2-14-93
                      KARMA & THE BIBLE: 2
 
     Non-resistance is an integral aspect of
working on your karma.  Non-resistance is
more than not resisting things and people
in the physical world.  It includes being
kind and peaceful in our thinking and
emotions.  A person may refrain from
fighting or speaking angry words but at
the same time boil inwardly with resistant
thoughts and emotions.  Harboring such
thoughts and emotions disturbs your peace,
your health and seeps into all aspects of
your life.  They frequently burst forth in
unexpected action.  (Story of the
perfectly controlled swami.)
     Everyone is unique.  Everyone thinks
their problems are unique.  Even after
being assured that everyone has similar
pain and troubles, our sense of unique
pain or grief remains.  It is not that we
disagree with that assurance.  We know
that everyone does have more or less
similar, if not the same problems, but
this knowledge does not diminish our sense
of being uniquely in pain.  One way that
we are equal is that we are equal in our
uniqueness.
     At times of pain or grief there is a
natural tendency, an innate urge to turn
to God to seek solace, to find some relief
from our suffering.  This intuitive urge
came with our evolving intelligence and
realization from animal nature to human
nature that there is a power greater than
ourselves.  This power we call God.  God
does not cause human suffering, nor does
God cause human happiness for that matter.
Suffering or the absence of it is the
result of human mental states and
attitudes.  Personal fulfillment is not
determined by externals, including an
external God, but our attitude and action
toward externals determines most of our
karma.
     Sitting quietly, calming mind and
emotions, becoming non-resistant, quiets
our ordinary mind which is ever engaged in
thinking about external things.  Only when
this mind is quiet and tranquil can it be
illuminated by the Spirit.  The beneficial
effects of the Spirit are gained from
within, not from without.  In order to be
able to do this when needed, you must be
able to do it when not needed; for you
never know when it will be needed.  Daily
practice is a must.  Practice calmness and
gentleness in all your activities.  As I
said before this does not mean that you
let others abuse you, only that you
maintain a satisfactory standard of
behavior.  We do not allow others to rob
us of our peace of mind.
     Some of you remember the three monkeys:
See no Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No
Evil...it's from an ancient Sanscrit
fable, so is the Blind Man and the
Elephant story.  There is a message in
that, but as spiritual seekers, we try to
elevate that standard in ourselves to
"Think No Evil, Speak No Evil, Do No
Evil."  We return forgiveness and
compassion, not personal self
justification.  We try to maintain
equal-mindedness.
     Anger is defined as "the emotion of
instant displeasure."  It is indignation
arising from the feeling of injury done or
intended.  Ire, rage, fury, wrath, are
varying degrees of anger intensity.  The
word itself is from Latin "angere" meaning
"to strangle."  In Sanscrit anger is kroda
and is frequently preceded by "foul,
stinking."
     Is anger bad?  Or does it depend on the
individual and the circumstances?
According to Christian theologians who
study such things, anger per se is not
"sinful."  It is "sinful" only in the
following situations or conditions:

