KARMA: Karma (originally pronounced as "krma" with full rolling ’r’) is the natural cosmic law of cause and effect. The word is Sanskrit and means "action". We "create karma", good or bad, through our thoughts, words and deeds and through our life in general. Karma is our stock of merits or errors, and is thus decisive for our character and situation in the next incarnation. We are therefore passive receivers of karma: a previous life’s active karma, has created this life’s passive karma. Rudolf Steiner said: "In every life, the human spirit acts as a repetition of itself, with the fruits of past experiences from its previous life. The human spirit must reincarnate again and again; and the law consists in bringing the fruits from previous lives into the next one" Karma functions as any other "natural law" - that’s how nature works. It is not a law of retaliation or vengeance, as human laws are. It is wrong to think of good karma as a reward, or bad karma as a punishment. All of our thoughts, feelings and actions will sooner or later revert to us. It is simply a natural way to make our understanding grow. It has nothing to do with judgement. Karmic debt cannot be repaid as such through a martyr’s (self-sacrificing) death. We humans are not able to judge one way or the other, but simply try to live our lives in the best way possible, based on the conditions we are given. Needless to say, people who are compassionate, help humanity through their example, and are able to inspire others to develop spiritually. In the end, the path they have chosen is the only way to the path of love and self-forgetfulness. Back