Confused about Karma..

[onetwothree]

I just answered someones question where I was talking about Karma, and it got me thinking..
How can I stop it?

In my answer I was talking about how someone completely f***ed me over about 2 years ago. And in those two years their life had turned to sh*t. And in those same 2 years I was able to get my life 100% back to what it was, and then some.

I feel like I have not been the best person lately and it kind of got me worrying about my karma. My life has been going very good lately and I would hate to think I have some karma coming. I am working at being a better person, but I am worried about some mistakes I have made and some choices that could have been better. I just feel like I have been angry, and sometimes take it out on people who don't deserve it, or go off more than I should have.

Is there any way to divert any karma?

Or can it be that karma is coming, but in a different form? Like a horrible day, children acting really bad day, feeling bad about myself, lack of energy?

[Xiao Rong]

I'm probably of a minority on this forum that doesn't believe that karma works like that. Many Westerners have interpreted karma to mean there is some kind of cosmic retribution system, where God/the Universe observes everything that we do and metes out justice accordingly. That's not to say it's not a valid system of belief, but karma originates from Eastern concepts about how our thoughts and actions have consequences. Karma is something that we intentionally cultivate in thought, word, and deed. Sometimes its consequences are opaque: you may intend one thing, and end up with another. Sometimes its consequences are so obvious that we don't even realize it is hiding in plain sight: as one writer said, "If you dig a hole, what you end up with is a hole. You don't end up with money. If you plant virtue, you reap virtue, not success."

I do believe that karma is at work with what happened with you and your friend, but not in a cosmic retribution sense. When someone is untrustworthy or cruel, they tend to push out the positive people in their lives and invite drama and trouble. When someone acts virtuously (i.e. are cultivating their karma skillfully), they tend to have less drama in their lives and draw good people towards them. It is not 100% foolproof -- people who cultivate good karma are not immune to suffering and bad things happening in their lives -- but it does help.

Here's an article on "The Consequences of Continual Cursing" by Matt Auryn that illustrates the same phenomenon from a magical standpoint:

One thing that I’ve noticed about those who curse casually is that they become addicted to cursing. Suddenly they constantly draw dramatic situations and threats towards them on some weird energetic level that gives them reasons or excuses to “need to curse”. Slowly their lives turn into this constant struggle. They become blocked in other areas of their lives. They begin battling deep depression when they had none previously. People begin distancing themselves from the person. Life starts showering them with what can only be called ‘bad luck’.

Again, this is not a tit-for-tat exchange where good behavior is rewarded with good outcomes, and visa versa, but simply the mundane consequences of not acting from a place of virtue.

So, all this to say that, I think it's good that you're recognizing that you perhaps have not been acting from your best and highest self -- it happens to all of us. I don't believe there's a cosmic sledgehammer coming down on you, but there may be some predictable consequences, like some of the people in your life being unhappy with you. Best way to fix it is not to focus on diverting karma, but on focusing on cultivating good karma.

[SpiritTalker]

Some magicians believe they can divert karma onto others by getting the other to act for them, therefore the other person takes the brunt of any karmic effect. Politicians are a whiz at this degrading principle. It only works if the other party blindly goes along with it. Eventually it stifles the life & soul of the Practitioner. Intention counts. Spiritual love shifts the emphasis.

I see the Law of Attraction at work in our mundane lives more than a principle of karmic balance which weighs in across many life times. So in my abbreviated way i think I share Xiao's viewpoint +

[corvidus]

How can I stop it?

Is there any way to divert any karma?

Or can it be that karma is coming, but in a different form?

Here’s my perspective:

Karma, like most things, is cyclical. What goes around comes around. There is a way to exit the ‘karmic cycle’, but in order to do so you’d have to become a hermit haha.

There is no way to divert karma from yourself onto others. People might think they’re doing something like this, but in the end they’re just starting a new karmic cycle. However, there is a way to take bad karma off other people, so as to alleviate their debt. This is usually not advisable, because karma is an important tool for evolution and growth.

In my experience, the karma generated in this life or the previous life may adapt itself into a new form, but it still has underlying similarities with the point of origin. As above, so below; the effect is like the cause.

[Shekinah]

We are expected to make many mistakes, that's what we are here to do and learn from. Consider we arrived in this deadly serious game of life without an instruction manual and only a half a deck of cards. It's when we fail to TRY Karma offers an attitude adjustment not as punishment but as incentive to adjust our ways. If we learn from our actions to the degree we will not repeat the same mistake Karma is void and we have no need for more stern consequences. I think ultimately we conjure our own degrees of compensation and it is not the vengeance of Gods.

[onetwothree]

Thank you all for your insight! I just worry a lot that if I do something not great, like if I am having a bad day, that that behavior will come back somehow.
Sometimes I get stuck between bad decisions teach a lesson, and bad decisions will come back to bite you..

But thank you all so much, it's nice to know life isn't just sitting around waiting to throw my mistakes in my face!

[SnowCat]

Bad days are something that happens. I think it falls under Murphy's Law more than it does karma. If you're having a bad day, you can admit to yourself that you're having a bad day, and try to find things to help make it better. And you'll get through it.

[barker]

I see karma as a choice to be conscious/aware. No karma if you see through situations. These bad places, seen through, all have lessons. You do have to be that neutral-minded to completely conquer it.

[underthemoon18]

Thank you so much!