What is karma and what is its purpose?

Karma is an Eastern religious term denoting the impact of life on those who participate. Karma is thought of as a wheel that spins to and fro, giving rise to the phrase "What goes around comes around," which is a commonly used recognition of the reality of karma as an influence on things. The entire universe is in intricate web of energy moving to and fro, propelled by consciousness. All things are imbued with consciousness, so all things move energy, and contain energy, and experience and express their meaning and purpose through energy. All movements of energy have an interplay with everything else, because all is interconnected in the grandest scheme imaginable. The universe, everything within, and multiple dimensions, unseen by the normal human senses, are in a vast interplay of energetic interactions—trillions of causes and effects occurring second by second as energy whirls about and makes things happen. There is an organizing principle to it all, and it is one of balance. This is like a state of rest, but it can be a fine-poised stance awaiting the initiation of an action of some kind, in which the vibrational state experienced can be quite active because things are still at the thought stage, and not being acted upon to impinge on other energy, and the denser form of energy you perceive as physical matter—that which you can touch and feel. This energy balance is the organizing principle of the entirety of the universe. It is a departure from balance that seeks to renew the order in things, and will see that energy returns that has been expended. Oftentimes, an action will create the essence of its opposite as, in a way, those two aspects of energy in self-canceling one another will bring back things to a neutral resting point and thus re-introduce balance. In the sphere of human life experience, every thought launches some energy, and thoughts alone can influence other beings, and the self as well, and change circumstances and modify behavior, and this can have further consequences that ensue. When people create an act of wrongdoing, because they are disturbed in some way and are seeking power and control over another, or wanting to right a wrong, having been victimized and wanting retribution or at least to confront their perpetrator and hold them accountable, perhaps bringing in reinforcements as an additional source of power if they feel this is needed—those actions set in motion a series of potential consequences. And depending on their effectiveness in obtaining restitution there can be a rapid rebalancing, or further perturbation and even chaos. This is most dramatic when multiple people are being influenced, and things get out of control, and the emotions ramp up. This is when riots break out and conflicts of all kinds tend to snowball because energy has consequences, and the expenditure of energy spreads outward in a series of rippling consequences that can reach a wide group of people eventually and influence things in their lives. Once perturbed, there will be a natural need and desire to restore the prior equilibrium, and so, there will be a counter-action that is initiated. And so, this is what creates the interplay. It is always the seeking of a return to order and balance and a consequence of things being perturbed, to cause a response or backlash as the case may be. Every rash act, every act of indifference, judgment, punishment, manipulation, criticism, physical violence, accusation, or condemnation will have a consequence and that consequence will return to the one launching the original negativity. While they may feel it is justified, the recipient may feel put upon, and take matters into their own hands and seek retribution in kind, and this can get a kind of war going, and is all too frequent in human settings where there can be ongoing feuds and disputes that never seem to be resolved. Someone always gives in to their inner resentment and finds a way to lash out, yet again, and this triggers another exchange of volleys and the skirmish continues. War is a heightened form of interpersonal conflict and has similar dynamics. Once people are caught up in warfare, they become blind to the original purpose and are trapped in the cycle of energy exchange, feeling compelled to return fire and, if possible, gain the upper hand and vanquish the foe. This is always a kind of folly because, in actuality, both parties lose by a negative exchange of energy. So the karmic consequence is also inherently a teacher. It teaches about right and wrong. It teaches about justice. It teaches about proportionality of an emotional investment in response to something, so people hopefully learn to govern their emotions and make judicious choices in their interactions to not inflame another party, or worsen raw feelings that may start with a misunderstanding, and can be satisfied many times with a simple apology, but all too often become exaggerated through a defensive response that is unsatisfying to the wounded party and things worsen from there and escalate in intensity. Karma keeps things honest in the sense that nothing escapes its notice. Energy is exact, and always moves in proportion to the energy applied. It also is the case that karmic events are recorded for all time. They are on file in the so-called akashic records, and recorded there, too, is the individual, or group of individuals involved in the event. So the energetic signature of a skirmish will have the names of all involved and all will be interconnected by the energy description. So it is very much like a vast hall of records keeping track of all that takes place—who was there, what was said and done, what the consequences were that played out, and the ultimate status, which often is a situation of distress that is unresolved. This inherently is a state of imbalance and because nature needs balancing, the forces of nature will seek a rebalancing at some point in time. This is automatic and occurs on its own. This is part of the design of the universe, and part of the very fabric of which the universe is constructed. So the energy of interactions is recorded, along with who was involved and the net result energetically. Any unbalancing will call on the person responsible to put the energy back, to replace it in some way, and rebalance things once again. This becomes an obligation that is enforced by the Law of Karma which governs this entire interchange and is like a giant clockwork mechanism that is unfailing and unstoppable. It seeks precision and order, and when something falls behind will eventually cause an acceleration somewhere to put more energy back in, to replace what was given up or misdirected somehow, to throw something out of balance. In this way, no bad deed goes unpunished because eventually, the perpetrator will have the energy of the discord they cause returned to them, it will have their name on it, and this will be inexorable. It will find them, if not in the current life, in a future life. This is how karma is created and goes on record. The same is true for all good deeds, as for the bad things that happen because of poor human choices. When people act through love, share love with another, express love in some way, reward someone with an act of loving kindness, that too is recorded and the energetic signature of the event has positive energy associated with it. That, too, is linked to whoever caused the event to happen and will seek them in the future to return that energy. This will be perceived as a reward, because that will be the form of the return consequence. It will be a blessing of some kind, it will be a benefit, a positive event to raise them up, to increase their happiness, to give them a kind of reward for the prior investment in doing something nice. These behaviors and consequences will not go unnoticed. The wheel of karma moves both good and bad, and no one escapes. This certainly puts into focus the benefit of living a good life, of being kind and generous, and living a life of virtue rather than negativity, conflict, and causing harm to others or the self.