William Q Judge remains one of the most prolific and insightful western writers on karma and reincarnation in modern times. The following are extracts from an early, classic article:
It is therefore necessary in order to understand the
nature of Karma and its relation to the individual to consider action in all
its aspects. Every act proceeds from the mind. Beyond the mind there is no
action and therefore no Karma. The basis of every act is desire. The plane of
desire or egotism is itself action and the matrix of every act. This plane may
be considered as non-manifest, yet having a dual manifestation in what we call
cause and effect, that is, the act and its consequences.
In reality, both the act and its consequences are the
effect, the cause being on the plane of desire. Desire is therefore the basis
of action in its first manifestation on the physical plane, and desire
determines the continuation of the act in its karmic relation to the
individual. For a man to be free from the effects of the Karma of any act he
must have passed to a state no longer yielding a basis in which that act can
inhere.
The ripples in the water caused by the action of the
stone will extend to the furthest limit of its expanse, but no further; they
are bounded by the shore. Their course is ended when there is no longer a basis
or suitable medium in which they can inhere; they expend their force and are
not. Karma is, therefore, as dependent upon the present personality for its
fulfillment, as it was upon the former for the first initial act.
The first great result of Karmic action is the
incarnation in physical life. The birth-seeking entity consisting of desires
and tendencies, presses forward towards incarnation. It is governed in the
selection of its scene of manifestation by the law of economy. Whatever is the
ruling tendency, that is to say, whatever group of affinities is strongest,
those affinities will lead it to the point of manifestation at which there is
the least opposition.
It incarnates in those surroundings most in harmony
with its Karmic tendencies and all the effects of actions contained in the
Karma so manifesting will be experienced by the individual. This governs the
station of life, the sex, the conditions of the irresponsible years of
childhood, the constitution with the various diseases inherent in it, and in
fact all those determining forces of physical existence which are ordinarily
classed under the terms, "heredity," and "national characteristics."
It must, however, be remembered that there are many
tendencies which are not exhausted in the act of incarnation. It may happen
that the Karma which caused an entity to incarnate in any particular
surrounding, was only strong enough to carry it into physical existence. Being
exhausted in that direction, freedom is obtained for the manifestation of other
tendencies and their Karmic effects.
For instance, Karmic force may cause an entity to
incarnate in a humble sphere of life. He may be born as the child of poor
parents. The Karma follows the entity, endures for a longer or shorter time,
and becomes exhausted. From that point, the child takes a line of life totally
different from his surroundings. Other affinities engendered by former action
express themselves in their Karmic results. The lingering effect of the past
Karma may still manifest itself in the way of obstacles and obstructions which
are surmounted with varying degrees of success according to their intensity.
These three, physical, intellectual, and emotional,
deal entirely with objects of sense perception and may be called the great
battlefield of Karma.1 There is also the plane of ethics, the plane of
discrimination of the "I ought to do this, I ought not to do that."
This plane harmonizes the intellect and the emotions. All these are the planes
of Karma or action: what to do, and what not to do. It is the mind as the basis
of desire that initiates action on the various planes, and it is only through
the mind that the effects of rest and action can be received.
If on the other hand the interest is detached from the
plane of sense gratification, if there is a constant effort to fix the mind on
the attainment of the highest ideal, the result will be that the past Karma
will find no basis in which to inhere on the physical plane. Karma will
therefore be manifested only in harmony with the plane of desire. The sense
energy of the physical plane will exhaust itself on a higher plane and thus
become transmuted in its effects.
It will appear, therefore, that although absolutely
true that action brings its own result, "there is no destruction here of
actions good or not good. Coming to one body after another they become ripened
in their respective ways." Yet this ripening is the act of the individual.
Free will of man asserts itself and he becomes his own saviour. To the worldly
man Karma is a stern Nemesis, to the spiritual man Karma unfolds itself in
harmony with his highest aspirations. He will look with tranquility alike on
past and future, neither dwelling with remorse on past sin nor living in
expectation of reward for present action.
(Karma, The Path, December 1886)
