Month: December 2004

Regarding karma, There is no such thing in the universe. For those who know  the Triune God there is Divine providence, sowing and reaping and one day  the final judgement.

Karma is seen by most people as a principle of the universe disconnected  from a belief that there is a Creator God who is without time and is  all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present.

We do reap what we sow and the wages of our sin is physical death one day.  The Good news is that all our sin can be forgiven thru the person of Jesus  Christ, God incarnate, who died as the perfect sacrifice to free us from the  guilt and bondage of our sin.

The ultimate truth is that life comes from death, His death for us! He is  the Resurrection and the life! To you it is karma, to me He is a person who  has revealed Himself to those who cry out to him to be saved. A merciful God  who will one day restore things to their original state, the way it was  before sin entered our being.

Blessings!

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Michael Norwood:

I like what you say, Clarke, about "Karma is seen by most people as a principle of the universe disconnected  from a belief that there is a Creator God who is without time and is  all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present."

Indeed, in my own newsletter, I was thinking of "Good Karma" and "Bad Karma" more as a figure of popular speech as opposed to a mystical interpretation of how the universe works.

I, too, believe that as you sow, so shall you reap. And I believe in it, not only in terms of long-term life and spiritual consequences, but immediate ones as well:

Think and act in an angry, unforgiving, frustrated and self-righteous manner regularly, and you fill your body with angry, unforgiving, frustrated and self-righteous free radicals and  molecules that wear the body down, cause high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer – and immediately make you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

Think and act in a caring, strong, abundant and gracious manner, and you self-produce through your very own glands the hormones and neuro-transmitters that perpetuate your own "Good Karma" (or simply, your "connectedness to God").

And for that, kindly allow me to thank you and everyone else for sharing your grace by contributing to the Wealthy Soul blog.

Hi, Norayda
Excellent inner exam, Hi Iam Harold, This is my personal opinion. I was raised as a Methodist, Drop out, Catholisism, Drop out. Always believed there was a God for 40 plus years I haved looked for the answer.
Through out this 40 plus years I would go through spurts of talking with God outloud alone in my space. and all those times I found it to be enlightening. What was happening is while talking outload I realized after a time, long time. That not only was looking for wisdom and answers, but that I was answering them myself.
It states in the Bible. WE need not ask for anything, for GOD knows everything we want every question that we are going to ask.
Knowing this for years. I still had a life tha was upside down big sinner, Went from the top of the world and to bottom several times. Still believing in God but never asked nor steped inside of a church. Why people have asked me my answer was because I was a SINNER, and knew that I was going to continue to be a sinner. So I could not go to church and be a hypocrite. Over all these years I was over looking one vital aspect of God the Church all that, and that was JESUS. The answer to you questions are not to GOD but to JESUS in order for us to reach God we must become one with JESUS, it has taken 40 plus yrs. to find the answer, and it has been in front of me all the time. For total well being, happiness, ETC.is that we live as Jesus did in the way we look upon life.
What has caused the problem for so many of us is it has always been the church although they talked about Jesus & God it was only for the benefit of the church.If you can find the right church one that fits, then by all means go, But it does not mean that you have to. As far as tithing, it is a requirment. (AS YOU SEW YOU SHALL RECIEVE) True statement, you give to what your heart tells you, as long as it is for the good of the and Gods work. Asimple way of doing this is through out your daily life when a question or problem ask yourself what would Jesus do, and if you follow that answer in time you will be supprised how much your life will change and your purpose come into focus, and it is no harder than that.
Karma is simply lessons that we need to learn in order for us to truly be as God created us to be in our own special way.
God Bless to all and learn to keep it simple because it really is. Is it easy no not in the begining, not untill your belife and faith are one, and then there will still be challenges, for that is how we lean
Blessings Harold F. McCune

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Michael Norwood:

Indeed, as you suggest, Harold, for me Jesus and God speak for themselves – and to ourselves. Everyone else’s interpretation is just that – an interpretation.

And for what it’s worth – here’s mine:

God and Jesus represent the highest forms of unconditional love, forgiveness, surrender and grace.

And any interpretation that leaves you and me with anything less than that is more of the interpreter than of God and of Jesus.

Amen. End of interpretation of interpretations.

The following quote came in an email about the same time as your question and reminds me to see "both side of the coin".  The more I practice this, the more I can experience an inner calm.

"Would you like something to challenge and strengthen your mental forces? At the next disappointing event, reflect, ‘This is also just as much a part of life as what I label a favorable event. As a whole person, I see both sides equally; I do not split events into good and bad. Being whole, I see the whole.’ Do this, even if you don’t understand it, for it contains a tremendous secret."     from Esoteric Mind Power, by Vernon Howard.

