Attribution: Nagarjun Kandukuru from Bangalore, India – Creative Commons.org/license

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_wheel_of_life,_Buddhism_Bhavachakra.jpg

“To say that everything is our karma is to usurp this vast spectrum of causality into a singular, self-centered mind."

“In stead, we realize that when we replace hatred with compassion, or greed with generosity, those intentions will shape the type of being we become, whether rich or poor."

— Authors: Culadasa and Matthew Immergut

<http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/02/karma-its-not-about-what-we-do/>

Karma is a viewpoint of causality that proposes to explain the ambiguous experience of indivisible Existence perceived as individual self-existence. The aforementioned quotes from this thoughtful article draw a proper distinction, I believe, in defining the area of karmic result to be ultimately related to intentions rather than contradictory life events. Still, from a personal perspective, I question karma being overly tied to our true nature in forms of spiritual practice and identification. How we each perceive the fruit of our thoughts and actions in regard to the “type of being we become” is a matter of personal perception.

And there-in lies the rub at attaching too much emphasis on outer forms of spiritual validation: the Ten Commandments, the 37 Bodhisattva Practices, etc. Our present refinement of consciousness determines, whether the joy, the satisfaction, the expansion, the uplift we experience by certain actions, thoughts and desires arises from our true nature or not. A psychopathic personality might feel joy or moral righteousness in hurting or murdering someone. At best, karma might be a good behavioral-modification influence over negative states of consciousness, but spirituality by imitation is not spiritual growth.

— Carl