Theos-Talk Archives (September 1997 Message tl00361)

On Sun, 21 Sep 1997 techndex@pacbell.net wrote:

> > But personal karma, being much more limited in scope, does not (and often
> >can not).  There is an interesting Biblical verse (Genesis 4:9) wherein Cain

<friendly snip>

> >(because it is very complicated) explanation concerning the interrelationship
> >of personal and group karma except to state that there definitely is one.
> 
> Dennis,
> 
> This is intriguing. Would you agree that perhaps collective karma limits
> and governs the operation of personal karma (and probably even the timing
> of it)? In other words, nothing can happen on the level of personal karma
> that is not within what is possible under collective karma. Just a thought.
> 
> Lynn

I remember having a conversation about this with someone on the list many
months ago.  I don't remember if anyone agreed on anything, but I have a
few ideas of my own.

I have to agree with Dennis' theory on the existence of both a personal
and collective karma.  Collective karma is fairly easy to understand on a
physical level, and a good allegory is:  If you are unkind to one person,
they will be more likely to be unkind to others, and those others will do
likewise.  On a karmic level, the results of all acts are thrown into a
collective pool, both negative and positive.  By results, I mean negative
or positive.  Now, I don't believe that karma stores causes.  In other
words, collective karma is quite simply a pool of negative and positive
energies.

Now one might say, "A negative effect is relative to personal
circumstance".  That is where personal karma steps in.  As it is now, I
think I can safely say that if such a karmic pool exists, there is a hell
of a lot more negative evergy in it than positive.  Even the happiest
do-gooders in the world aren't going to live perfect lives.  As I said
many months ago, even Jesus had birdcrap on his shoulder every now and
then, I'm sure.  On top of that, Jesus was not a happy man.  That didn't
make things any better for him.

I'll do my best to explain my ideas of interrelationship between personal
and collective karma, but I doubt that they will leave anyone without
questions that I cannot answer.  If a person has negative feelings at one
point in time, s/he is going to attract negative karma, and because the
collective is so negative in itself, it doesn't take much to attract it.
In this way, the karmic pool is a magnifier of personal energy.  But this,
unfortunately isn't always the case.  If a person is being positive, it is
very unlikely that s/he will recieve positive influence from the karmic
pool, because of the dwindling of positive energy within it.  If s/he does
happen do attract some of that positive energy, s/he could win the
lottery, or find the love of his/her life.  But usually, I feel that a
really happy person will have a fairly normal day, perhaps devoid of any
negative influence, as long as the happiness doesn't go away.  In this
way, it is possible that s/he is still attracting negative energy, but not
nearly as much, and his/her own personal energy is counteracting the
collective energy.

ugh...I had more to say but I have other things to do...

perhaps I'll finish up later...toodles.
---
Jaqi.