The Karma of a Nation

 

The Sanskrit word karma has essentially become part of the English lexicon. Who is not at least somewhat familiar with the way it’s taken on a “what goes around comes around” sort of meaning in everyday parlance? Which is not really too bad a definition, as far as it goes. If you start doing a little research, though, you’ll find that there’s actually quite a range of thought about the true nature of this thing we call karma. On one hand are very precise definitions, like karma being the result of action coupled with intention. On the other are very broad implications of metaphysical import, like if your good karma outweighs your bad karma by the time you pass on, then you’ll enjoy a favorable rebirth. Otherwise…

 

Each of these extremes raises questions of its own. The former, for instance, begs the question: “If I do something that causes harm unintentionally, do I still accumulate bad karma?” The latter requires us to begin discussing concepts like souls and the precise “mechanism” by which karma bridges lifespans. 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, creating, etc. (Wisdom Library) 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 might instill in their children. And, yes, nations have karma as well.

 

Flag on the pavement near the street memorial for Michael Brown

So, 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 coming 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 a 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. No justice, no peace.

 

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 peaceful transitions of power based on the will of the majority (mitigated somewhat, to be sure, by that pesky electoral college) 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 the 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, entitled to take 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. Silence is violence.

 

All of this karma 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. We are on the eve of deciding what will happen when some of the best karma we’ve accumulated, our model democratic institutions, meets some of our worst – our most entitled, greedy, violent, abusive, and self-interested urges personified.

 

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

 

 

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 by Mark Robert Frank