The Advanced Soul

Forgiveness And Karma Part 2

After rereading my post on Forgiveness and Karma, I realized that some of my outlooks on the subject have evolved. In the past I thought of karma as something similar to revenge. Those wrongdoers will get what they deserve. I still believe in karma, but maybe more in the sense of how we attract things. I attracted these so called wrongdoings, because I hadn’t learned the lesson they had for me. These wrongdoings happen over and over until I learn their lesson. So these wrongdoings aren’t really negative or even wrong, they are valuable life lessons.

After doing some research on the internet on the subject of forgiveness, I realized how important it truly is. There are many forgiveness research projects which I didn’t know. They explain how not forgiving people can lead to serious physical and mental illnesses. It can destroy lives and entire nations.

The subject of forgiveness keeps popping up everyday in my life so obviously there is a lesson in there for me to learn. I don’t feel the need to forgive anybody, because I feel I have not been wronged. I am no longer a victim. I haven’t found the lesson yet, but I am exploring it. Although my exploration has touched other’s lives, so maybe my understanding of this is the lesson?

I found some very interesting reading from a sermon by Vann Knight, Parish Minister, and below is a quote:

What is the relationship between forgiveness and karma? In other words, does forgiveness cancel the consequences of destructive attitudes, words and deeds? The answer is “no.” Though it may not appear so at the times even when we are forgiven, we still reap the consequences of our actions. For instance, the person from whom money was stolen may forgive the thief and cancel the debt, but the thief will in some way experience the consequences of stealing. The consequences are inextricably bound to the action. Once the arrow has left the bow, you can’t call it back. Forgiveness and karma work something like this: If you destroy another person’s hand by holding it in the fire, you may be forgiven by that person and you may be able to forgive yourself, and you may come to know the forgiveness of God, but the burned person will live the rest of their life with a physical scar, and you will live the rest of your life with a spiritual scar. Here’s a spiritual hypothesis that I believe to be true: to whatever degree I inflict injury of any kind on another, I inflict an equal injury of some kind on myself. Forgiveness does not cancel consequences, but forgiveness does mean that I experience those consequences in the context of grace.
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Greg Hankerson Happiness, Depression, Relationships, Enlightenment 15 Comments »
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Fear Of

I am almost done with a book called Embraced By The Light which is about a woman’s amazing near-death experience. A person who studied 1,000 near-death experiences wrote that it was the “most profound and complete” that she had ever come across, so I bought the book.

The author claimed to have met God after she died and one of the things she learned was that fear was Satan’s greatest tool. She saw how men and women in authority had become prey to negative energy and had taught belief in God through fear. “Because of their own fears, they were using fear to control others.” I know growing up Catholic, I remember the fear. God was supposed to be vengeful. The term “wrath of God” was used occasionally. So I am to live my life according to the book, or I will be punished for all of eternity.

Now I have seen fear based control in other circumstances. Many cultures live this way and it’s normal. Dictators rule this way. The tradition male role often includes fear and intimidation. Some people train animals like dogs in this way. Beat the dog if it poops on the carpet so it won’t do it again. Smack the wife if she doesn’t do something right and she’ll learn her lesson.

It seems the more I learn about myself, the less I am prone to violence. I heard that violence is the voice of the inarticulate which makes sense. So why would many religions teach in this matter? Why would God rule with fear? It doesn’t make sense to me for a fully enlightened being to act in this manner. Fear seems to oppress people. According to this book, fear prevents us from really loving God. It is the opposite of love. “Since I feared God, I could not truly love him, and in not loving him, I couldn’t love myself or others purely.” This makes sense to me.
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Greg Hankerson Happiness, Enlightenment 2 Comments »
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