Does karma execute its own life plan for an individual? Victor Hugo in Les Misérables wrote of the fate of Field Marshal Michel Ney during the Battle of Waterloo: “Frenzied with all the noble grandeur of death accepted, Ney put himself in the way of every onslaught in that bloodbath. There, is where he had his fifth horse killed from under him. Sweating, with fire in his eyes, foam on his lips, his uniform unbuttoned, one of his epaulettes cut in half by a sabre stroke from a horseguard, his great-eagle plate dented by a bullet, bloodied, muddied, magnificent, a broken sword in his hand, he said, ‘Come and see how a marshal of France dies on the battlefield!'” But to no avail. He did not die. Ney was later executed by a French firing squad. Or was he? For there is a narrative that his death was faked, and that he escaped to America to live out his life as Peter Ney? Regardless, this seems to be an extreme example of supernatural protection at work. Was it divine protection, or karma saving him for a different and more ignoble fate?

This extreme example of prevailing at a time of great peril and personal challenge for maintaining physical survival against all odds has all the hallmarks of divine intervention, to see someone is protected from death no matter how dangerous the environment and severe and deadly the opposing forces arrayed against them. There are many examples recounted in stories of war where combat veterans witnessed individuals coming through it all with distinction and valor, putting their lives at risk again and again, even being out clearly in the open when, if nothing else, the huge quantity of shrapnel from exploding munitions would be expected to inflict wounds, let alone the improbable series of circumstances in battle where no one appeared to aim carefully enough at them to kill them outright with a bullet. We can tell you that many soldiers in combat are shielded such that they are impervious to harm. Some will have an inner knowing this is so and is part of the level of belief they have cultivated that enables it to happen. It is never in isolation and only coming from one direction. There must, indeed, be a partnership between a divine human and the divine realm so that both are not only in alignment but working together in unison to ensure such an outcome under great odds against it. It is certainly as perfect an example of bravery and dedication to a cause one could ask for. Some would attribute it to a kind of psychotic frenzy where a person loses self-control because of the extremes of emotion they are subjected to and throws caution to the wind with reckless disregard for the outcome—that is easy to say by those who have never been in combat and subjected to those extremes personally. We can tell you that all are afraid, but those who walk in divine alignment have a kind of inner courage that is extraordinary and will enable them to keep functioning under such extreme circumstances that would likely incapacitate the average person, who would simply break down and their body no longer would stand and allow them to engage with the task at hand. This is how many are stricken with battle fatigue and must be hospitalized because they are in such an extreme state of breakdown mentally, they are unable to function and are useless to the military in that condition. Everyone has a breaking point, but we can tell you that feats of greatness are often a demonstration of a strong inner faith. Having a partnership with the divine can, indeed, bring about miracles and you can look at the ability of a mere human to face extraordinary danger against all odds, and put their lives openly at risk of having a painful ending, as not simply a test of will but a test of faith in themselves, and their future buoyed up by divine support and a larger awareness they are part of something greater than their own physical existence represents. It is often the case that those giving their lives for a cause are divinely inspired to do so because it is in alignment with who they are. It is not about the killing that might happen to which the divine contributes, it is about the expression of the needs of that soul-based being for self-preservation and the protection of others that soldier cares about—his comrades who he would lay down his life for and, indeed, is putting himself at risk every moment during battle. This is why soldiers are rightly revered for their courage—that is a divine attribute. Devotion to duty can be misplaced or even wrongheaded at times through deception causing war to happen for the worst possible reasons, but that fault is on the head of those who have orchestrated that travesty and not on the soldiers who give their all for a cause they believe in. So there will be karmic gains as well as some karmic loss for those in combat, at least when there is a noble effort underway to save lives and not solely cause death and destruction.