2-28-93

                       KARMA: 4


     Resist negation.  Negative thoughts and
moods are the death of spiritual growth.
We all experience them, we must all
overcome them or they will hold us back.
I have said before that there is
inequality in the world.  Others may have
greater or lesser capacity, but we are all
answerable for our own behavior, our own
thoughts and actions, not for anyone
else's.  We cannot straighten someone
else's path; we can only straighten our
own.  When you ask, "God, are you still
with me?" and you feel that comfortable
presence, then you know that you are
progressing spiritually.
     The whole world hungers for love, which
is God.  People go from one group to
another, from one path to another, from
one human being to another, seeking
fulfillment; but they never find enduring
contentment.  Something is always missing
and that something is the awareness of the
God within.  God is the one ingredient in
your life that can procure contentment.
Find God or let God find you, and
contentment will be found.  When things
become difficult in the external world, it
is very comforting to honestly and
sincerely say, in your heart, "Lord, I
only want you.  I crave nothing but your
love.  Let thy will be done...."  Don't
try to tell God how to solve your problems
or someone else's.
     Karma is the law of cause and effect as
it applies to our soul.  Our individual
karma operates along the lines of personal
motivations, personal actions, personal
experience and personal character.
Eliminate the cause and you eliminate the
effect.  Karma is the helping hand of life
that alerts us when we have taken a wrong
turn.  It is the healer of our self-
inflicted wounds.
     Life is a field in which everyday
actions and thoughts are sown like seeds.
These seeds germinate, grow, yield fruit
and eventually scatter more seeds.  Past
actions that result in present
circumstances can only be endured with
patience and understanding.  Actions that
have accumulated but have yet to fructify
can be tempered by education, self-control
and selfless service.  To avoid future
effects, eliminate present causes.
     "Doctrine," in theology, is a generic
term for the theoretical component of
religious experience.  Its purpose is to
conceptualize the primal or original
experience of the religious founders.
Doctrines provide religion with
intellectual systems for guidance in the
processes of instruction, discipline,
controversy and admittedly, propaganda.
They provide only guidance, not
necessarily truth.
     The development of doctrines and dogma,
the officially accepted versions of
religious teachings, has significantly
affected the traditions, the churches,
mosques, temples, synagogues and other
institutions of religion throughout the
world.  Oneness Center strives for a non-
ecclesiastical academic approach,
realizing that doctrines and dogma
continue to influence science, history and
philosophy although not to the extent in
the last 450 years as they did in prior
times, especially the middle ages.
     The established doctrine and dogma of
the early Christian church effectively put
an end to the teaching of karma and
reincarnation.  These early councils such
as the Council of Nice, 325 A.D., the
First Council of Constantinople, 381, the
Council of Constantinople, 553 A.D.  There
were later councils between 1000-1200 A.D.
but it was the early ones that established
the basic doctrine and dogma and made the
decision to delete all references to karma
and reincarnation from Christian
teachings.  However, one can still find
traces.  It is sort of like the covered
wagons of the Old West.  The wagons may be
gone but some of the tracks are still
visible.
     Last week we spoke of the Golden Rule
as the great karmic equalizer and
energizer.  We spoke of "Ideal human
qualities."  It certainly appears that
Jesus demonstrated these ideal qualities
in his ordinary daily works and actions.
He fostered love, peace and understanding
in all that he said and did.  When he saw
something wrong he did whatever he could
to set it right.  He comforted all, served
all, forgave all.  He saw all people as
equal: men, women, children, beggars,
lepers, fishermen, and traders.  He
repeatedly chastised the Pharisees for
their "holier than thou" attitudes.  He
saw all possessing the Spirit of God -
Divine Souls, not simply as individual
personalities.  He saw the potential of
humanity...he never once turned away from
the responsibilities he had assumed.  He
never veered from his beliefs and
teachings.  He practiced what he preached
right to the end: "...forgive them, they
know not what they do."  He was practicing
the Eightfold Path of Buddha; he was
working out his samchita karma and
generating positive kriemana karma...if I
can put it that way, which admittedly is
not exactly right.
     Jesus said "I work and my Father is
working."  John 5:17.  Krishna, speaking
as God in the Bhagavada Gita, says: "If I
stop working for even an instant this
whole universe would crumble and
disappear."  We all must work and we all
perform karma, not only on an individual
personal level but also on a community, a
national, a racial, a universal level.
This is how we bring the joy, the light
and the love of the Divine into our usual
lives: we do it by working.  We build a
bridge between knowledge and wisdom, and
by convincing both our intellect and
emotional mind the indivisible oneness of
all people, all creation.
     Love will heal our relationships:
family, personal and gender; religious,
political, and economical; air, earth,
water, plants, all earth, all creatures.
Prosperity will never come to people who
are indifferent to each other.  Zig Zigler
often said, "You can get anything you want
if you help others to get what they want."
I truly believe this.  The difficult part
is to want to help others get what they
want.  If you are too busy with your own
development you will be too busy to be
concerned about the plight and welfare of
others.
       The Rabbis of antiquity taught in the
Talmud: "An ignorant man cannot be a pious
man, nor a lustful man a teacher, nor can
one who is engaged in over-much business
grow in wisdom."  I don't agree in total
with this, but I do agree in context.  We
often think that if we put all of our
effort in going after what we want we will
get it and then we will feel secure and
happy.  Modern civilization has certainly
promoted this concept.  Even if it is
spiritual enlightenment it is not good to
put all of our effort into "going after
it."  We may become so heavenly bound we
are no earthly good.
     Karma demands that we be of service to
others.  Our deepest need comes from the
joy of being loved by others and knowing
that we are of genuine use to others.
Devoting all of your energies to self-
improvement, individual prosperity,
achievement results in separation from the
herd, the flock, the tribe; it puts man
against man, man against woman, men and
women against each other and against the
world.  This must cease or we go on
generating more and more karma to be
worked out.  Life is an indivisible whole.
If we work from only our ego we will never
see this.  Jealousy comes in when our ego
sees someone with something we want and
don't have.  There is no greater glory
than love nor any greater punishment than
jealousy.
     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 and 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; that
way we can maintain our friendship."
     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 (Mat.25).  Jesus said: "Well done,
you were faithful in small things.  I will
now give you charge of greater things."
Don't compromise even with little evils.
     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.  When you create an
authority you may create a type of
violence, even passivity can be a type of
violence.
     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, such as in
great emotional depression, or even in
great emotional excitement, when in
physical discomfort, anger and 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...."  All paths
when seen from above are one.
     As the expression of life becomes more
advanced, the bodies and minds become more
suitable and more perfect, to fulfill the
greater purpose, until the ultimate
instrument is created, with all the
faculties and instrumentalities required
to become a living, moving, Divine self...
a Godman.  Man, from the Sanskrit "manas"
"to think." Genesis: "...male and female
He created them."
     From the beginning of life, the Spirit
of God has been perfecting the instruments
of life, beginning with the first tiniest
conceivable life entity, each becoming
more and more complex and complete and
ultimately Earthman comes on the scene,
who has the faculties to use the spiritual
power if they choose.  What we observe as
we look back and around is the phenomena
of growth, change of life, the unfoldment
of what is within.  It is the change of
the imperfect form so that the inner
living entity can continue building the
perfect form for the expression of that
which is perfect within.

