I was pondering the possibility of a tangible science behind the mystical concept of karma. I feel that the conventional view of karma ties in somewhat with the fatalistic view that ‘things happen for a reason’, and is orchestrated by a ‘higher power’. I want to challenge this, and suggest that karma could possibly be an internal device, employed by one’s subconscious.

When I was younger, I used to believe in this fatalistic view of life, however, I am now more of the belief that we are the authors of our lives. Given that it is nigh impossible to know the absolute truth, I think it’s more valuable to choose the empowering view that we are in control with free will. Of course this does mean one must be more assertive, and take action to bring things into their lives, rather than just ‘leave it to fate’.

Let’s briefly consider the paradoxical nature of the simultaneous existence of fate AND free will.

• If one subscribes to the belief that our lives are written prior to our experience of life, then they must surrender all control, and ‘trust’ that things are as they should be.
• If one believes in free will, then one’s experiences are based on one’s choices and a series of external events that may or may not have any connection to the individual’s choices.

Another possibility is that there is a subtle combination of both free will and fate, possibly akin to a child’s ‘choose your own adventure’ book, in which one is presented with a series of paths, that are prewritten. However, one must consider why or how the ‘prewritten’ component exists. I think that if this is the case, it is most likely that the ‘fate’ component is a result of an on the fly, combined effort of thought by all conscious beings, gently influencing the subconscious minds of humankind.

Current science suggests that the subconscious mind is capable of processing some 20,000,000 environmental stimuli per second, compared to the conscious mind, which may struggle with a mere 40. I believe it is this incredible processing power of the subconscious mind that explains why people experience good results from techniques such as ‘positive thinking’, and methods from the popular (albeit, in my opinion, somewhat misleading) ‘The Secret’. One basically adjusts their focus by communicating with their subconscious, requesting a specific set of filters for the 20,000,000 envirmonmetal stimuli per second it is processing. (For more information on harnessing this technology, I suggest a Google search of ‘NLP’)

So how may the subconscious supercomputer effect one’s experiences?

Scenario A)

Imagine a person has invested time focusing and stressing about the inflation of their rent, and how they lack money.

When they are seated at a cafe, they may overhear a conversation about a person being evicted, or the inflation of petrol prices. This may happen because, of all the information occurring in the current environment, this is what they have ‘tuned’ their subconscious to communicate to the conscious mind.

Scenario B)

Imagine if the same person had ‘tuned’ their thoughts to focus on increasing wealth, and bettering their lifestyle.

While seated in the same cafe, at the same time, they may have overheard a different conversation about a new job being advertised that is perfect for them.

One can use the conscious mind, to reset the filters for the subconscious mind.

Back to karma…

Nature has a tendency to bring about balance. It consistently undulates and compensates for over energy and under energy, always moving towards balance. The human body does this too. If one becomes sick, a functioning body will clear the pathogens and restore a healthy balance.

When a human experiences a shift in emotion, there is generally a physical and psychological change. Just imagine the difference between being angry, and being happy. Most people will agree that a state of happiness is preferable.

The human body is considered to be a highly organised community of approximately 50 trillion cells. There is scientific evidence which alludes to the production of different chemicals, during different emotional states. Imagine the chemicals of emotion are like the weather, which effects the community of cells. Happiness being the most perfect climate for life, and anger/hate/fear being the most devastating. The life and health of one’s cells are dependant on the climate.

Let’s consider a scenario in which an individual does ‘wrong’ by another. This event, one would hope, would bring on a feeling of guilt in the individual who has done wrong. Guilt is an uncomfortable and negative emotion, a negative experience. A poor climate for survival.

When one participates in an event that causes guilt, the cells are bathed in this deviating sensation. So, due to the desire to restore balance, the subconscious may begin investigating a scenario which would result in the individual feeling a sense of retribution. Which may resolve the feeling of guilt.

So perhaps karma is a pre-programmed device built into the subconscious for the purpose of maintaining a healthy climate of emotion, which, in the same way that the subconscious communicates environmental stimuli to the conscious based on the individual’s filters, it may alert or influence the individual towards a situation which would present an opportunity to neutralise the ‘guilt’ thus restoring balance.

And so far as good karma is concerned, the more positive things one does, the more they reinforce the filters of their subconscious to focus on the positive, productive and helpful information in their lives.

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