Karma. Something I have believed in for many years and have been thinking about a lot lately. Karma is not a religion, not a belief that some deity is pleased or displeased by your actions. It isn’t about praying for forgiveness or praying for assistance.Karma in my mind is down to choices. Making the best or right choice based on your ethical and moral view of life. I believe we should do the best to help others and to look after this precious planet that is our home and indeed all life upon it.
I believe that we do make the wrong choices sometimes and poor decisions will often lead to tears and regret at a later time.That is Karma in its simplest form. But we do not pray for some made up god’s forgiveness. Rather we must find it within us to forgive ourselves and others. We do not need to visit some priests cubicle to seek penance but rather our penance should be in seeking to repair the bad decision or if that isn’t possible then choosing a way to atone for that mistake. And Karma will reward us with the knowing that we got it right the second time. Our reward will not be in heaven but in our own mind and the effect we have had on others.
And we must remember that we are all a part of this planet. And Karma is already paying us back for the way we have abused our world. The rich of the world have abused and raped this planet for personal gain. Whether it has been leaving great swathes of the planet uninhabitable by man’s ever growing need for cheap energy and minerals. Whether it is the ruthless exploitation of the weak and poor of the world to turn out cheaper goods for the masses and greater wealth for the few. Whether it is the pumping out of poisonous, noxious gases or pesticides.In so many ways are we destroying our own home. And for what purpose?
The purpose is for the obscene wealth of just a few at the expense of the rest of us. Yes we may benefit from the latest super fast technology, the latest fashionable clothing brands but Karma will eventually seek a reckoning. It is already happening with the poisoning of the whole ecosystem. With air that is so unbreathable in places that the old and the sick and the very young are suffering. With watercourses and oceans so polluted that whole species are dying out. And even people are being poisoned by their own drinking water. That is Karma. That is the repayment for our destruction of this planet for sheer greed.
But what can we do? As I said before. Karma is about choices. We must make the right choices. We must put people in power that care about our planet. We must make greener personal choices. We must redistribute the obscene wealth of the few, if necessary by punitive taxation upon them. Even small changes to the way we live can make enormous changes when multiplied a million fold if we all make those changes.
Walk to the shops occasionally instead of taking the car. Buy smaller more environmentally friendly vehicles or use public transport. Even taking your own bag to the store or buying unpackaged foods can make a noticeable difference. And Karma will repay us all eventually with clean air, clean water, clean pesticide free food. A healthier happier life for all of us.
Simple really isn’t it. Just make wiser choices. Vote for a party that will start to put things right. Care for others. Care for ourselves. And remember Karma.