     "Be ye therefore perfect as your
     Father who is in Heaven is perfect."
     Mat. 5:48.

     As life evolves in human beings, our
faculties of knowing and learning the
Spiritual Laws and the ways of living the
Spiritual life are revealed to us.
When the Spirit of Truth comes (to
you), he will guide you into all
Truth, for he shall not speak of
himself, but whatever he shall hear
from the Father, that shall he
speak....  He shall guide you in
all Truth and the Truth shall make
you free."  John 8
 
     It is the Divine Comforter within, not
     some external messiah, maitreya or
     channeler.  Until that time we will
     continue to struggle to have happiness,
     peace, prosperity and security in our
     material world, and we continue to work on
     our karma.


     From the teachings of the ancients,
including the Master Jesus, Buddha, and
others, we must realize that we are not
the body, nor the sense mind, but a part
of the Creator..."I am that I am."  "He
that has seen me has seen the Father."  We
are the spiritual self that IS.  We merely
occupy a body and temporarily live on
earth.  The great fundamental truth was
stated by Paul:
      There is one body and one spirit,
      even as ye are called in one hope
      of your calling; one Lord, one
      faith, one baptism; one God and
      Father of all who is above all, and
      through all and in you all."
      (Above! and through! and IN ALL.)
      Eph. 4:4-6
 
     As soon as we realize this great truth
     of oneness in the midst of appearances to
     the contrary, we will be able to transform
     those appearances and limitations and we
     will experience that "truth which sets us
     free."

     The primary intent of religion is to
bring us close to the Supreme Truth or
Principle.  Even if we don't know what or
where it is precisely, we know the
direction in which it lies and that is the
direction we choose to travel, because we
now have the eyes to see and the ears to
hear and we are in the process of
developing the heart to respond, a
willingness to change.  When we are happy
and content we are unlikely to want to
change.  When our realities are serving us
reasonably well we feel justified in
leaving well enough alone.  It is during
the difficult periods of life that we are
apt to search for a better way.  This is
the law of karma working in us.  Develop
this attitude:  "I accept all that comes
into my life as necessary for my own
Spiritual unfoldment...and I thank you
Mother-Father God, even for the
experience.
---------------------------------------

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 are available for $3 each 

