4.3 What are the workings of karma?

Karma and unbounded compassion intertwine indistinguishably to shape every moment you experience. This compassion is not apparent within the terms of your personality, although in a religious sense, it is accessible through faith. The unified process which is reality, and each of its component parts, are configured to operate in profound harmony through the workings of karma, all shaped by absolute compassion.

Karma embodies the moral force inherent in reality. We are all component parts of the one reality, operating within an infinite framework of actions occurring on many levels of reality simultaneously, yet united in meaning. Each choice you make, each action you take, operates within an implacable moral framework configured so as to direct the growth of understanding of your own nature.

All religious or secular moral codes are relatively illusory in the face of the implacable moral force governing every situation you experience. By your actions, you can lie to yourself and other people. Your lies, to yourself and others, are no secret in the face of reality.

Any action can be justified within the terms of one moral code or another. In reality, many actions you experience emotionally or morally as valid or necessary can be seen, in a wider context, as self-deceiving. Karma is the process whereby reality structures the circumstances of your life to develop the understanding of your own nature.

Reality is experienced, once the first stage of enlightenment is attained, as layer upon layer of meaning, as infinitely expanding layers of context. Actions seen as harmless in one context are understood as selfish in a wider, more enlightened context. Your karma will always direct your awareness to the next context in which you should understand your situation.

When you learn the lesson karma is teaching you, at any time in any situation, the causes of your suffering will, in time, cease to occur. When you experience the difficulties of your life as recurring patterns, that is a sign that you have not yet understood the karmic purpose inherent in your situation. When you experience the difficulties of your life as spontaneous occurrences, within a context of enlightened awareness, that is a sign that you are working in harmony with karma.

Most of your karma is generated and experienced through personal, social and economic activities. Through the actions you choose to make, the extent to which you understand your own nature is revealed in the face of reality. Reality spontaneously structures your life circumstances to direct you, through the workings of karma, to understand this or that aspect of your nature.

Your karma is a result of the choices you make. Creating negative karma results in unhappiness and suffering; creating positive karma results in opportunities to grow in the understanding of your own nature. Reality, the whole machine and its component parts, is an organic self-balancing process occurring simultaneously on many levels.

Karma is configured to test you, not you to test karma: be sensitive to the power and direction of karma in your life. Karma is more terrible than anything humanity can devise and more arousing than the gentlest caress of impassioned lovers. Always try to understand each situation you experience in terms of your karma: you are a component of reality – be willing to learn the lesson reality is teaching you at each moment.