By Jonathan Twiz | Collective Evolution
Now as a man is like this or like that,
according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be;
a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad;
he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds;
And here they say that a person consists of desires,
and as is his desire, so is his will;
and as is his will, so is his deed;
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.
“No matter what happened to you in your past, you are not your past, you are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it. And that is the basis for all change.” – Jordan Belfort
Awareness is the first step when it comes to removing karma. If you are not aware of your actions, intentions, and feelings, you will continue to make free choices that are heavily influenced by these same feelings–>intentions–>actions. People who are unconscious do not evolve. They are forced to learn things the hard way in life, and the more stubborn they are the more difficult it becomes for them to break free of their karma. Living an unconscious life, even if you get away with your choices, puts you in situations that don’t allow you to be free. For example, greed will attract the most fickle and conditional friendships and relationships in your life. Your ego will be built on a false identity of fleeting possessions which can lead to status anxiety. You will attract situations in your life where people make unconscious greedy decisions against your best interests. There is a wide spectrum of less than optimal scenarios that can and likely will occur as a result of living an unconscious life.
Related Article: The Karma Trap: 3 Life-Changing Distinctions About Your Karma
People who have awareness of themselves are in a much better position than the unconscious person. This person may still continue to make selfish, ego-based decisions, but they are far more likely to be slapped in the face by the guilt. This guilt may even become further magnified if a psychedelic is taken. The guilt one experiences should not become your identity, but rather a wake-up call to rise to the occasion toward becoming a more evolved person. This is the type of karma where you’re feeling judged from within; your own mind is telling you that you are out of sync with your higher self. A bad trip can be nothing more than a look in the mirror, seeing all the ugly sides of yourself that disgust you to the point where you feel very uncomfortable with yourself. This is how psychoactive substances force us to break out of negative patterns of behavior; they show us our shadow side, which ultimately scares the shit out of us. You become aware of the two fighting wolves inside you, one which is good, the other which is bad. From this point on you know that you are responsible for the wolf that wins, which is the one that you feed.
“Karma is real, part of it starts with how you’re starting to feel.”
Karma is not just about bad deeds but it is also about how you feel about yourself. Your feelings and emotions have a lot to do with your karma. Eckhart Tole talks about the “Pain Body,” which is another identification with the ego. It makes us feel like victims whenever we don’t get what we want, feel misunderstood, or victimized. There are legitimate times when we feel wronged, but the degree to which we wallow in sorrow and/or anger can create bad karma for ourselves, even if we truly were the victim. Continuing to identify with these emotions will affect your perspective, adding a negative filter to your world. You will then take actions based on this perspective, which could lead to more circumstances that caused the initial sadness/anger. You will begin to cause problems in your reality that don’t even exist, all because you are identifying with your pain body all the time.
Related Article: 17 Friendly Gestures That Create Good Karma
When working on your karma, everything on the radar is just a tip of the iceberg. Karma is often a lack of awareness of how your patterns of behavior (which often come from your emotions) are holding you back. This is why psychedelics are popular among some people, as they have a way of showing you the karma that you’re not aware of. Emotions can cause a lot of misunderstandings because they filter your ability to process reality when in an emotionally charged state of mind. Subconsciously, unresolved emotions navigate our Ego through potentially destructive terrain. This can leave karmic imprints that create a repeat cycle of more unhappy circumstances. Emotions that we hold onto can manifest into stress which can cause all sorts of physical symptoms. It can even change the way the brain is hardwired. This is what is called in Vedic and Buddhist philosophy as “Sanskara.
Sanskara is “mental impression, recollection, psychological imprint,” and this meaning in Hindu philosophies is a foundational element of karma theory.
