Theos-Talk Archives (September 1997 Message tl00258)

Douwe Boschma <darus@xs4all.nl> wrote:

> I wonder why there are so many that take a oposition against creating karma...
> Why would you try to avoid karma? isn't it a great healer, isn't
> the sword of nemesis that leads you on the right path?
> I feel that avoiding karma by 'not acting' against your natural desires,
> tricks you into standing still, or natural desires will come out one
> day with vulcanic force...

I think I know what you are getting at, and agree with it.  But there are some
provisos ...

We have pairs of desires.  For every desire there is (however well hidden) a
desire to oppose it.  It is similar to how our muscles come in pairs to allow
controlled and useful movements.  Abandoning oneself to the impulse of one
desire is like operating with only one pair of muscles - you are ill adapted
to the tasks of life.  For example, with Scorpio rising, I am glad that I
don't uncritically act out an impulse for revenge. I also have a desire to
let healing happen.  Creatively using my two desires for forced *and* for
organic change is a much more adaptive stance.  We need a "watcher" to
choreograph the two poles of our desires in the dance of life.  This doesn't
have to mean you "stand still."

> Avoiding stress of matter, is avoiding life,
> avoiding life, is avoiding getting sick of it,
> avoiding getting sick of life avoids the spark to have the space to radiate
> in the space of your heart because it is filled with useless dabblings,
> that are there to exhaust the spark.

If you mean that trying to avoid bad karma is removing yourself from testing
the laws of the universe and thereby learning them from trial and error, I
partially agree.  But I think you can accelerate your learning by exercising
*JUDICIOUS* trial and error.  Use that heuristic intuition to minimize bad
karma.

> In revelations 3-16 it says something like: 'what I have against you is that
> you are lukewarm, you should have been hot or cold'.
> Stating that you can get pretty far by being lukewarm but that you
> will never be able to cross 'the border' this way.

I agree with you more than my "yes, but's" seem to show.

Lukewarm            = Tamas  = no choice
Hot and Cold        = Rajas  = one-sided choice
Crossing the border = Sattva = a "third" choice, effortless effort

A tamas person never gets there.  A rajas one gets there but with a lot of
unnecessary suffering.  A sattvic one gets there with only necessary
suffering.