Karma and Rebirth

Author(s): Christmas Humphereys
Publisher: Albemarle Street London

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KARMA NOT GOOD OR BAD hood of a God whose ways are unpredictable. If, on the other hand, I know that nothing of the SELF is mine, that all of me is anicca, anatta and a prey to dukkha, then selfishness and personal ambition have no purpose and are seen as foolishness; and though in the fight against the illusion of selfish purposing I may and shall be vanquished again and again, still, at least I know that “there is no abiding Self in man”, and that every single form of life, and there is nothing · dead, is equally Divine.
So much for differences. But are they ancient or modern ? St. Paul unquestionably taught the doctrine of Karma and Rebirth, and many of Christ's sayings are meaningless unless they refer to a doctrine so well known to his audience. But more of this hercafter. At the moment it is enough to observe that Karma is not by any means anti-Christian. Karma not Good or Bad
Karma is neither good nor bad, and it is inaccurate to speak of good Karma' and 'bad Karma'. Karma is; how we view it is our own affair. None but an adept, a Master of the Law, can judge another's Karma. We who see but a few strands of the web cannot know the design of which these tangled threads are part. What may seem at the time misfortune may, by clearing away the refuse of past error, open a way to further advancement ; good fortune may so puff up the recipient that from spiritual pride he falls to the ground again, and suffering tests and strengthens character. The habit of avoiding man-made labels for the day's events is itself an advancc in character. It is a sign of strength to appreciate that everything that is has had a cause, and that all that befalls one is genuinely 'right'. As Epictetus said, “True instruction is this : to learn to wish that cach thing should come to pass as it does. And how does it come to pass ? As the Disposer has disposed it.” For Epictetus the Disposer was no personal God but a natural Principle, which in its operation is the Law of
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