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November/December 2004 Cosmic
It’s Your Karma! Or is it?

by Daeryl Lewis

Bad things keep happening to me... I must have done something really terrible in a past life to deserve this… Is this really all that I’m here for?

The only thing that is keeping you from being as joyful and abundant as you are meant to be is a shroud of false beliefs. The struggles that taught you so much -in childhood and past lives- have led you to the impression that to be here in this world is to suffer. You have forgotten your growth and only remember the pain.

As souls evolve, there are different ways of balancing karma. In our earliest incarnations, we learn through physical experience. One caveman kills another to steal his meat, for survival. The next life, their roles are switched so that each soul has an opportunity to be the receiver as well as the perpetrator. They are learning on a physical pain level, with eye-for-an-eye balancing. The purpose is not suffering for punishment, but realizing "I shouldn’t do this." Beyond the primal stage, a soul begins to develop sympathetic understanding towards others, with a desire to improve the emotional quality of relationships. To identify with what another person feels to such a degree that you cannot even consider causing pain is the mark of an older soul.

Each soul learns and grows through the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels of karmic balancing. We evolve from getting even to righting our wrongs, and from changing others to improving our own awareness and emotional balance.

A common misunderstanding is that the world as a whole is shifting out of having to experience karma on a physical level. But there are soul groups of various ages, evolving at different paces. As long as there are still baby souls sharing the planet experience, there will be those who are learning by physical retaliation.

A perfect example is to look at the current situation between the U.S. and the Middle East, and to understand that the violence involves baby and young souls who are learning through a physical experience with pain and suffering. Those at a slightly older stage of soul evolution may react with intense fear or anger, experiencing their growth and lessons on an emotional level. Others seek to understand the situation on an intellectual level, to solve problems through rational decisions and changes, without becoming personally embroiled. For those experiencing karmic growth on the spiritual level, there is an allowance for different ways of being, a oneness, even if another’s actions are adverse to one’s own frame of reference.

As older souls, we are being challenged to reserve judgment about how others are experiencing their lessons. Stop reacting and seek to understand what another person may be feeling. Whether in global or personal conflicts, ask, "I wonder what is motivating them to act this way?" "What might their lessons and agreements be?"

Recognizing the soul age of others, we remove expectations that a person should be doing what would make us feel more comfortable. Instead, we can see that they are only embracing their karmic lessons at a level corresponding to their soul development. You cannot make a three-year-old grow up faster than they can grow!

As we shift to higher levels of karmic balancing, we also have an opportunity to embrace a more evolved concept of how karma works. Rather than remain locked in a view of karma as a fixed destiny or debt that must be paid, we can understand karma as a goal we set for ourselves prior to being born into this life.

We make arrangements with others for specific scenarios and relationships, creating a potential to learn certain lessons. Karma is an agreement to try and accomplish a certain growth or balancing. There is no binding contract which we must endure until a task is completed. We are always free to reevaluate or release our agreements. In fact, that is often what we must do, especially when either party is not ready, otherwise we create more imbalance and pain. Karma is not a penance, but an opportunity to evolve.

With the notion of free will choice reinstated into the concept of karma, we can release the burden of suffering that we bring in from past lives. We can forgive past blunders and perceived "wrongs," expelling poisonous resentments. We can break free from the false belief that pain and punishment serve any purpose. We can finally refocus our energy towards the goal of elevating ourselves and others to more joyful ways of living, rather than demanding retaliation or remaining trapped in our "fate."

Haven’t we suffered enough?

Daeryl Lewis is a clairvoyant and spiritual teacher in Salem, Oregon She presents Spirit Talks, workshops on past lives and soul agreements, and consults privately, in person or by phone. For more information, call 503-375-5793 or visit www.soulshift.com.