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CHAPTER 4

Breaking Patterns

Karmic Correction

You know by now that karma is the universal law of cause and effect, or, “What ye sow, so shall ye reap.” You also know by now that karma is created by our actions, words, and thoughts, but most importantly, by our intent. Also, you know that there is no such thing as “Good Karma” or “Bad Karma,” and that karma is not a punishment. Instead, karmic experiences, which include nearly all our experiences, are for the purpose of balancing, or karmic correction. This correction is meant to provide an opportunity for learning, growth, and our eventual rebirth as we head toward the state of God-perfection, and enlightenment.

Understanding karma and its universal laws helps us to straighten out our lives, and to keep to the paths we wish to follow.

Sometimes the dissonance between reality and false beliefs reaches a point when it becomes impossible to avoid the awareness that the world no longer makes sense. Only then is it possible for the mind to consider radically different ideas and perceptions.

—Mark Engel, from Gregory Bateson’s Steps to an Ecology of Mind

You may be still questioning these ideas, thinking that the whole “karmic correction” idea is unjust. You may still ask why human beings have to pay off karma that they don’t remember creating. Why suffer problems or handicaps in the current century for choices made eons ago?

It is important to know that karmic correction is not necessary if in the soul’s evolution through the rebirth process, the individual eliminates the imbalance. The purpose of rebirth is first and always balance. The universal law is, that when a part of the soul’s development is lacking or overabundant, the situation requires correction. For example, several lives of affluence may call for lifetimes of poverty, especially if greed or lack of compassion for those less fortunate manifests in one’s nature. So too, many lifetimes as one sex may cause a lack of empathy for the other. So we incarnate as the other sex, until there is balance, appreciation, and understanding of the natures of both male and female.

The Akashic Records

Although we may not consciously remember past lives, every one of our thoughts, words, and deeds is indelibly etched into the journals of our soul. These journals are known as the Akashic Records, the knowledge of which is contained in the ethers, or surrounding atmosphere. This knowledge is also contained within seed atoms, etheric kernels of knowledge which circulate within our beings and remain with us from lifetime to lifetime.

It is through God’s grace that we do not consciously remember past lives. We cannot work on the unfinished karma of our present existence while weighted down with recall of other lives. A person cannot function within the reality of 21^st century America, for example, and the intricacies peculiar to this time frame and his/her own individuality, if he/she is simultaneously experiencing a set of experiences belonging to a different place and existence. It is just too confusing. The conflict and chaos it would create would keep us from properly proceeding in this incarnation.

The memories of actions engendered by previous incarnations do not belong in the present. It is enough that we carry the emotions, if they are strong enough to remain with us, and the subconscious recollection of these circumstances. An abundant conscious memory can not only be confusing, but can manifest in guilt, phobias, and illness. For instance, someone who murdered his spouse in a past life may be reunited with her in this lifetime in order to learn unconditional love, compassion for suffering, and forgiveness. Yet he would not be able to proceed if plagued with overt recall of his past deed. He would not be able to love her the way he was supposed to in order to be wounded by her transgressions, nor be able to learn how to forgive. He would excuse her if hampered by the knowledge of his past deeds. He would believe that her actions were his own doing, and would never learn unconditional love. He would probably proceed in misery, saddled with guilt, confusion, and trauma. In due time, these emotions would more than likely create instability, illness, and inappropriate behavior.

While all incarnations are not necessarily so dramatic, the present must proceed on its own, with knowledge of previous lives occurring gradually, when the person can understand and accept them into his consciousness. Our angels and guides are here to help us and will see that we receive this information if and when we are ready. We will know that it is appropriate to accept these experiences because of their positive effect, and by the feelings of enlightenment and liberation they generate.

I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, “If I did not know about God and sin would I go to hell?”

“No,” said the priest, “not if you did not know.”

“Then why,” asked the Eskimo earnestly, “did you tell me?”

—Annie Dillard

He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all His ways.—Psalms 91:11