A Circuitous Discourse

Who are we really? It’s my nature to—to what and how do we know it’s our nature, an inherent part of us? “The Scorpion and the Frog” an animal fable, teaches hurting others even when it is not in their own interests because the scorpion stings and dooms them both. I’m not so sure that it's our human nature. In our habitual routines, agendas, modus operandi, some of us are diehards and others well, can be lazy. We can have lazy minds as well. If we are images of ourselves, the picture that we have of ourselves will be far removed from reality. Every time somebody praises or criticizes us, we try to see if it fits with our own sense of self-worth. We tend to ignore anything that does not fit with our mental frame of mind. I read somewhere that the slug must have been a big sinner (human) to have come back as a slug. Hmm, logic says that the slug only knows what he knows, that he’s a slug and is absolutely fine being a slug. Yikes an eye opener. Seems our goal is to satisfy this little image that we have of ourselves. We’ve all heard the cliché “What comes around goes around” I know that when it does come around, I feel it and it sobers. A sobering you get when you have recognized how you affected someone, and it has arrived in whatever form it takes. Chilling to think it will be someone other than who you wronged, jaw-dropping and startling. It can be a good or bad feeling, right? It hasn’t dawned on me in a long time, which means I haven’t done anything to others who don’t already know what to expect. In other words, if you already know that what you put out into the universe will come back to you, and not feel it when it’s shoved down your throat, then you just might be numb to it. Does this mean you have reached your destiny to your true self? Nah, it’s a long journey, and it’s more complicated than that. It’s about undoing what is not us and becoming who we really are. Karma is going to get you but what is it exactly? In Sanskrit, it literally means “action” cause and effect. To be right with karma you must be open to the world, and not just to your own convenient space, or what will you understand? This is why many choose not to believe in it, making life simple by putting up barriers for themselves, thwarting knowledge and growth. It makes me sad, because they are not using full potential missing the more subtle messages, signs for us to course-correct and move forward toward our higher purpose. So, what is instant karma? –God only knows!