     1.  When it rises too soon; that is,
     without your reflecting on it.

     2.  When it is disproportionate to the
     offense.

     3.  When it is transferred from the
     guilty to the innocent.

     4.  When it is maintained too long.

     5.  When it becomes vengeful.

     Proverbs 14:29: "He that is slow to
anger has great understanding.
     (References to these conclusions are
Mat.5:22)  "Whosoever is angry at his
brother without cause shall be in danger
of the judgement.  And whosoever shall say
to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger
of the Council."  Raca = empty one,
worthless.
     Ephes 4:26: "If you are angry, let not
the sun go down upon your wrath and you
incur no sin."
     Certainly it is wise to settle our
differences peaceably and promptly, if
possible.  But that's not always possible.
Winning an argument over an opponent does
not validate your position.  Both or
either of you, may be right or wrong.  To
bring in a third party, whether they agree
or disagree with one or both, cannot
decide for us.  (Acintiya)  So what are we
to do?  Proverbs 22:24 offers good advice:
"Make no friendship with a person prone to
anger or you might become like them."
Ecclesiastes 7:9: "Do not be eager in your
heart to be angry for anger resides in the
bosom of fools."  ...or as my ol' Granpa
says:  "When arguing with a fool make sure
they aren't doing the same."
     We don't need those kind of people or
the situations that they stir up in our
lives.  It is better to avoid them.  We
could say to this person who is prone to
anger and argument: "If you continue to do
this, I choose not to associate with you.
I am not going to attempt to change you,
but if you change yourself come around
again.  Until then it is adios, au revoir,
auf wiedersehen, so long...it's better
that we part."
     I can see and respect the God Spirit in
all, even a skunk, but I do not have to
walk its path and I certainly don't have
to take it home with me.  We can maintain
our clear understanding while continuing
on OUR OWN PATH.  Restricting
circumstances can be changed, transcended
or avoided.  In doing so you eliminate the
karmic effect.  It's not always easy or
even comfortable, but if you are stuck,
you must get unstuck or growth will cease.
Putting others first is good, but you must
also remember:  "You can't feed the poor
if you don't eat."  You cannot love others
if you don't take time to love yourself.
One must use discrimination in their
decision as to what to avoid and what to
participate in.  If it keeps reoccurring
there is probably something to learn from
it.
     Carl Rogers speaks of unconditional
positive regard.  That makes sense to me.
I believe we must develop unconditional
positive regard before we can love
ourselves or anyone.  Love is not
something that drops from heaven.  To love
takes effort and commitment and loving
ourself oftentimes takes great effort.
I'm not speaking of narcissistic love but
genuine love and respect.  In a way, we
all love ourselves.  The question is how
do you love yourself....  Emily
Dickinson/Robert Browning, "...count the
ways...."  If you really loved yourself,
you would not need laws to force you to
wear seatbelts; you would not need
warnings that "smoking is harmful, over-
eating is dangerous; driving while under
the influence can be lethal."  We would
not abuse alcohol, drugs, people or this
earth if we love.  If we love ourselves we
would heed the warnings of environmental
pollution and planetary destruction.  We
would do something about all of these..if
we truly loved ourselves.
     Aikido (I-kee'-do) is a form of
Japanese martial art.  It means "Harmony
of Nature."  It teaches students how to
blend their movements with those of an
attacker in such a way as to neutralize
the attack.  Instead of trying to
overpower the attacker or eluding the
attack, you simply neutralize the attack.
Aikido (I-kee'-do) recognizes that you can
take a cooperative approach to aggression.
You learn to blend someone's attack from a
grounded, centered position, using the
energy of the attack to neutralize the
aggression.  This same philosophy can be
applied to our thinking when we feel
angered or prone to violence.  We can by
calm intelligent thinking, speed and
actions, neutralize verbal aggression
rather than responding in like kind when
we are grounded or centered in God.
     There is ample evidence in the
psychological history of aggression that
it is much easier to generate anger if we
consider our opponent to be subhuman,
"gooks," "slanteyes," "Japs," "Dagos,"
"Wops," "Niggers," "Kikes," "Queers,"
"Fanatics," "Nazis," "Spics," "Chinks,"
"Honkies," "Chicanos," "Slopeheads,"....
It begins in our thoughts then proceeds to
verbal bashing and escalating to physical
bashing.  So, the first thing we must do
is to see our enemy like unto ourselves,
equal to ourselves in all respects.  To
practice non-violence is to have a sense
of interconnectiveness.  We don't just see
the person as they are now but we see the
possibilities for growth and development,
the potential for expression, the
potential for enlightenment.  To deprive
someone of self respect, or to be
perceived as a threat that might deprive
someone of self respect, is to instill the
motivation for aggression.  Sometimes the
greatest way to disarm an attacker is to
treat them with respect.  This can be an
effective defensive move.  
   To combineand paraphrase ancient martial 
art philosophy and William Saroyan, a
playwright and author, "Do not kill if you
only have to maim.  Do not maim if you
only have to wound.  Do not wound if you
can  reason.  If you cannot reason walk
away in peace...but if in the times of
your life you have sincerely tried all of
these unsuccessfully, and it becomes
necessary to kill in order to stop evil,
then kill and have no regrets and walk on.
Live your life, add not to the misery and
sorrows of the world, but rejoice at its
infinite beauty."
     The traditional meaning of the
archetypal warrior has to do with self
mastery: that is a warrior knows the real
enemy within.  This includes facing your
own weaknesses and your "shadow side" (to
use a Jungian term)... you confront your
own demons.  Gaining mastery involves
sitting peacefully experiencing one's self
without agitation including one's assets
and qualities.  In self help groups such
as AA and AlaNon these are sometimes
