KARMA, THE THREE FOLD LAW, & GRACE
by Paul G. Seymour
"As you sew, so shall ye reap". "What goes around, comes around".
"Whatever you send out returns three times". These are all sayings very
familiar to all of us, all of them examples of a supposedly Universal Law of
cause and effect, action and reaction. Of course many of the religious
systems try to furnish us with some sort of "escape clause" that will allow
man to either alleviate suffering fo past misdeeds, or to escape
responsibility totally. Let us take a little closer look at these three
ideas and ther inter-reationship.
It seems that, on one level, we do live in a mechanistic universe, one
pretty much ruled by cause-and-efect. This Newtonian universe seems to react
in a very mechanical fashion, i.e. every action "produces an equal and
opposite reaction". A good analogy for this is the example of one billiard
ball striking another. The energy from the striking billiard ball is
transfered to the one struck and is used to push against the first, imparting
motion in the same direction. This brings the second law into play, i.e. an
object in motion tends to stay in motion untill acted upon by an outside
force.
The principle of Karma basically says the same thing; i.e. any negative
or positive action or thought remains that way, until it expends its energy
by acting upon the originator. Of course this also makes implicit the idea
that thoughts or mental energy have a reality of their own, one that
interacts with the physical universe. If this idea is accepted, it then
implies the existence of at least one more "world" or order of the universe,
one with a non physical "reality", and one where the basic fundamental rules
of physics (as we know them) may not truly apply.
The magician can be described as one who "walks between" these two
worlds.
"Walking between two worlds" implies that an individal is connected with both
and can move between them at will. The purpose of magic is to manipulate one
world for the benefit of the other, i.e. to manipulate the unseen world for the
express purpose of influencing events in the physical. Unfortunately there does
not seem to be a "free ride" anywhere in the universe, and when an individual
acquires the power to do this, they also aquire a great deal of
responsibility! By accepting the power to exert "leverage" in the unseen
world, an individual seems to also accept a
multiplied succeptibility to
influences initiated in that world. This is why
negative workings are
so dangerous! This may also be the reasoning behind
the "law of three fold return".
Now comes the hard part! If all of this cause and effect stuff is absolute,
how can any individual ever hope to "pay off" the debts for all of the
"stupid" things they have done not only in this lifetime, but in many
others? Must we "pay off" all past transgressions on a one for one basis?
Is there no escape clause in this "contract" we seem to have for living in
the universe? This "escape clause" is called Grace by the Christians and by
other names in other systems, but it does exist in all. Basically, the idea is this:
"Once a lesson is completely learned and one grows beyond a need for this
lesson, it need not be repeated, even if the 'books' are not balanced".
This is the "Enlightenment" sought by the Buddhist that allows the "breaking"
of the wheel. This is also the core principle behind the idea of "Divine"
forgiveness, but that is a topic for another essay.
