The
early years of your life tend to be the most karma-filled.
Adolescence is often the most intense time of all in a life.
The hormonal and developmental changes tend to accentuate
the difficulties of that period and facilitate a climate
wherein much karma can be played out. This is also the time
when you experiment with the different chief negative features:
self-destruction, greed, self-deprecation, arrogance, martyrdom,
impatience, and stubbornness. Generally
by about the age of 21 you select one of them to settle
down with.
After
the age of 30, karmic intensity is greatly reduced. There
are exceptions to this, as is the case with those people
experiencing lifetimes at the sixth level of any stage (heavy
karma balancing), and those with a goal of growth.
How
Karma Repayment Works
Karma
is supervised and organized by essence. Often the personality
knows nothing of the purpose and impending unfoldment of
the karma. There is good reason for this. False personality
often operates out of fear. If your conscious personality
knew that an intensely painful karma were about to occur
with someone, it would run as fast as possible in the opposite
direction, thus avoiding the repayment or the lesson that
essence had in mind. Your personality usually feels like
a victim in karmic situations.
Essence
planned the karma repayment without flinching. Even when
you are an old soul you need this benevolent amnesia to
meet your more difficult karma. As mentioned earlier, karma
usually comes with no warning even though it is essence
directed. It frequently comes like a freight train rounding
the bend and coming down the tracks with inexorable speed.
The train is upon you before you can run away. When you
are in the midst of a karmic situation you feel foggy and
unclear, and you may feel strangely unable to get out of
the situation. You often wonder how this happened to you
all of a sudden.
You
may walk innocently into a meeting and within minutes are
insulted and humiliated by the new director on your job.
You are instantly plunged into painful emotions and wonder
what you did to deserve it.
The
answer is often that you didn't do anything this lifetime
to deserve it. You simply showed up to balance the record
sheet. Likewise you may be penniless and lost in a foreign
country and a complete stranger suddenly appears on the
scene and takes you in, cares for you, and gives you an
airplane ticket home.
When
karma has been completed, a feeling of freedom and relief
ensues. The fog clears and you gain insight into the preceding
events. You become neutral about the issue that had so recently
carried such intensity for you. You don't care anymore.
You may even wonder how you could have been so upset about
the issue.
The
purpose of karma completion is to get you neutral on the
issue so that you can move on to new and more interesting
lessons. You have reached the neutral position on the triadic
experience and you are ready for something new.
Karma
as a Choice
Remember
again that karma is not fate. Fate is a notion of predestination.
You choose karma specifically with the purpose of undergoing
an emotional or learning experience. Think of karma as ribbons
that draw together experiences and weave a distinct pattern
that is the product of many lifetimes. Remember also that
those ribbons cause you to be in specific places and to
meet certain people, sometimes to your great surprise. If
you have a karmic debt with another individual living in
a foreign country you will suddenly find yourself drawn,
sometimes almost magically, to travel to that other country
where the debt can be repaid.
Occasionally
the obstacles in the path of meeting are too great and the
karma must be deferred to another lifetime. For example,
you may decide that this lifetime you will complete ten
major karma, seventy-five medium karma, and one hundred
and fifty minor karma. Typically you tend to bite off more
than you can chew, so that if you complete most of these
karma the lifetime will feel successful to you no matter
how uncomfortable for your personality.
Some
karma will be judged too difficult to complete for now.
There is always free choice about when to complete a karma.
The choice to complete it is made by essence at the time
of initiation of the karma. It will always be completed.
Let
us say that you have karma with a Mr. Chang who resides
in China, and you live in Brazil. On an essence level you
feel an urge to return the good deeds he has done for you
in the past that will take a full year to repay. You however
have not been able to travel to China and are heavily involved
in completing and creating karma in your locality. Mr. Chang
is able to visit Brazil for one week and you feel a pull
to attend a lecture he is giving in a nearby city. You go
out of your way to see him even though the topic is not
of interest to you. You realize that although you are strongly
attracted to him you will not be able to complete the karma
in this life because of his short stay.
Such
flirting with karma is a common experience and happens all
the time. On the other hand, if Mr. Chang announced that
he would be in the vicinity for several years, the pull
to complete the karma would be almost irresistible.
Sexual
attraction is one of the greatest facilitators of karma.
When an imbalance exists between two people there is a strong
essence-driven impetus to balance the record sheet. However,
personality may sense a possible danger and wish to avoid
the situation. Strong sexual attraction will make this avoidance
less likely. For example, if you embezzled a large sum of
money from Marsha in an earlier lifetime and you suddenly
run into Marsha in this lifetime you may want to run and
hide. You sense that she has come to collect. However if
you are distracted by the fact that Marsha is now a beautiful
blonde, your very type, then your lust will lead you directly
into the karma. How convenient.
You
may later wonder how you ever could have gotten involved
with her after she has divorced you and taken your house
and car in repayment.
Karma
and Time
How
long does karma last? Is there a time limit or a way to
speed it up? The answer is not a simple one. Sometimes karma
lasts only for a few seconds, such as a short intense pain;
other times karma can last a whole lifetime, such as having
a benevolent aunt who constantly looks out for you for many
years. In another vein, a foe can cause you the loss of
your arm early in life, a handicap that can last for decades.
The length of the karmic experience is directly in proportion
to the length of the first incident. If you deprive someone
of the use of their legs for twenty years then this becomes
a twenty-year karma. If you cut short someone's life by
one year then your own life will be cut short by one year
in a later life. If you raise an orphan with kindness and
generosity for twelve years then you will be repaid with
a twelve-year kindness.
Balance
then, is the name of the game. However, you can drag karma
on, escalate it or creatively manipulate it according to
the experiences and lessons desired by all parties involved.
In order for karma to be truly complete, everyone involved
must acknowledge the completion of it at an essence level.
Karma can be such a delicious source of growth and lessons
that often all parties would rather refuse to recognize
the repayment and generate more karma instead. The karma
builds and becomes more intense lifetime after lifetime,
until ultimately the lesson of forgiveness is learned.
Sometimes
a person will feel an intense tug to repay a karmic debt
that they owe you. You may recoil at their appearance and
try to avoid them based on past painful experience. This
is like saying "Oh no! Not you again! I'm getting out of
here!" So the chase is on until the debt is repaid. However,
people are not always successful at repaying the karma.
For example, Tom may owe Susan for abandonment one lifetime.
Men they meet again the intention is to repay the debt.
Nevertheless Tom may get cold feet at the prospect of being
abandoned and instead repeat the original offense by abandoning
Susan all over again. The karma then has just escalated.
Small wonder then that some people get skittish when they
see their old enemy show up.
The
question arises "Am I about to be repaid or am I about to
be burned again?" The game of cat and mouse can go on for
centuries. Again, in the end, all is forgiven, balanced,
and completed. Occasionally you play the game of "Who can
be the most generous?" lifetime after lifetime, by building
karma of a positive nature with someone. On the other hand,
old souls wishing to cycle off the planet become adept at
completing karma efficiently and creatively, sometimes accomplishing
several at the same time.
| Authors
Details: José
Stevens José
Stevens, Ph.D., is the founder of Essence Psychology
and lectures internationally on essence and personality,
shamanism, and prosperity. He is the author of Tao
To Earth and Transforming
Your Dragons and Secrets of Shamanism.
The Authors Web Site |
More articles on Karma
(What
Is Karma)
(How
Karma Works)
(DK on Karma)
(Choosing
Your Karma)
(Karma -
Meaning & Definition)
(Karma
- Rules Of The Game) 
