Karma

On this day in 980 BC the Law of Karma is discovered. At least that’s what it says in my Pilgrim Daily Calendar. It makes you wonder how a spiritual concept can be “discovered” but there it is.

Karma may be crudely translated as “what goes around comes around.” and is underlying “Do unto others.” But it’s also the motivation for recovery. Whether you believe in reincarnation—that the karma plays out over lifetimes or just effects how you live now, we know it’s part of the 12 step life.

We have the tenth step axiom: whenever I am upset I must look within, there is something in me; we have the psychological principle of projection: what I most hate in another person is almost always something I dislike and won’t face in myself.

The Course in Miracles says when we judge others we are always projecting our own fears, and real forgiveness is letting go of judgment.

All these ways over so many lifetimes of trying to understand what makes us tick and what makes us hurt. It’s not complicated. But it’s not easy.