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Michael Norwood:

I enjoy that philosophy, Mimi. Sometimes, though, we’re faced with some really major challenges that I believe are better to experience in their full impact rather than sugar-coat in our minds as being "all good"  (ie. how much good would it have done to espouse Vernon’s philosophy to families of 9/11 victims on 9/11, 9/12, 9/13, 14 & 15?).

I believe in first being present with whatever is truly there – grief, anger, sadness, etc. Experience the emotion fully and without "trying to look on the bright side."

But then, at a certain point, to indeed begin looking for the "Gifts" from the challenge.

And perhaps a little later, to begin stop thinking about the challenge constantly, and to move on.

But then, after that, to use what we experienced to look at how we can help others overcome similar challenges. Thus we become an instrument of grace in other people’s lives . . . and in our own.

Hello Everyone,

I really do think I have bad Karma. I have nothing good to talk about. I am not exagerating when I say I have no friends. I am very ill and take a lot of medicine so although I have a decent job my money goes to medicine. My children 24,17, and 15 are pretty much all a mess. As a single mother I did the best I could. But I am trying to turn my life around now and I bought the Wealthy Soul books hoping to begin to heal myself. I think I have been sad my whole life because I was abused as a child and who wants to be around someone that is sad all the time. So that is my Christmas gift to myself this year to work on healing my broken soul.

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Michael Norwood:

Your life begins today, Kathy, so congratulations on your new resolve. I would refer you to my last post on Jana’s comments – or rather on her comments themself.

Indeed, the hand we are dealt with in life can sometimes be very tough. And, indeed, you have every right to not stifle your emotions.

But there does come a point where you just plain and simply have to say "Enough is enough. There are people with worse situations than me out there. Maybe I can’t change some of the things that have happened to me, but I certainly have 100% ability to change the channel I’ve had myself tuned to."

Choose a new channel, Kathy. Don’t forget your past, but do move into the future. Turn off the soap opera (my life is one too if I allow it to be, as is everyone else’s). Why not turn to The Nature channel, or The Wisdom channel, or to The Inspiration channel?

No kidding – it has to do with the programs you choose on TV, the books you read, the music you listen to, and the friends you choose.

The Wealthy Soul series is a great start.

This blog and my newsletter is a great start.

But rest assured . . . it’s a big world. I ain’t the only one out here!

Fill up your thoughts and waking hours with that music, and see how your tune begins to change.

God bless.

Having read your interesting newsletter (and awaiting the books I

ordered), I am compelled to ask if you operate out of a big glass

cathedral like my friend in California……Proverb 17:22

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Michael Norwood:

To quote the Dalai Lama, "My religion is simple. My religion is kindness."

And I try my best to make my Cathedral my life.

God bless.

Dear Michael,

I’m not sure I believe in bad (or good) Karma, but I do think we’re given the exact experiences we need in order to learn the lessons we were put here to learn. And ultimately, to pass those lessons on to those we come in contact with during this lifetime.

Take me, for example; when I was 18 in 1991 and on top of the world, having just graduated from high school and feeling invincible as all teenagers do, my niece was diagnosed with cancer. She was 8. And she was the joy of my life! Her and I had a very special bond and the news hit me like a freight train.

Now, I know you went through a similar experience in your young life and understand the depth of what I was feeling. Boy, some days I just wanted to give in to those depressive thoughts I had. But, I knew for the sake of my niece – and my sister, who was her mother – that I had to be strong for both of them. I knew there was some reason, as all things have a reason, even if we can’t quite grasp what it is in the midst of the situation. So, I kept myself grounded.

At one point, just before the end – I had a realization and I just *knew* without a doubt that she would be gone later that day. And just hours before she passed away she came to and said to me "Annie, it’s ok. I know where we are." And I know that she did. She knew exactly where we were. She knew exactly the lesson we all needed to learn, the reason we were all experiencing this situation.

Years later, as a mother and a wife myself, I’ve finally caught on. And I know that even though the experiences we have can make or break us, if we allow them to, they will, indeed make us stronger. There is a reason. A lesson.

And that is, to share LIFE with those around us. To help eacother. To love. To laugh and to smile. We must stop and see the beauty God created all around us. For beauty is in the wind, in the trees, the mountains and valleys. It is in the rainbow, the ocean. In a kiss. A hug.

And in every dream.

Take care, Annie

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Michael Norwood:

Ah, Annie, the experience you describe is so beautiful. I like to describe what you went through as a Near-a-Death-Experience – exquisite spirituality gained from being near the side of a loved one.

There aren’t many more difficult experiences, and there aren’t many more beautiful. You’ve touched the ethers and found the gifts.

Keep sharing them.

