so i've had this ear infection for the past week and it occurred to me that putting these antibiotic ear drops in my ear every 4 hours is very literally waging heinous genocide against a burgeoning society of microorganisms. what karmic ramifications can arise from this, and indeed from the treatment of all infections/diseases? who pays a higher price: the doctor, patient, manufacturer? do alexander fleming and louis pasteur occupy a downward spiral of unfortunate incarnations? life being life, undoubtedly the slaughter of untold trillions outweighs the scant number of lives their work has saved.
it's not that i don't believe in karma, i just don't believe it's the be-all end-all to guide our experience. i think it's an insufficient approximation of how experiences are generated. the premise misses the mark in my estimation. it is not strictly our actions that dictate our reality experience, but much more so the emotion, the
feeling with which we infuse that action, and also how that action and its effects leave us feeling. this is much more dynamic and, i feel, reflects the generous power we have over our reality and life experience.
karma to me is no different from the condemnation or even "original sin" of mainstream christianity, the only difference being that it is of a temporary sort. i feel it can be used as a crutch to explain away hard times ("i must have done
something wrong in a past life") and in that way can severely hinder true spiritual growth. we exist here, now. this is what we have to work with, and we have as much or little control over our station as we allow our belief to buy into. i believe the extent of that work is limited only by our imagination, and i see necessary penance of a karmic sort every bit as limiting the vision as a fiery hell. we each determine the path of our development, and if we think we must stumble later because we've stumbled now or stumble now because we stumbled in the past. . . well, we might never quite get where we like to think we're going, and it will sure as hell be harder to enjoy the ride. self-fulfilling prophecy and all that.