written down by others in the group.  One
person, as he was reading the list
complied as others saw him began to cry,
saying, "I see in my assets the kind of
person I always wanted to be.  And I can
by eliminating my faults and character
defects.  I can become who I want to be."
By eliminating karmic causes, we eliminate
karmic effects.  That is the beginning of
enlightenment.
     The more you become sensitive,
intuitive, responsive to the spirit, the
more you are unfolding increasing
passivity.  This puts you in peril, for
you still feel the negatives.  Hence the
more you must restrict your contacts until
your strength is above them.  It is
prudent to walk away from a situation
where there is much pressure to commit a
foolish action or to make a foolish
decision...walk away before it escalates
to the danger point.  Resisting early
beginnings is the most practical way of
dealing with negatives.
     Paul Brunton, a philosopher and one
whom I consider enlightened (died 1961),
believed that the counsel of Jesus "to
resist not evil," applied only to our own
thoughts, not other people's thoughts or
actions.
     We are to turn aside from our negative
thoughts by substituting the opposite
positive one.  For example we need not
expend our strength resisting the thought
of misery; we are to substitute hope for
misery whenever the misery thought comes
up in our mind.  This is in keeping the
metaphysical concept that "to oppose
something is to maintain it," not only
maintain it, but "to give it strength."
     Do not attempt to fight evil with evil.
Overcome it by calling on your Higher
Power to bring out the good in you to meet
it....  In this way you obey the counsel
"resist not evil."  As Spiritual seekers
we do not ignore the negative side of our
life or another's life; we deal with it
because circumstances force us to, but our
way is different.  We will use all of our
faculties: intellectual, practical and
intuitive.  We will keep calm and not let
passion or negative emotion carry us over
the edge.  And when done, we hand the
results over to God, however we perceive
God, and whatever the results.  We remain
non-attached to the results; that way we
transcend negativity, evil, sin, whatever
you want to call it, even though we must
grapple with it.
     With peace in mind, harmony of feelings
and knowledge of the universal presence of
divinity, who can continue to harbor
thoughts of violence, "evil"?  When we
succeed in overcoming our own negative
feelings we mount an upward rung on the
spiritual ladder.  We elevate all humanity
a little.
     When others try to involve you in
negative situations, negative criticisms,
negative emotions, or attempt to get you
to support their attitude or position, it
may not always be convenient to walk away,
but you can remain silent.  You can
express silent disapproval by body
language.  It is of little use to meet
irrational arguments with rational
statements, especially at a time of
emotional prejudice or passionate bias.
It is better to remain silent until a more
timely opportunity presents itself; it may
be necessary to deal with them with a firm
hand. (Hiss?)  If so, don't hesitate but
do it impersonally and calmly.
     When Confucius (450 BC) was asked about
returning good for evil, he answered:
"With what then will you return good?
Does this not push goodness to an extreme
position, rendering it almost ridiculous
by condoning bad conduct?  I say return
good for good, return justice for evil."
     I believe that we must forgive those
who mistreat us.  Forgiveness is as much,
or more, for our own benefit as it is for
those we forgive.  It purges or cleanses
us of negative feelings toward that
person.  After forgiveness, we need not
think that this implies that we have to
associate with such people.  There may be
a change in them or us at some future time
that makes association comfortable or even
pleasurable, but we don't have to push for
it.  We only must make certain that we
recognize the earliest inkling of negative
thoughts and immediately replace them with
positive ones.
     If a friend is persistently trying to
draw you into their negatives, those too
can be firmly resisted.  Say plainly to
them that they are entitled to their
views, but you would rather not discuss
them because "We have discussed them many
times before and I do not agree with you.
It is non-productive, even counter-
productive and I would prefer some other
subject as long as it is positive."  To
compromise with evil of any kind leads in
the end to confusion, weakness, a gradual
decline of standards, a contradiction of
principles and a wavering spirit.
     Remember the parable of the talents of Matt
25 when Jesus said: "Well done, you were
faithful in small things.  I will now give
you charge of greater things."
     What we are speaking about regarding
non-violent ways of combating evil or
negatives can be called wisdom.  Ignorance
is the opposite of wisdom.  Ignorance
breeds violence, and violence breeds more
violence of varying kinds.  Violence of
any kind is a destructive force, which in
the end, in its ultimate manifestation,
destroys even itself.
     Looking around this world, there must
be many who feel they have no future to
live for, and only an apathetic present at
best, or a miserable present at worst, in
which to exist.  There are times when a
person is more vulnerable to negative
thoughts than at other times.  In great
emotional depression, physical discomfort
or even in great emotional excitement,
anger or passion of any kind, we are more
susceptible to negatives.  We may have to
make a greater effort to accept God as the
source of this universe, including those
things in it that we dislike, but to not
do it is to deny God as the one power in
the universe.  We must take the words "Lo
I am with you always" and repeat them over
and over until we realize their truth and
understand their meaning.  No matter the
circumstances, joy or sorrow, light or
darkness, we are never separated from God,
nor can we ever be... "Lo I am with you
always...."
-------------------------------------------

For more information contact:

Don Parkison, MD
c/o The Oneness Center
2000 S. Stewart
Springfield, MO 65804
1-417-889-5215

or contact:

Sandra Price
Shadow Rider BBS
1-901-873-1570

Tapes may be purchased for $3 each
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