The Karma of a Nation

 

The Sanskrit word karma has essentially become part of the English lexicon, taking on a “what goes around comes around” sort of meaning in everyday parlance. That’s not too bad a definition, as far as it goes. However, there’s actually quite a range of thought about the nature of this thing we call karma. On one hand, for instance, is the very precise definition that karma is the result of action coupled with intention. On the other hand are very broad implications of metaphysical import. For example, some think that if their good karma outweighs their bad karma by the time they pass on, then they’ll enjoy a favorable rebirth. Otherwise… 

But let’s not get lost in the weeds. Karma is also sometimes referred to quite simply as a law of cause and effect. Every thought or action helps create the ground or causes and conditions from which the next thought or action arises. Which brings us to patterns of thought or action. The word karma derives from the Sanskrit root kri, which carries with it connotations of doing, making, and creating. And where there is doing, making, and creating there are patterns of doing, making, and creating. Thus, it’s possible to move beyond thinking of karma in purely individualistic terms. For instance, we can speak of the karma of human life itself.

Each of us is a creation based upon a pattern (evolving as it is) that has been passed down via a genetic code created anew each time sperm meets egg. Families have their own unique genetic karma—tendencies toward health or disease. Parents pass down to their offspring ways of being in the world that arise from various parenting styles (patterns) and the values and ideas they instill in their children. And, yes, nations have karma as well.

 

Flag on the pavement near the street memorial for Michael Brown

What is our karma here in the United States? Is it generally good, or generally bad? What is the ground from which our nation will be born anew in the very next moment, or in the aftermath of the most recent election? Will it be a favorable rebirth? This will require a little “soul-searching.” And we won’t make any real progress if we allow ourselves to become lost in misty-eyed reverie of patriotic ideas and imagery.

We cannot deny the fact that this nation was built on land stolen from indigenous peoples through physical violence and even genocide. Is it really in keeping with the natural order of things that such karma simply goes away with the passage of time? And what about the wealth that so many of us enjoy today that was accumulated through the stolen labor and stolen lives of all those men, women, and children who were enslaved on this nation’s soil? Don’t we kid ourselves with such platitudes as: “nobody alive today was born a master or slave.” The karma lives on. Yes, Civil Rights legislation has helped, but the karma of our racist past still lives on in this moment, in all of us, in some way, shape, or form.

Of course, we have an abundance of good karma, as well. A democratic nation was formed on this land that has been a beacon of righteousness for the world for over two centuries. Our (mostly) peaceful transitions of power based on the will of the majority (mitigated by that pesky electoral college, of course) have shown the world what civilized and enlightened government can look like. And not only that, we’ve kept despotism from overtaking the world. We’ve helped fight disease and hunger. We’ve created educational institutions that have brought forth some of the world’s greatest creative minds. We’ve helped raise the standard of living of much of the world, thereby alleviating suffering for untold numbers of people.

Ah, but our culture has also perpetuated the myth of the so-called rugged individual—going it alone, taking what is his (and whatever else he can get), and eschewing responsibility for others with casual reference to ideals of equality, freedom, and hard work. But these ideals, in addition to giving us positive guidance, give us as well the cover we need to be silent in the face of inequity and injustice—as if we’ve never seen the hard work and wholesome choices of another go unrewarded.

One striking parallel between the electoral sentiment of this most recent election and that of pre-Civil War days is the willingness with which we’ve tossed aside all manner of moral concerns for the sake of “strengthening the economy” and “lowering prices.” Wasn’t the defense of slavery predicated on such economic concerns? Can we say that our karma is improving because, whereas half the nation once went to war for the right to own other human beings, now half the nation merely voted to break up families by deporting their loved ones, take away the bodily autonomy of women, and place our democracy and the free world at risk—all for the sake of “pocketbook issues”?

The karma of our nation roils in each of as we speak. It plays out in our White House, the halls of Congress, and the Supreme Court. It swirls on the airwaves and out in the streets. The karma of our nation just pitted some of our highest yearnings and ideals against some of our most entitled, greedy, violent, abusive, and self-interested urges. The result is now recorded history.

Please reflect deeply on where our country is going, and act in accord with what is most beneficial and just. The future of our nation hangs in the balance. What is the karma we will perpetuate?

  

Image

Flag on the street near the memorial to Michael Brown,

an unarmed Black man killed at the hands of a White police officer.

Photo taken August 9, 2015

 

 

Copyright 2020, 2024 by Mark Robert Frank