After half a lifetime of way more than average challenges, and intensive research into philosophy and Universal Law, I’ve decided I don’t believe in bad karma, except in very specific circumstances. But in general, we get what we pay for in life. I believe that what you focus on increases, and when you focus on your fears or what can go wrong, that’s what is manifested into your experience through Universal Law. One thing I have learned is when you think about what you want, the Universe allows you to want it. If you think about what you HAVE (even if you don’t – yet), the Universe will allow you to have it. The other interesting thing I’ve just recently discovered is that Universal Law can’t hear negatives. If you focus on something NOT happening, that thing WILL happen, because the Universe doesn’t do negatives: don’t, no, none, never. There are more, but knowing about that no-negatives rule has been a biggie for me. We’ve all made a commitment to what this life would be about for us before we even entered it. We chose our parents, our body, our path in life in order to fulfill that commitment. Some of us have a very easy path, and others walk through hell every day, but we all get out of it what we’ve put into it, and we all must fulfil our commitments. I do believe we can consciously choose, at any moment, to improve the way in which we fulfill whatever we committed to learning in this life through action, thought and belief, and that we can walk a less rocky path than the one that Universal Law may have thrown us onto to start with. By working toward understanding why we’re here, we can find better and more productive roads to that fulfillment. And, by moving toward our inner direction, we can do and be more in this life than if we just wait for life to take us where it will. I think part of the key, for me at least, was releasing attachment to outcome, releasing my attachment to perfectionism – (no one can live up to that, so it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy), releasing fear and any need to control things, and just relax into the journey. My personal path now is much more peaceful and productive, and I don’t waste so much time and energy railing against my lot in life. I look at my path in life with the perspective of Aikido: I feel where the energy is taking me, merge with it in the flow, then exert the tiniest pressure at certain moments to make it flow along the path I have chosen. And now I am a happy, balanced person committed to growth instead of a victim.

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Michael Norwood:

I walk a fine line on what you’ve said, Jana. A lot of the New-Age tenets can make people feel guilty for what has befallen them. And yet, there’s tremendous depth to the idea of not focusing on the so-called "problem" (AKA "Bad Karma")

I believe Balance (Insight 5) puts it into perspective:

I believe it’s unauthentic to try not to feel emotions when we go through very difficult circumstances. I believe it’s counter-productive to feel we must stifle expressing those emotions, and, in fact, makes us a superficial and a potentially "explosive" person if we don’t share those emotions with those with whom we are closest.

And yet, I 100% agree with you that we do have to reach a time where we begin shifting our attention away from the problem, to the solution, and ultimately to the beautiful things in life.

And therein is the beauty of transformation.

When things don’t go as planned, we tend to think something bad is happening. In fact, when anything does not go as we prefer, we usually think something bad is happening. Isn’t this so? For instance, when the car breaks down, or we get laid off or fired, or someone leaves us, or we get sick, etc., etc., etc., the usual response is to feel bad because we think something bad is happening. But I (have come to) believe that everything that occurs is somehow good. I believe the Universe is ALWAYS on our side, doing everything to make our lives better. But in order for the Universe to do this most effectively, we have to be willing to ‘go along’ and the way we do this is by monitoring our feelings and whenever we feel anything less than we want, to do our best to get ourselves into some better mood. We need to understand that situations, events or conditions do not determine our emotional condition. Although we have little control of how we may initially respond to events, we can have great control over how we modify that response and get ourselves into better moods. Certainly, this is a skill, and comes better with practice, but it is available to practically anyone. Shakespeare has written, “Nothing is good or bad but that thinking makes it so.” There is a long story going around that helps illustrate this. A part of it goes: There was a man in ancient China who had a son, and the son loved horses, and so the father got his son a horse. But the son fell from the horse and the father was sad and went to a local wise men, grieving that he bought his son a horse and that caused his son to fall and break his leg, and now he felt badly about it. But the wise man simply asked, “Is it bad?” At the time there was a war going on, and men came to the village of the man and his son, but since his son had a broken leg he was not taken off to war. At this, the man went back to the wise man and said something to the effect, “You were right. My son breaking his leg was a blessing in disguise.” But at this, the wise man only said, “Oh?” You tell of so many things apparently going wrong with your computer and such, but then you say you later had the most remarkable sales. Maybe the great sales would not have happened had things simply gone as planned without a hitch. So, who’s to say what is good or bad? I have had many such kinds of strings of events, where what seemed unwanted allowed something else preferred to happen. For example, we wanted to get our son a car, but didn’t have the money. At first I felt bad about this, but then, on recalling this philosophy I decided to believe that ‘all is well’ and everything is working out. I purposely got myself back into a good mood about it (as I have been taught to do). As it happened, someone we don’t know, someone who is not related, but simply one of my son’s friend’s relatives GAVE my son a car. AND,.. before giving it to him, they paid over $500 to make repairs, so that the car was in good condition. Well, that certainly seems an easier solution to our ‘problem’, and I am fairly grateful for it. But I also understand, everything has two sides, so I tend to take even this kind of remarkable good fortune in stride. Dustin Hoffman has a story where, early in his acting career, after years of typical struggling for an actor, he landed what seemed to be a dream-come-true job, acting a lead role in a fully financed Broadway play. But two weeks into rehearsals, an accident happened on the set that injured Dustin, enough so that he had to be taken out of the play. As it turned out, the director for the movie ‘The Graduate’ had had his eye on Dustin for the part, but thought he was committed to the Broadway play. When he got wind of Dustin’s accident, he had Dustin audition for and get the lead part in this movie. And this movie was the one that launched Dustin’s successful movie career. So, who’s to say what is Bad Karma? I believe, the best approach is to assume that EVERYTHING that occurs is good somehow, and this allows it to evolve accordingly, most easily. Whereas, judging an experience or event as bad seems to create a string of occurrences that seem to verify our negative judgment. This reminds me of a saying, “Would you rather be right, or be happy?” Oprah says, "Everything happens for a reason, even if we can’t see it at the time." I’m fairly sure she means that everything happens for a good reason, and I agree with her (although they often don’t appear good at all). When we make negative judgments, we tend to get very self-righteous about them, as if we are God somehow, and know that such things are as we judge them to be. To me, this is common but arrogant. Phil

