Third on the list of spiritual laws as ascribed by Deepak Chopra is The Law of Karma.

“Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind…what we sow is what we reap. And when we choose actions that bring happiness and success to others, the fruit of our karma is happiness and success.”

Karma is defined here as “both action and the consequences of that action”. Dr. Chopra mentions the ancient wisdom saying, “what you sow is what you reap” so the question of correlation between this “new” teaching and that of Christian teaching is a moot point. So instead of leaving this chapter untapped, I will bring out some of what Dr. Chopra tells us about choice-making.

Deepak says that we are ”essentially infinite choice makers”. Obviously, some of those choices are conscious and some are not. Some are good choices and some are not. Some of the reasons for your current ”condition” is due to past choices, whether you have consciously made them or not, they are still choices that effect where you are in your life.

We are not only infinite choice-makers but have become “bundles of conditioned reflexes that are constantly being triggered by people and circumstances into predictable outcomes of behavior”, ie Pavlov and his dogs. Even though we have conditioned reflexes, we are, at the core, still making choices.

Deepak tells us that built into our Selves is a way to physically and/or mentally know what the right choices are every time and we can condition ourselves to these right choices. How do we know? He recommends asking yourself two questions, “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?” and “Will this choice that I’m making now bring happiness to me and to those around me?” This seems to go against my upbringing in which I was told, “If you have to ask if it is right or wrong, it’s probably wrong.” So what is the right thing to do? Go with my gut feelings? Maybe it is that simple.

One final note. He wraps up this chapter with thoughts on past karma. What if I did a whole lot of stupid crap? What are my options? One option is “pay your karma debts”. How that is done specifically is not answered here. Another option is “to transmute or transform your karma to a more desireable experience.” Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this experience? Why is this happening and what is the message that the universe is giving to me? How can I make this experience useful to fellow human beings?” The third option when dealing with past karma is “to transcend it”. Deepak says that to transcend karma you must “keep experiencing the gap, the Self, the Spirit”. This is done, he says, through meditation.  In a broad sense, I guess I can understand what he is saying, but in the specifics, there seems to be too many generalities being made.

If you have thoughts about how to overcome past karma, please share them with me.