Johnny Mirehiel
Traditionally, as any reader of this blog will surely know, Karma has been described as the principle of causality wherein as a consequence of intent and actions the future of an individual will result in good (pleasant) karma; while bad intent and bad deeds lead to bad karma. With origins in ancient India, it is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Shintoism and others. Consequent to that belief is the notion of Reincarnation, i.e., that a “Soul” lives many lifetimes, all for the sake of our Spiritual growth.
But I have a different take on it, as I tend to do with many things. (See my version of The 9 Directions, for example.) It goes like this:
Karma, as described above, suggests that there is a “past” upon which one’s current Karma is based, and further that the actions and/or intent of this lifetime will affect the one’s future lives. This assumes that our lives are sequentially linked. Now, as I see it, this doctrine would have us look at our lives as happening is a horizontal pattern, something like this:
[Life 1]_____[Life 2]_____[Life 3]_____… and so on.
This idea, however, has us fall prey to the grand illusion of time, the entrapping element of 3-D existence. Were we to step out of time, which is where I believe our “real” lives are taking place, then perhaps we might think of all Time as taking place in the simultaneous moment of the Eternal NOW. In that case, the horizontal line becomes a vertical one, looking like this:
[Life 1]
NOW
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[Life 2]
NOW
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[Life 3]
NOW
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…and so on
Now, if all lives are lived in the “real Time of Now,” there is no such thing as a past, or future life, is there? Nothing can be “paid forward” or received from any “past” life since they are all being lived right NOW. What may be perceived as a past life, then, is in actuality a “bleed through” from another simultaneous life.
Here’s another thing that you might consider in regards to this idea of “Simultaneous Karma.” Each and every “life” in that vertical stream of Time is being lived in its own NOW. In other words, a life that an Egyptian Pharaoh experienced, say in 2014 BCE, is being lived is that NOW of 2014 BCE. A Life experienced as a Disciple of Christ in 32 CE is being lived in that NOW of 32 CE, and the life you are experienced in this incarnation is also happening in the NOW of 2014. The one unifying element in this scheme is always the NOW.
Further, this idea in no way rules out the idea that Spiritual growth is the objective of these many lives. As a matter of fact, to my mind, it enhances it because it allows us to “reach out” to any of our simultaneous lives, fore, aft and concurrent, for assistance in furthering our present life’s Spiritual advancement. Further still, the converse is also true; it allows us, consciously, to lend a supportive hand to any of our other “lives” on their own journey to Wholeness. Through this interaction, we synchronize the machinery of experience and add lubrication to the ever-flowing stream of Life.
Nothing like kicking over the traces of a 5,000 year old teaching, huh? Anyway, that’s my two cents. Spend it as you will.