The Third Law of KarmaThere are 4 laws and this month, I look at the third law of karma. Here it is. To quote the “Diamond Cutter” by Geshe Michael Roach: No experience of any kind ever happens unless the imprint that triggers it has been planted first. It’s pretty simple although it took me some time to get my head around it. So here goes. If you never do good things, you’ll never have good things done to you. Or at least you’ll never experience them. Imagine if you were a jerk every day of your life. After a while, there would never be a nice person in your world. Obviously those people are around but you would fail to see them. That is because the world isn’t “out there” as something you simply witness. According to this law, you are the originator of what you experience. Just think about it. If the world were the way you see it, everyone would see it the same way. But nobody sees the same experience the same way. The Third Law of Karma in ActionThis month, I have observed this law by observing my thoughts and feelings. I have also observed how others interact with their thoughts and feelings, wanting to keep the good ones and get rid of the bad ones.The trouble with that is that you do not control your thoughts and feelings in the moment that they are occurring. Stop. Think about that for a second...you do not control your thoughts the moment they arrive. You can control your reaction to the thoughts and feelings, but that’s all. Once the thought or feeling is had, it’s too late. It’s there due to some karmic activity in the past. For example...Let’s say you are driving on the highway, someone cuts you off, and you get angry. You have no control over the anger. It happens so fast. It happens because you caused someone else to be angry in the past.The good thing is you can control the reaction to the anger. If you have the wisdom to notice the anger and let it dissipate without cursing or flipping the bird, eventually, the feeling of anger will go away when you encounter the same situation. And then you won’t even experience the experience of being "cut off". That’s the power of the third law of karma. Tips for Applying the Third Law of KarmaYour homework for the month to deepen your understanding of the third law of karma is to simply notice your thoughts and feelings. Also notice how they change. Notice that they aren’t a function of your environment. If they were, everyone would have the same thoughts and feelings.When you have a good thought, consider that you have a good thought because you caused others to have good thoughts. If you have a bad thought, consider that you have caused others to have bad thoughts. Don’t make yourself wrong for it, just notice and make a point of helping others get what you want. It will change your life. It’s no big deal. So start now. Count Your StonesIn ancient times (although I'm sure it's still happening in some parts of the world), the old farmers would carry white and black stones in one of their pockets.Every time they had a good thought they transferred a white stone and every time they had a bad thought they transferred a black stone to a different pocket. At the end of the day, they could do a simple accounting of the white and black stones. Most people quickly learned that they had far more black stones than white stones. That which you can measure, you can change. What other tools or structures can you use to measure the quality of your thoughts? Be creative, there are many solutions. Please pass this along to anybody you think might benefit from some good karma. Return to the previous page, the Law of Karma to learn more about the other three laws of karma. Return to the Youngblood Coaching Home Page from the Third Law of Karma
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