Contemplation on karma

I was going through a rough stormy journey last week. It was almost like a sudden and impromptu verdict passed to the accused without prior hearings. I was unprepared, or rather, deluded to be unprepared due to ignorance, and completely taken aback.

As the waves subsided, I started contemplating about the concept of karma. And thinking about my own karma. There were no anger and blame. Perhaps being in a helping position in the past have helped me tremendously to enter into the stage of acceptance almost instantly. However I am still bogged down by curiosity, and definitely still having a sense of helplessness that stems from the lack of insight on the past. What have I done in my past lives to be subjected to what I am going through now? The truth is most of us do not know. There are so much information symmetry (exploiting a public policy concept between principals and agents) between our current live and our previous lives, our present consciousness and our past consciousness. The irony is that even though in this digital age information technology have allowed us to harness big data to amazingly predict the future, but we remain ignorant on many of our histories in the past.

Not that being able to see through our past lives is important, because the only moment that matters is the present. Not having the foresight, wisdom and ability to see through my past and future, present moment is the only moment that I can control, and make the best of it.

Maybe the ripening the karma is a good thing in the sense that it pushes us to become a better version of ourselves. To be kinder. To be more thoughtful and understanding. To be more emphatic. 

I do not know what my future holds. All I have in mind now is to live my present moment well, and to be grateful to what I still have and enjoy. This piece has lightened up my day and here's the link:
https://contemplativetraditions.wordpress.com/

"Just meditate
 Concentrate on your breathing
 I only know.
 Listen and stay in peace as it is.
 Be the peace that you are,
 accept whatever you feel,
 and with the time, 
 all will heal."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Musings from Indonesia: Teguh

Teguh is my host in Yogyakarta as I was spending the last couple of days here wrapping up my fieldwork in Central Java. I came across his profile from the airbnb page and was very struck by the interior design of his house. I was ignorant about everything else about him until I got here yesterday. Turned out, it was one of the best airbnb experience ever. His place is located at a very secluded Javanese style village down south from Yogyakarta at the city fringe. Facing the widespread paddy fields in the countryside, it is a perfect place for one to immerse in solitude; ideal for personal retreat for anyone who just seeks temporary getaway from a harsh volatile reality. However, as much as I am attracted to the thoughtful interior design of his place and the perfect location for some quiet me time, I am struck by his personal story - a story about firmness and tenacity - very much the resemblance of his name 'Teguh' (means firm in English). He came from humble beginnings
Read more

A letter to the younger me

Dear Me You are such a blossoming young teenager full of hope and promise. You came to this world with a purpose in life, and you are set to fulfill that purpose with grace, courage and tenacity. Circumstances and conditions are right for you to thrive as a human being with the capacity to achieve ultimate realization, and though you were not born with a silver spoon, you are blessed enough to be born as a middle class kid with parents that place emphasis on education. As a child, your mother reads to you all the time, constantly feed you with the excitement of knowledge acquisition, and the curiosity of knowing the world. You grew up with Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. Their stories form a big part of an ideal fantasy world for a young passionate girl full of wonders and dreams. At the tender age of 16, you start to question authority and challenge the status quo. You have lots of fun with new found soulmates in high school. You would keep in touch with them for the rest of your lif
Read more