[verklingen]

Karma is not linear. You can rise or fall, progress or regress throughout time.

you mean like how a line on a line graph can rise and fall?

Hinduism itself even in the most literal sense is cyclical. Everything is reborn and remade unless you break away from the cycle of this existence and achieve Enlightenment. They don't call Samsara the wheel of life for nothing, hell it's even on the Indian Flag.

i see what you're saying man, it's surely a difference of semantics/beliefs and nothing more. but cyclical or no, this rising and falling follows a kind of linear pattern which i feel karmic conceptions serve only to ever more deeply engross oneself in, while also serving to further ensconce oneself within "this existence," as you put it. imo enlightenment isn't any different from this existence, it is merely this existence realized or approached in a different way. so there's nothing to break away from, and it seems to me that conceiving it like there IS something to break away from makes that realization needlessly difficult and painstaking.

please understand that i do not at all mean to discredit the potential for growth these conceptions offer, for hindu thought and karma have helped me grow very much as a spiritual being. but a tool's application changes with circumstance, and i can only say that for myself the tool of karma can be readily seen as an obstacle as i continue (edit: or more precisely accelerate! ) this growth.

Karma is also the main schism between Hinduism and Jainism. Hinduism believes in gaining 'good' karma to attain nirvana while Jainism believes in shedding all karma to realize Truth. Intention plays a huge role between the two as well. How you feel about something, regardless if you act on it, also determines 'karmic value.'

in this case i would more closely align with the jains. can you expound a bit on their method of shedding karma? truth be told i could consider what i'm talking about to be shedding karma!