes from nourishment, impoverishment from neglect.
Purpose has to do with usefulness.
Meaning has to do with interior value.” 

The Ancestors

“God is attached to His creation. He is a God of passion – He is a God of Joy – He is a God of serenity.”
The Ancestors

It is commendable to be attached to the right things - to spiritual endeavors and wisdom teachings.  
Rashi taught; “with all your strength get knowledge.”  

 Non-attachment from desire is about having needs, not wants. The essence of the journey or what the ancestors call “Becoming,” or Self-realization, is to attend to needs and not wants, and keeping it simple. 

“Wants, needs and necessities have different characteristics. It is the want that is our enemy, not the need and necessity.” Sri Swami Rama

Those who have so little and yet seem happy - like the fast disappearing hunter-gatherers - teach us that good air, clean water and food, a roof over our heads, sufficient technology to manage our lives, loving relationships and meaningful work are the main criteria for happiness. Especially, during these hard times we can give ourselves a reality check according to the (rough) rules of three; we can live three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food and three months without human contact.

“Abundance is not an achievement of the acquisitive but rather a legacy of the perceptive, a realization of plenty – not an acquiring of more”             

“There is always enough as long as one is free from the compulsion for more. Narrow mind is about having - spacious mind is about being. Of all the teachings of the sages some most agreed upon as being both fundamental and elemental were those about abundance and delight…” The Ancestors

Less can be more, with more time for a spiritual life and less need to devote energy to sustaining one’s wants. In Hinduism there are the three gods; The Creator, the Destroyer and the Maintainer or Preserver. Creating or destroying (giving up and detaching from) our inner life is much easier than maintaining it. 
Preserving an excessive amount of "stuff" required to support one’s persona  can be exhausting. To achieve and to have more “stuff” is to be externally oriented but to attain deeper effects we need to let go of the attachment to have more than we need. Desire for wants and equanimity are mutually exclusive in each present moment. Clinging to desirous attachment is one of the greatest causes of suffering. The ego is never satisfied with more. Ego is momentarily satisfied with what it has but then comes the desire for more. Ego feeds more ego, greed feeds more greed, lust feeds more lust.

"Give up owning things and being somebody, quit existing." Rumi

 “Keep to the source of living waters.
Do not think to store in cisterns; they will break and crumble and the water will be lost.
Cup your hands and drink deeply and often and you will have health and joy.”

“The sages speak of a garden where plants are treated with tenderness and care for their own sakes alone, delighting in the garden itself
and not ego and attachment to how the garden may be perceived by others…”
The Ancestors

Non-attachment is not the same is Detachment.

 Detachment is a giving up - a giving up of having meaning in ones life. Detachment is resignation and a form of desperation. 

“Concerning detachment, one of its paths leads to a lifeless world without enthusiasm or hope, a place of indifference where one could become ensnared in hidden traps of dejection and despair, where one no longer cares to love nor dares to trust.”

In Summary

“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill, keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt, chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench, care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back, the only way to serenity.” Tao Te Ching

Harrison Owens gives us practical advice to help us with life’s challenges;

“Whoever are present, are the right people. Whenever it begins, is the right time. Whatever happens, is the only thing that could have happened. When its over, its over.”

“Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.” R. Niebur

Click on the link of the song and play
A double negative
"O we can't do nothing about it!" 
which means we must do something. Prepare ourselves spiritually!

"Attend to the dictums they are for health and joy." The Ancestors

03_Can't_Do_Nothing.mp3

HERO/INE 

There are folks who facilitate vision quests such as School of Lost Borders. This, however, is a serious commitment where one fasts and goes out into wilderness usually for four days and nights - alone. There is preparation before one goes out, and Incorporation is facilitated with the group when one returns. It is likely with Covid that these will recommence in the future but meanwhile seize the moment and go it alone at home or elsewhere appropriate. For some this might might be a preliminary "medicine walk" to be followed by another journey when the time is right. There is never just one hero's journey.

 INCORPORATION or INTEGRATION

“The time will come when with elation you will great yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome and say sit here, eat. You will love again the stranger who was yourself. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life whom you have ignored for another who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.” Derek Walcott

Incorporation involves coming back with the "grail" or rather the gift of a new awareness so we that can bestow the benefits on others. It is normal after the classical journey, in pristine nature removed from civilization, to have a period of “reentry depression” which may last a few weeks. Our unique reentry, given our current circumstances, will differ but there may be an element of melancholy and depression dealing with the question; "how ever am I going to Incorporate." The best remedy is to intensify one’s spiritual practice and know that this too will pass. 

