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MichaelMonterey

Catching Up With Karma

Nan & SDaniels, SD: Re: #3 "What you are referring to as an "active expression of a decision" is this mental turn or change one can have in thought, just before acting on a decision?" MM: Results have causes. Each action or sequence of actions, whether mental, verbal, or bodily action, like doing a break shot, involves a prior decision. Our consciousness of sequences depends on how still we can be, how aware of the flow of activity. You may be able to perceive very tiny moments of the flow of events. Yet, when does one event or set of events end and the next begin. Still, I think "yes" is the right answer. SD: Re: #3 "Is the power of foresight... definable as the consistent knowledge that everything... must be interconnected in ways we aren't aware or haven't thought of?" MM: For me, "power" means the possibility or potential to make things happen. Thinking about Karma as an alluring woman can stimulate contemplations of great value. If we think of "her" leading us, without separating ourselves from "her" essence, I think of foresight. Its power is the potential and/or possibility to create a desired result, with action or inaction or nonaction. If we know that we don't know all that we don't know, and remember or focus on what we do know, using foresight let's us direct our flow of creative energy, intentionally, intelligently, instead of simply reacting. It also makes learning more likely and, usually, more productive. So, I think the answer to your Q#2 is no. Nan, Thanks for the reminder of "A Beautiful Mind" which I take as a complement. I also like your beautiful mind, etc. Anyway, I see the synergetic combination of foresight, intelligence, intent, will, and focused activity as nonchaotic negentropy in action. It makes a game of pool possible and interesting, but none of all that is Karma. Cause is cause, and results are results, not Karma. Various aspects of universal presence are integral, inextricable functions of the whole, inseparable from it and each other and, yet, each is distinct, with its own essential, primal identity. Human identity, being, and awareness likewise, are integral to universal presence, along with our purposiveness, intent, and creativity. So, I have no trouble "seeing" the nonchaotic (Yang) side of the cosmic Yin-Yang and the chaotic (Yin) side, and the nondual polarity of their relativity. It seems more difficult to see our integral wisdom & compassion as a nondual polarity. Yet, they inspire, motivate, and/or constrain our interaction. We could have fun with analogies involving your husband and you and your marriage, but I trust this will do for now. Good morning. Thanks & Blissings to both of you.
— May 29, 2010 2:25 a.m.

Catching Up With Karma

Nan, That's a very intriguing, extremely thought provoking little story. I wonder, was it inspired by the divinity depicted or the other, with the overpowering charms? And I wonder if it comes of a long relationship with a particular teacher or lineage or long study. My understanding of karma is much simpler and maybe less engaging, but it is accurate enough. My teacher and his teachers say that Karma is never the results, only the action or, more precisely, the activity. So, I like to think of it as the universal Law of Interdependent Interactivity. It's like playing pool or billiards. Karma is like the break shot and each subsequent shot, not the score or the winnings after the game. Naturally, one may think that the movement of the balls after the break shot are results, but they are secondary actions or secondary or tertiary causes. There is no separation of the first cause, the first action and all the reations that follow. The whole sequence of interactions in the game are a seamless web of activity and causes. Some of the actions and causes are the decisions and movements of the players, some skillful, some more clumsy. Scoring, bets, and debts are results of the notions, beliefs, rules, agreements, strategies and tactics of the players. The misunderstandings about the Law of Karma are like that. We can change the direction and outcome of our entire chain of interactive events by changing our minds and our intentions with each decision -- before committing each action. Each active expression of a decision is like a shot on the cosmic pool table of life. So, I guess that means that we can keep our goals, strategy & methods in front of us with some foresight and compassionate wisdom. Does that make any sense? Thanks for the thought provoking fable. Love & Blissings, M
— May 19, 2010 4:44 p.m.

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