The Karma Hypothesis

Aris-Arnelle Durocher

“Karma is going to get you!” Really, oh really. I am an experienced mage and sage and I find that people tend to use the threat of Karma all too conveniently without a simple understanding of what Karma really is or the grass roots of the idea of Karma! I personally don’t believe that Karma ‘is going to get you’. In fact, I know Karma can’t get anyone. In the simplest refined thought, I find people who use this threat of Karma are a step down from folks who say, “That is a sin. You are going to hell”.

Let me explain the true ideology of Karma. If you read up on Buddhism they strike down the vulgar connotation that Western society has brought Karma to which, is unnecessary excessive baggage of fear mechanisms, i.e.: Something bad happens to another and they think, “ See that is Karma; it bit so and so in the butt. Karma got him/her!”

Buddhists actually liken that to ‘karmic fatalism’. It is as a crass derivative of western thought used in order to justify human suffering or undignified human injustice! Basically a person who uses this tactic is indeed saying that someone deserves to suffer, that people deserve injustices imposed upon them (such being targeted, lied about or being ganged up by others) .

Buddhists will tell you that this way of thinking of Karma is a misconception, is false and is NOT the true ideology of Karma. Early Buddhists and the grass roots of Karma was non fatalistic. Early Buddhists saw Karma as being of free will and free spirit but with feedback loops. Sort of like a parent guiding a child, you take two steps back and three steps forward to correct a behavior. Instead of Karma serving as a fatal act of causation, it was merely a stepping stone to help a person analyze a set of behaviors within him/herself and divert those behaviors in any direction that the Karmic person chooses by taking steps to promote the growth of one’s eternal spirit.

Karma was never meant to force a person to bow down with resigned powerlessness. It was never deemed nor meant to be an opportunity for someone to exercise infinite power over others by saying, ”Karma is going to get you!” It indeed was meant to invoke power into each person for growth, spiritual balance, and achievement and encourage the prospect of becoming an enlightened human being. So there you have it once more: Western society takes a concept and annihilates the true meaning of something good and makes into something dark and putrid in its menacing threat.

In ending this point, if one is going to adopt a language of the unknown then please have the decency to read up on the concept before adopting the language of the ideology and bestowing threats of harm to people simply because you don’t agree with others.

In short, Karma could be thought of as a flowing river of wonderful thoughts that are turned into human spiritual energies that are directed to the good not only of the Karmic person but also towards the entire universe. If Karma gets you, it will be one of the most beautiful and beneficial experiences that a person can have. It is not to be thought of as a justification for all that goes bad in a person’s life.

Now getting back to fatalistic extremes of the Karma threat: In spirit thoughts, we all have lessons to learn in life and within the core of our growing spirits we never stop learning or growing. In fact, we can pass on and we are still being taught, learning and growing. Thus we have both positive and negative experiences in life to insure that we grow in spirit.

Hypothetically speaking, whenever one wishes ill on a person by uttering the damning words ”Karma is going to get a person” then it is reasonable that the same person should anticipate that he/she too will suffer under the same justification that Karma would get him/her for wishing ill, bad things, and hate on others. The western thought of Karma is defunct and not in line with the true purpose and intent of Karma. Simply, Karma was always meant to help a person grow in spirit!

As pagans, we all journey — and transcend to that journey — as we go along our chosen paths. We all aspire to the variant paths that appeal to us as individuals. At the end of any cherished pagan appeal and path, our spirituality combines into one just as it does with anything called religion, spirit, or pagan.