On Karma and Reincarnation. The power of Forgiveness.

Lately I’ve been educating myself on the theories of Karma and Reincarnation through a book called “Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment”. According to the author, Barbara Martin, we are granted 800 lives in order to reach that level of supreme illumination, peace, and unconditional love giving power that we all need to be part of the “other world”. During these 800 existences we are faced with circumstances that challenge us to forgive, love and excel at any given aspect of life, and depending on our reactions and how we respond to these situations, we’ll either upgrade our continuation and quality of life in the next life, or digress to a less spiritual and even more challenging existence. Also, during these 800 lives we take the shape and form of any living creature on earth and we’re given a chance to gradually advance onto the next stage depending on how we lead our existence. We basically have to earn the privilege to move forward to a better, more complete form of life.

There is so much more than just this plain explanation I have given of the rules of Karma and Reincarnation, and so many more aspects of Karma that I had never considered before, like for instance the fact that there are many different kinds of Karma that we ought to gain in the course of our life, like money Karma, career Karma, friends Karma, and relationship Karma. That would obviously explain why I have such amazing Karma when it comes to finding exceptional friends who take care of me amazingly, but I have very bad luck in the relationships with men department. Apparently Karma is not one big general revenge pattern that includes the totality of our existences, rather the rule of “what goes around comes around” is far more complicated than that and it touches every single aspect of our lives in a different manner. Also, we may not be able to see the fruits of our bad or good karma in the course of one only life. Instead, the seeds we plant in this life may actually ripen in our next existence, whether good or bad. The bad news of this boomerang effect, however, is that if we seed bad karma in this life, that exact Karma will get back to us eventually just threefold as bad AND with a vengeance. As for the good Karma, the same rule obviously applies, and that’s clearly something that will come to our advantage in the next life, as we don’t have to struggle as much to gain a position of respect and fulfillment in a specific field of life.

The other bad news is that if we are unable to resolve a conflict with somebody in this life, we are gonna have to ultimately meet them again in the next existence in order to determine, neutralize, and finalize the bad karma we have built with them in this life. Oh, the grief to have to meet again the same person who tore us down the first time, just to be put in the same situation and handle matters differently! Most people make the same errors over and over again, and that’s why it takes almost a 1000 lives to finally learn the lesson. However, if one of the two people involved in the conflict was able to resolve his feelings of spite and anguish on his own part, the other person who was unable to act upon the laws of God will be put in the same circumstance with the only but substantial difference that the roles will be inversed; rather than being the perpetrator, he shall be the victim (and vice versa) and get to have a taste of his own medicine. Now, again, my explanation is really as superficial and generalized as it gets, but how amazingly cool would it be if such theory were actually true? Just imagine all those people who wronged you and belittled you getting to walk in your shoes, not for a day or two, but until they’re in fact able to find forgiveness in their heart.

Forgiveness. Such a regular word, and such a hard principle to follow. What is really forgiveness? I can tell you what forgiveness is to me. Forgiveness is being able to love (not being in love, but simply loving) someone who hurt you so deeply you felt like the breath of life had left your spirit for a moment, and all you could see was a shade of death laying on everything around you. It’s too easy to forgive someone who has not hurt us to that extent. The real challenge is to be able to grant forgiveness to the ones who have shaken us to the very core of our belief in love, the ones who took unfair advantage of our capability to love them despite their faults, the ones who were never able to appreciate the meaning of sorrow when it came down to breaking our heart. The ones who were never big enough men to grant us a sincere apology to our faces, but instead decided to remain in their little world of shame and misunderstanding because they were so little they could not bring themselves to get out of their comfort zone. After all, it’s not easy to take responsibility of our actions when such actions are dishonorable and shameful. Yet, some of us are able to do so regardless because we feel like we can’t live with the notion that someone out there lives in misery because of our actions. It takes being a big man to admit we were wrong, but it takes being an even bigger man to admit we were wrong to someone else’s face, especially the face of the person we wronged.

Now, mindful of this concept of forgiveness, how many of us can actually say we are capable of forgiving our enemy to the point that we wish them the best in life no matter what? Well, if you are unable to forgive in this life, you will have to redeem your power of forgiveness in the next, or the next after the next, or even the next after the next, after the next life.I thank God we’re given so many chances to resolve our negative feelings to purify our souls.

As for me, I have forgiven. It’s been a process, I admit. It’s been a painful and challenging process. But I’m finally there, I’m finally at peace. As with all processes, it wasn’t easy. I went from moments of extreme anger, to moments of total discomfort. It took all the positive energy I could gather from my spirit. But I’m finally at peace with myself and with the person (whom I must have met in one of my previous lives) who shook ME to the very core of MY belief in love. It would be nice to be able to forgive this man openly, to his face, maybe sipping on a cup of coffee, but I don’t think I will be able to fulfill this desire in this life, as the pure knowledge that I have forgiven him is comforting enough for me, and I am afraid to see him again, to reopen gates of tears and pain I have decided to lock down forever. There is much more than forgiveness involved in this story, there are feelings I maybe won’t be able to give away for a long time.

“So, if one day *you*, yes you, will find yourself reading these words in a moment of discomfort or guilt (if that ever will come to you), just know I have forgiven you. Despite the fact I said you were one big f*ing mistake, I have forgiven you. In my heart, I have forgiven you”.