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Michael Norwood:

I love the Dustin Hoffman story, Phil, as well as the classic one from China. We just can’t know where our supposed "Bad Karma" is going to lead us.

There’s even this guy I know who went through some stuff and landed up writing this book and newsletter series about Wealthy Souls . . .

It is so good to see how others handle these situations. I have my own way of seeing the problems of life. We all are like children at Christmas. We are anxious to get to the present. Most of our presents are wrapped. We must unwrap the boxes to find out what is inside. Some times there is more than one wrapping to undo, ribbons, tape,wrapping paper, and a box. As we undo each phase of wrapping the anticipation grows. Many of the gifts or blessing from God are wrapped in problems. We are to anxious to get to the present to appreciate the fact that it is wrapped. We do not recognize the problem as wrapping on the gift. If someone gives us something and they have taken the time to wrap it, it makes it special. The more wrapping and time taken to make the presentation special the more we get excited about the gift. This is just a way of expressing our desire to make it special. The more special we make it the more it is remembered,and hopefully appreciated. I believe God does the same thing with gifts to us. Next time you get a big problem get excited and try to unwrap it with anticipation, knowing God has sent you a gift and he wants it to be special, remembered, and appreciated. When are you most excited? Seeing a tree with gifts wrapped with your name on them or seeing the tree with no gifts in sight? Do you get anxious right before your birthday, wondering who is going to remember it is Your day? So when you see gift wrapping (problems) get excited something wonderful is on it’s way. 

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Michael Norwood:

Beautiful, Birdie.  Absolutely beautiful. I will just let your exquisite words stand on their own.

Hello Michael, We spoke almost one year ago on the phone regarding your Wealthy Soul series which I purchased not only for myself but for all of my children. A wonderful investment! At the time we spoke I was bemoaning my situation. I had had a terrible fall which left me with nerve damage, torn meniscus, cronic pain and in a wheelchair at the age of 45. Bad Karma? There were times when I truley felt, as well as my husband, that we had bad karma. We are still stuggling to say the least, especially financially and at times we are very "Concerned"! This is a word I choose instead of "afraid or fearful"! I believe what you put out there comes back ten fold including but not limited to Words. This event (fall) in our lives has changed things around immensely. We have railed against the fates, tried to figure out what we have done wrong to deserve this and yes gone down the Bad Karma Road, must have been a huge debt?!?! But I have to tell you that the changes that have come about and continue to come about due to this event are amazing. There is no way we would be where we are or having the things happen that are happening if it were not for this event. I believe sometimes we think that the path we are on is the right one or we are too "concerned" about the unknown to make the necessary changes in our lives so here come events, bad karma and any other name you can think to call "it". "It" comes along and makes us change course so that we have the experiences we need to grow and change as well as the affect that it has on others around us. Wether it is loss, accidents, or mishaps they all happen for a reason, sometimes it is for us, sometimes for others and most times for both. I read a beautiful plaque the other day regarding the loss of a loved one, it stated, "The loss of a loved one means there is an Angel you Know!" Now that is turning it around!! Take off the Bad and just leave it at Karma, in the end it really is all good!! Melody

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Michael Norwood:

Thanks for the kind words about the books, Melody.

I love two things you said:

Using the word "concerned" – tremendous balance in adopting that attitude, which is not alarmist but realistic, and prepratory for action.

And your quote:

"The loss of a loved one means there is an Angel you Know!"

Exquisite!