A question about karma........... (or the equivalent in your faith.)?

Question

If you did something you knew to be wrong at the time, is there any way to shield yourself from the bad karma that is coming your way? Will acknowledging that it was wrong, lessen the impact at all? Or have you just got to sit back & accept that you've really got it coming your way?

This question is for anyone of any faith.
(As all my questions are.)
Blessings & good wishes.

It was a brief affair with a married man last year.
Im not proud of it, but a lot of good came from it.... he taught me so much about meditation & spirituality & we had/have a very strong spiritual connection.... but I do feel for his wife. She never found out (it was only 4 weeks) but that doesnt matter to me, we still chose to have an affair & ultimately it was wrong. I feel sad that I did that to another woman.

Gaz... thankyou for your perspective. Just to add, of course I do think of the consequences for him, for her, for their children.... I could go on & on.... the reason I have only limited this question to myself is because I can only be responsible for me right now. If I were to bring the others into this question this question would go on forever. Please don't think I haven't considered them in my guilt & sadness. I do all the time.
Blessings & peace to you my friend.

Answer 1

Karma is a name for the concept of Action and Consequence. It is concerned with our intentions when we choose actions and actions include but are not limited to thoughts, words and deeds and can include inaction.

Karma can be far reaching and unpredictable. What you have done already has negative consequences in your consciousness, you feel sad regarding what you did to another woman. This sadness is as a consequence of your intentions as well as the action itself and so the fact that you feel sad is the present Karma, the present circumstance as a result. It is not the final result though. There could be further consequences if she ever did find out, especially if he does it again with another, the consequences may occur to him or to her you see, they may already have done so, it is only your misunderstanding of the effects Karma has which causes your selfish thoughts of "What may happen to me", what about both of them...? Each action done previously and subsequent to these actions will have further consequences, and these consequences will themselves generate other consequences, at any time these consequences create our circumstances and our level of happiness or satisfaction within the framework of our Life at this time. Our actions affect others and those consequences affect others and so on to whoever is concerned or involved, it can even have consequences for others outside this influence, he may decide other choices because of these previous actions, it is very fluid and dynamic. Tomorrow's consequences will be as a result of not only our actions but can be the result of others actions and the reverberations of these consequences may be very far reaching indeed. it is never just ourselves that these consequences affect.

It is ongoing and fluid, we therefore create our own circumstances and in effect, create our own satisfaction from the choices we make daily.

Where you are today is a direct result of the choices you made yesterday, it is therefore preferable to make wise choices today for a better tomorrow.

Karma is Action and Consequence as opposed to Action and Retribution. Learn from the mistakes you made yesterday, learn from them and make wiser ones today so that you might enjoy a happier and wiser tomorrow. As may we all.

A Buddhist perspective about Karma....

Answer 2

Karma is like this. If we set causes in motion the effects come back to us. If we have sent forth destructive causes in times past, in a way this is like borrowing money from a bank. We have to pay it back and we wish we didn't have to. The key of wisdom here is to not wait until the bank comes after us for payment, but to pay off the debt so interest will not accumulate. With negative karma the best way to do this is through service. The more you serve the more negative karma is paid off. (for example) Zia said something that was a help to Jill. This put some money in her account to offset negative karma. If you do something even more dramatic, like enter a burning building and rescue a child, then you make a giant deposit.

Now don't forget that there is also positive karma. Good people, as we have on this list, will have a lot of this in the bank and, if we listen to our souls, we will know the appropriate time to cash in on it. I know a lot of you will just want to reinvest it so the good will continue to multiply and benefit the world.


Copyright 1999 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved


http://www.freeread.com/archives/374.php

Answer 3

Yes, you can do something good to balance the wrong thing. For example, if you hurt someone else, you can do something good for them, you can apologize to them, you can bring them a gift along with your apology. If, for whatever reason, you cannot do this (don't know the individual, but know they were harmed by your action), you can pass it on -- do good for others in his or her name.

Many real saints (both acknowledged as such by the Catholic church and those which are not even Christian) began out of remorse for some wrong they had committed. Strangely enough, even doing evil can be a path to enlightenment, although it is a decidedly painful one.

The truth of the matter is, you have a duty to your own soul to try to redress the balance. And you have a duty to your heart and mind to ease the burden of guilt.

I might also attempt to challenge the "knew it to be wrong" assumption. For example, many people believe that nearly everything sexual is a sin. But I don't, and many others agree with me. If you were a member of a religion that labeled quite natural and normal sexual activity as sinful, that act did not do anything to your karma. But remaining a member of such an organization might be harmful to your mental and spiritual health.

Answer 4

That is kinda like cutting your wrist and trying to not bleed. However just start doing only good then we can hope to undo the bad karma. We experience karma from this life and our other lives, so be careful how often you do things you know will result in bad karma. I sometimes think I must have been a really bad guy in my past life because I know I haven't don enough to deserve this much bad karma in this life.LOL
BB

Answer 5

I think that when we intentionally do or cause harm to anyone or anything, then yes we have consequences to our actions. For example, everything is going well at work, at home and in every aspect of your life then you get blindsided by being laid off due to budget cuts. Is it luck of the draw or is it Karma from when you intentionally did wrong? I guess I would like to blame Karma for the surprises in life then the unanswered why me.

Answer 6

The unwise, unkind things we do in this life have an effect on our own minds and hearts.

To me that impact isn't something we can avoid -- we have already hurt ourselves by doing something harmful.

But there is a way to heal the effects:

... by letting our awareness of the hurt we've caused to break our hearts ... and to be mindful that as our hearts are breaking, they are breaking open.
.

Answer 7

If you believe that all things are "rewarded" either on this earth or elsewhere, then you got it coming. Personally I believe that life is a balancing act and through wrong action the balance is tipped. Why would you do something you knew was wrong?

Answer 8

hmm i dont really believe in religion since all backgrounds of any religion are at best lacking evidence to support the reasons for rules like this. However i do believe if you do something bad you should do something helpful to someone else to balance it out however as emotions go you would probable still feel guilty for the first thing you did.

Answer 9

Sin brings its own punishment.The way to negate the consequences is to really understand why what you did is spiritually wrong. It is not sufficient to recognize an act as sinful we must understand why and then genuinely repent and not commit the offense again.

Answer 10

Acknowledgment by itself won't change things, but once you acknowledge the harm you caused you can mitigate it with good acts. The word karma just means 'act'.