"I pledge my life to God, my father in heaven, to my holy mother and to the spirit of Christ.  I give you all my infirmities, addictions, guilt, shame and fears, and the grave errors of my past.  I humbly ask your forgiveness, from the bottom of my heart, that you may use me in your sacred service and hold me close to you, forever more.  It is my heart's desire to belong to you eternally!  Amen, Amen, Amen."

This beautiful prayer was given to me during a deep meditation recently.  I immediately thought, "How appropriate for this time of year, for Easter!"  It is my wish to share it with others.  May it bring us a step closer to our own, complete spiritual "resurrection."  Personally, I am combining it with fasting, starting today, until Easter, and daily meditations.  Perhaps you will join in?

My first thoughts about Karma were elicited by spirit-dictations received by the Ramala Society in England, back in the 70's.  Subsequently, as an undergraduate student of psychology, I learned about Dr. Ian Stevenson's studies of young children who have recollections of a previous life, published in 1966.  I then read several books about the subject (see "Recommended Reading" at the end of this article).  As a result of my quest for deeper understanding, I came to regard Karma as:

.........THE COSMIC LAW OF (non-physical) CAUSE AND EFFECT...........

and, ultimately, of JUSTICE which undoubtedly exists in a harmonious, well-balanced universe.  Just as the law of physics governs the cause-effect movement of energy in a physical world, the laws of Karma govern the same in subtle-energy/non-physical realms.  I call those non-physical realms of existence, "spiritual" realms.

Karma is, moreover, (1) The law of self-determination, utterly honoring our most previous of divine gifts, i.e., free will; it is all about self-correction in the direction of love.  And, (2) It is the logical extension of the principle of Grace.  As such, it can be undone on occasion, just as an emperor can issue a pardon, and it is, in and by itself, an expression of Divine Grace to help us along on the path, back into the Light.  Without the lessons of Karmic Rule, our return from our physical prisons would be very unlikely, indeed.  The yardstick against which all intention, words and deeds are weighed is

                                                  L O V E

--the glue that holds all elements together.  The entity taking ongoing inventory, and choosing ways to self-correct, is our own, inherent spirit spark.

Inevitable Elements of Karma, without which it can hardly be understood, are:

• (1) Reincarnation: The concept of reincarnation as the path to the Light, back to the source ("redemption"), by means of self-correction according to Karmic Rule, is a well-understood fact in Hinduism and Buddhism.  In the Judaic and Christian religions, however, such concepts are but a vague memory.  Few references are contained in the remaining Bibles that Christ and the apostles embraced reincarnation theory as fact, as they contemplated the return of Elijah, for example, as John the Baptist.  And doesn't the (prophesied) return of Christ itself represent a reincarnation?  There are further hints that man will reap what he sows, and that those who will live by the sword will also die by it... . Clearly, such justice often does not happen during one and the same lifetime.  At the very least, these references are evidence of Karma in Action.
  


• (2)  Individual Self-Responsibility through a path (or quest?) of graduated learning, can only be understood toward the principles of Love--the source-energy of all life.  It is each person's God-given spirit that perceives regret when one's words deny love, and when our deeds are in violation of Love.  On a soul-level, the same regret might be felt as guilt, remorse and/or shame, as the soul mediates between the physical body and the spirit.  Hence it is one's own sense of "error" that prompts one's return and self-imposed, karmic consequences, to serve as "lessons" for those less spiritually evolved components , which are present in all of us.  In the end, eventually and mercifully, we all "Return to Love," as Marianne Williamson put it, in her book, "A Return to Love," 1993.  While much of Karmic Rule appears to be self-propelling, none of this would be possible if the parameters for such spiritual evolution and redemption weren't set by God Himself, as well as being governed and protected by cosmic masters.
  


• (3)  Unity of All Life, being the foundation of, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," and hence hinting at inter-connectivity of all that is, as well as to the individual responsibility toward the whole of creation.  Awareness of the unity of all life and life forms is the basis for compassion, i.e., compassion for my brother, realizing we're all made of the same stuff and come from the same source.  In the final analysis, we're all...
  

                                                  ONE   LIFE

--God's life!  It follows that if only one of us suffers, then we all suffer; when I hurt you, I am hurting myself; and that I can only be as strong as the weakest link in this community of life.

Therefore, Healing and Light Work are manifest expressions of such compassion--actions which bring about loving results.  We literally have no choice but to help and heal the many woes we perceive in our world.  Yes, there will always be people who think only selfishly and believe in nothing, and it may not be possible to help all.  However, the return of teachings about the Cosmic Laws of Karma may just be a beginning, too, to deter crimes or facilitate thinking twice before breaking someone's heart, for those people we would normally think incapable of hurting anyone, but who harm others regardless.  There are always those who surprise us with "crimes without motive." Just as teachings about everlasting rewards in heaven may motivate a suicide mission, the opposite may also be true:  I believe that, by stressing Karmic Rule in our teachings and moral code of conduct, much violence and loveless acts, borne from sheer boredom and (spiritual) emptiness, may be prevented.

For the purpose of completeness, collective Karma should also be mentioned, because it appears to exist, for families, communities, and for entire countries--perhaps even for the human race, as a whole.  The transgressions ("sins") against love of our ancestors DO seem to follow the offspring for generations, until individuals say, "It stops with ME," and the spell can be broken for these persons and their offspring.  This can be true for addictions (running in families) and for all things:  by washing myself clean with the light of truth and compassion, and being healed myself by the love of God, a ripple effect of healing becomes possible for all who come in contact with me.  All this due to taking self-responsibility and charge of my thoughts, actions and life, while humbly asking God for help.  As feelings of being helpless victims of circumstances and of other people dissipate, we come into our true power and health, with which we can change everything.

Perhaps I should also add here what I have learned from channeled materials through Bertha Dudde (1981-1965) who speaks much about the loss of earthly life (cycles) and the dissolution of spiritual substances, which may occur at the end of every solar cycle.  She termed this shattering of our conscious mind and soul, "Neubannung" (German). We tend to presume mind/soul to be eternal, and thousands of years of a solar cycle do seem like an eternity.  However, perhaps we do not have ALL of eternity at all to incarnate and reincarnate, to learn certain lessons regarding Divine Love.  Perhaps it DOES SO matter that we get down to business and make the best use of whatever chance we have, right now, here on earth, to love and practice compassion in all our affairs.  After all, it is said that right now is such an end time of another solar cycle!

An avid church-goer, yet by no means a scholar, once told me:  "I don't believe in Karma because then God would no longer be needed."  This person had not read a single book on the subject and completely ignored Him who invented and jealously guards these holy cosmic principles.  It is also God who has the power to undo Karma through the principle of Grace.  Without Karma and Reincarnation, not much spiritual learning is possible (i.e., you live and love once...or not--oh well), and not much Redemption, which I understand as the return, all the way, back in the Light.  Moreover, healing from infirmities--physical, emotional or mental-would never be possible.  Think about it...!

•                                    Recommended Reading:
• The many, many accounts of near-death and "Life after Life" experiences, e.g., by Raymond Moody, Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross, Annie Besant and others.
  


• Elisabeth Haich: "Initiation."


• Chris Griscom: "Time is an Illusion."


• Rhea Powers: "Reincarnation."


• Edgar Cayce: "The Story of Karma" and "On Reincarnation."
• John Van Auken:  "From Karma to Grace."


• Writings by Rudolf Steiner, Immanuel Kant, J.I. Lorber, Thorwald Dethlefson, H.P. Blavatsky, and Peter Michel.