Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tt00208)

Dec 17th 1998

Dear Eldon:

Let me add some notes below	--	Dal

> From: Eldon B Tucker
> Sent:	Wednesday, December 16, 1998 1:28 PM
> Subject: RE: more on karma

Dallas:

When I was discussing karma, I was starting from the simple
case and then generalizing. There cannot be karma in a world
that consists of a single being. It takes at least two beings
for there to be karma. Karma is something that exists *between*
them, based upon their relationship, both visible, as well as
unseen. When karmic events arise between the two, the events
come from unseen energies, karmic seeds, potential energy
between the people involved.

DALLAS:	But, to go back to prime beginnings, you cannot have a
"world" without an earlier one,  So you will always have a host
of beings involved.

As I said, if you isolate 2 beings for the purpose of analysis,
your conclusions are of course correct within those limits and
box that you have created.


As you say, there certainly are much more than two individuals
in life, and there's a vast karmic web of life that we weave
as we act and our actions affect countless other lives.

When you mention "dynamic harmony," it leads me to think of
the process of sympathetic vibration. There's a natural,
physical process whereby things synchronize their cycles,
in a process of self-adjustment leading to a form of group
harmony. This may work the same with karmic adjustments, where
by groups of individuals adjust their mutual interactions or
karmic interplay, leading to an overall harmony, that might
be considered a form of group karma.


DALLAS:	I think you are correct in this.  Also that is the way in
which any particular Karma would secure adjustment.


We can take different models of karma, models that simplify
and clarify in different ways, but which also limit and
restrict our understanding of the vast doctrine. One model
is the "banker's model," wherein we acquire and pay off various
debts (bad karma), and accumulate and spend various types of
savings (good karma). This and other models offer, as has been
discussed before on the list, a limited view of what is
happening,
falling far short of containing the wisdom-treasure that the
doctrine embodies.


DALLAS	Yes, but the models always carry with them their
restrictions.


At the moment, my favorite simplification or summarization
of karma is: "unfinished business." If we have unfinished
business in life, either in terms of experiences that we still
need to fulfill, or interactions with others in life that haven't
reached closure, we have unspent karma drawing us back into
participation in life.

DALLAS:	I fully agree with the idea of "unfinished business."  My
own idea is that it is like a Ledger account, which is "closed to
a balance" each "year."  And simultaneously a new Ledger is
opened for the next fiscal year in which the earlier balance to
be found in each account is carried forward as "unfinished
business" to use your analogy.

Thanks  	--	Dallas


-- Eldon

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