"No matter how long the night, the dawn is sure to come." African proverb

Your mood may be is a testament to the power of your journey and coming back to the reality of living in a world that may be even more challenging than before but now with better tools to deal with it. However, one must hold to the vision and insights gained. Losing them can lead to “the fall.”

“We return to our places these kingdoms, no longer at ease here in the same dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.” Journey of the Magi

Covid is a wake up call. Although most politicians will be hoping to return things back to where they were - if this is even possible – we need to look to a new paradigm, at least for ourselves. 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that make the existing model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The measure of intelligence is the ability to change. Men marry women with the hope they will never change."

Albert Einstein

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs

Be careful with whom you share your intimate "transformational" experiences. With folks you may not fully trust, talk of context rather than detailed content. Do not “put them on the mantel piece” for those who do not understand, to see and trivialize. They may not appreciate them and worse still, invalidate them. Rather walk the inner talk and they will notice the subtle, positive differences in your equanimity and behavior. 

It is good to have a close friend, mentor or “elder” who is familiar with the process to help “witness” and share your experiences, endorse, enlarge and reinforce them. Another who is insightful can magnify what you may have thought to be insignificant as you tell your story in sacred space when you “return.” 
If we cannot change what we do then we need to change the way in which we do it. This may mean reformulating our day job or living in two worlds. The one that pays the bills and the other that is part of our true mission. In order to do this we need to accept that the quest may not offer any financial renumeration.

“We are here to help others - what others are here for - I do not know.” W.H. Auden 

Make no radical changes on the "return" and allow what has happened to germinate slowly. This sometimes leads to leaving one's relationship, selling one's house or even moving elsewhere but be very circumspect and careful on the return. Without means of financial support and an ongoing spiritual practice it will be difficult to maintain the vision, open the "Third Eye" and get the messages you require to pursue your dreams. During Covid it may be difficult to get the help of group synergism except in cyberspace with the right person. The real you is probably the you realized when you left the Threshold.

A vision without a task is a dream
A task without a vision is drudgery
But a vision with a task can change the world.” 
Black Elk

“I think I have told you but if I have not, you must have understood that a wo/man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after s/he has performed the vision for the people to see.” 
Black Elk

Incorporation is about finding one's basic archetype - Healer, Teacher, Warrior or Visionary and how each will best manifest your God given talent that only you and you alone can fulfill. Many are talented and have skills in each of these but there is one that should predominate. Just like the four yoga paths; Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Raja, you may be good at all of them but focus on what Seligman calls your core or signature strength. Your other talents should support the core one.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” Abe Lincoln

The cliché - “if you do not know where you are going any road can take you there” - is true. The treasure hunt for your true mission can be long, arduous and tedious ending up in many blind alleys. But one has to follow the clues. One has no clear idea which clue or track will lead to the next spoor on the hunt. A certain clue may seem to take you in the wrong direction but may be the very clue you need, to find the next one. We are not lost, we are just searching – it pays not to become discouraged.
One can also use the metaphor of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You try out the beds or the plates of porridge until one seems to fit. Sometimes one finds just the right one. More often than not the porridge loses its taste or the bed becomes lumpy and one has to move onto the next venture. Nothing is lost in the process, it's all part of the journey which takes time. Some just know what they have to do from the outset, most of us do not.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” 
Patanjali

This occurs when we find out exactly who we are and come into our full personal power.

Many of us who do not know who we are have been polluted by our upbringing, education and the allure of samsara - a sentient existence. We have been taught the wrong rules to a meaningful life. We are taught how to be successful but not necessarily how to be happy. Looking back at what one dreamed to be as a teenager or child can be helpful. Finding someone psychically reputable who can access non local information from the cosmic Field to guide can be useful.  Because of the cosmic law of free will they usually cannot tell you exactly what to do but can prevent you from going down the wrong road. It is all about finding meaning and equanimity in knowing we have found our own tiny role in the mystery of  the cosmos. This is one of the most difficult tasks we all face.

“Once what you are living and what you are doing has for you meaning 

it is irrelevant whether you are happy or unhappy. You are content, you are not alone in your spirit, you belong.”  

L. Van der Post

 “Unless we are in service to others, we will not endure happiness and the more we focus on ourselves the more miserable we become.
This is not an ethical judgment, but a fact of life that is fixed as a default into the fabric of the soul.”  Dave Cumes 

Click on the links to highlight and play

17_Your_Quest.mp3

06 Fear.mp3