About ten years ago, I took
an Eastern philosophy class and dedicated some time to studying Karmic
principles within Hinduism. Up to that point, I had only been exposed to
Judeo-Christian principles, so I found the idea of Karma much more sufficient
in explaining the unfairness of this thing called life.
“In Buddhist teaching, the law of Karma, says only this: `for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful.' A skillful event is one that is not accompanied by craving, resistance or delusions; an unskillful event is one that is accompanied by any one of those things.”
A much exhausted debate in
Christian apologetics is “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good
people?” I dare not open that can of worms. As I already said, the worms and
the can are exhausted. But I found that I was comfortable with the Hindu
answer: “A bad thing happened to that seemingly good person because that
seemingly good person was a treacherous villain in her previous life.”
I could
wrap my head around that. For me, there was some sort of justice in this cause
and effect relationship. It also made me feel better when I thought about the
good people all around the world who would give anything to have a bowl of soup
so that they can possibly live for one more day. In my eyes, they weren’t
fairing so well in their current life but I just knew that surely in their next
life they would have plenty of delectables to devour. The principle of Karma
also helped me make sense of why some are born into the most fortunate of
circumstances while others are not. Maybe the soul in the Land of the Plenty
suffered in his previous life and was reincarnated into a better lot in this
life.
Fast forward to now and my
love affair with the fairness and purity of Karma blows up in my face. I have a
client walk into my office who has survived brutal rape. What am I supposed to
tell her as a counselor? If I stick with my current way of explaining the world,
then my approach to comforting her may sound something like this: “You see,
sweetie, I’ve got it all figured out. You were raped for a reason. Either
you’re paying for a mistake you made in a previous life, or you need to endure
this trial in order to move up a level in the game of life. And, oh ya, all
this pain – it’s called Karma. What goes around comes around!”
It was in that moment I
realized how easily I can accept a principle, a theory or a theological stance.
It’s so easy to say, “This is the way it is.” So easy, that is, until I have to
look into the eyes of the exception. Looking at pain incarnate made me face that
the principle I’ve found comforting cannot be said to those eyes. Because I
know – and she knows I know – that I’m feeding her bull. A seemingly simple
concept that provided an explanation for everything now means nothing.
No, everything isn’t going to be fine.
Yes, none of what happened makes sense.
No, everything doesn’t happen for a reason.
No, you don’t always get what you give.
No, life isn’t fair.
The downside to Karma and
the Golden Rule is called the unpredictable tendencies of the darkness of human
nature. So now I’m back at square one, searching for something that will make
sense of why the world can be so terribly awful and so wonderfully beautiful
all at the same time.
1 comment:
I have returned to your blog dozens of times. I have read and reread this entry many times and have yet to conjure up anything that is anywhere near being post-worthy. However, your writing makes me think. If for nothing else, I appreciate your words for this and I will continue to come back to see what additional gems of knowledge you create. So, now to my comment…a quote from Buddha, “Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.”
You can’t change what somebody does to you or anybody else, nor will you ever be truly able to explain the reasoning. The only thing you can do is change how their choice affects you. Only you can truly find peace for yourself. Somebody can help show you a path. Somebody can even show you tools to help overcome obstacles in that path. But in the end, you have to be the one that takes a hold of Peace. Only you will be able to realize, you can’t change what somebody will do to you. After they make their choice, you will either live or die. What matters is the choice you make next; how you let it affect the life you have left.
Post a Comment