I guess this goes to the core of my belief system, it also has no solid traditional foundation, as there are many different takes on Karma.

In my interpretation of Karma it is the tally of spiritual lessons you have learned and the level that you have learned them.

For me the concepts of good karma and bad karma are partially irrelevant. The law or retribution and such does not totally apply in my view. However it is necessary to learn to improve your life and the lives around you, I feel this is a fundamental spiritual lesson. You are not “you” you are your “tribe”.

* Tribe I feel is all those you choose to have close to you, those you allow yourself to concern yourself with, and those for who you are vulnerable. It is those who you will displace your goals or comfort. This is usually much larger then we originally think. For example Lady Diana was part of many people’s tribes. The people at work, those you work for, your customers….

Now, there are people who we would die for without a seconds hesitation, and there are people who we would reluctantly stop our cars for and verify that they are all right and help is on the way if they are stranded. I feel all these people/things make up our greater tribe.

The regular tribe are those people who have a clear affect on our actions and thoughts. And the inner tribe are those who we would sacrifice a lot for (traditionally family).

The larger that we allow that tribe to be, the things we allow to affect us as well as the larger our inner tribe is offers us a huge reward if we manage it correctly.

It is also a fact that in today’s world we change tribes. Some say we are part of many tribes, this is also correct, but “my tribe” is the collection of tribes I belong to.

I also think that it is not just people in our tribe, for some it includes pets, places, trees, spirits, cars and so on.

Part of karma is improving things for our tribe and even our greater tribe. The reason is that it improves things for you and your inner tribe.

Another part of karma is that there are things we must learn to overcome, detach ourselves from yet still be engaged in the outcome.

There is also an element of fate to karma, that we have lessons to learn, and in order to learn them we bust go transcend certain ordeals. This is where it gets very complex, and plays with the concept of free will.

Lets say I trip on a bottle left on the street while I am running backwards. I break my leg. I loose income because I can not work. I have to seek another type of employment because of complications in my healing. I meet a doctor and we hit it off and have 2.5 kids…..

All of that might be fate or part of karma.

But lets take a step back, someone left the bottle there, it was their fate to do so.

We can take this to an extreme. There is a mass murderer, who has killed dozens of people and tortured many more. While I will not go into what punishment I think is fair for such a person, I will say I feel that that person has done a spiritual service to everyone who has been touched by those crimes.

The school yard bully was a tool in providing spiritual lessons.

It was their karma to be those people.

It is funny that at this moment I feel that Satan or “The Devil” is the one who has made the greatest sacrifice for the betterment of man kind in the biblical stories. Without that character we would be stagnant, never learning the lessons and improving. It is his Karma to be who he is.

So in essence I feel karma is a checklist of things we must learn, there is a cosmic conspiracy to have that lesson presents itself over and over most of the time, and once every few life times in others moments. The tools to give that lesson, have their own lessons to learn, and sometimes we cross paths.

So that is why I often wonder what people mean when they mention “good karma” for me it is all good, I may not enjoy it, but it is all good.