Your Karma is Not a Punishment
Written by Guy Van de Putte, Spiritual Guide & Mentor
Guy Van de Putte works as a guide for those looking for help navigating life's challenges or finding themselves at a crossroads. Blending shamanism, breathwork and constellation therapy with the non-dual and yogic traditions, he has a wide toolkit to support the power of presence and the healing words to accommodate lasting change.
Karma has become a very popular word on the internet these days. We’re probably all familiar with those “instant karma” videos on YouTube, where something bad immediately happens to people acting out. It can be quite satisfying to watch, as it gives us a sense of justice. It feeds a hope that those who have wronged us will also receive their punishment in any way, shape, or form without us having to do anything about it. It gives us a false idea of power while we actually feel powerless.
In the opposite direction, it also feeds a fear inside of us as soon as we’ve done something wrong or hurt someone, even unwillingly. The fear that we’ll have to pay the price for whatever it is we have done wrong in our eyes. So for many in the Western world, this ancient Sanskrit word has now replaced the similar belief in a vengeful God, the one who has cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for disobeying him, and whom we’re still trying to please, to earn our way back to him and to Heaven.
The idea of crime and punishment is deeply ingrained in every aspect of our lives and also in our belief systems. It can go as far as actually being relieved upon receiving a punishment. So we can let go of the shame we’ve been carrying and the secret we’ve been trying to hide. Although it’s absolutely noble to make amends, the idea behind karma is based upon a false belief in itself, one that is encouraging the idea of powerlessness instead of empowering us. For if it is a punishment bestowed upon us from a deity or the Universe itself, all we can do as puppets in the parade is to march in line as instructed. Where do the instructions even come from? We have to rely on our priests, gurus, or other holy men and women to tell us exactly what will or won’t upset the deity they worship. Since our religions disagree on certain aspects of life, we set ourselves up for certain failure if we don’t pick the right one.
Karma means action. More specifically, unconscious action leading to unconscious reaction. You can call it the law of attraction, the law of magnetism, or even Newton’s third law of action and reaction. It simply tells us that what you put out there is what you will get back. It has nothing to do with an invisible judge watching us every step of the way to put us back in our place when our head becomes too big for our neck. Therefore, you yourself have full control. You’re not a puppet on a string.
Then how do you change your karma? Or break free from it and let it work for you instead of against you? The key is in the word unconscious. Most of our actions, most of our words, will leave our body on autopilot. They are the result of our programming, of all the beliefs we hold about ourselves. It works like a very sophisticated computer program. A specific output follows a specific input. When a certain fear arises within you because something happened or someone said something, the computer program will start running to give an automated response, trying to avoid the danger. We will say things we don’t mean, do things we don’t want, as long as the danger subsides. This thereby holds back our own truth and authenticity, and literally gives our power away to partners, authority figures, friends, and so on.
We’re so used to it we’re not even aware of it. It’s that voice in our head that never stops, always tells us what to do, what to be afraid of, what’s wrong with us. We’re so used to it that we’ve identified with it. But the voice in the head is not you. Feel free to experiment with it. If you can observe it, disagree with it, and decide to do the opposite of what it is trying to make you do, how can you be it? How can the observer and the observed be the same?
It all starts by building in a little distance. Simply by being aware of the thoughts and the emotions coming up in our mind and body. So you can start making conscious choices by asking yourself, who’s talking, me or my mind, and is this what I want to keep on doing? Is this really how I want my life to be? Because you’ve experienced firsthand what the consequences have been. You can focus on your breath while doing it. That will anchor you in your body and prevent you from getting completely lost in an inner dialogue that won’t bring you any further to free yourself from the reactions of your unconscious actions.
You will keep attracting the same people and situations as long as you’re stuck on the wheel of karma. Not to punish you, but to show you where you haven’t freed yourself from old belief systems. So you can become more aware of the way you’re interacting with others and the world. So you can attract loving, positive outcomes in response to the loving awareness you put out in the world. You can then stop seeing karma as a universal tool of judgement and punishment, but rather as a tool to create the life you want to live and the world you want to live in.
Read more from Guy Van de Putte
Guy Van de Putte, Spiritual Guide & Mentor
Guy Van de Putte works as a guide for all those looking for help navigating life's challenges or finding themselves at a crossroads. His passion is helping people who are ready to wake up go beyond the stories and patterns that unconsciously run their lives. Thereby helping them to debunk the lies they told themselves, that are at the root of all the drama in their life, and take back the power over their own lives. So the old wounds from the past can be permanently healed and a new life of true freedom can emerge out of that. A fulfilled life in service of and in harmony with their true calling.
