subgenius wrote:"The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: phalas and samskaras. A phala (literally, fruit or result) is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life. In contrast, samskaras are always those invisible effect that are produced inside the actor because of the karma, thus transforming the agent and affecting his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in this life as well as in future lives. The theory of karma is often presented in the context of samskaras"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma#Karma_and_causality
Thanks for letting me know about this - interesting how it's similar and relatively common knowledge, as what I could barely put into words.
Phillip K Dick, a noted science fiction author, wrote a book - "VALIS". It engages notions about God and schizophrenia, etc. A very influential book on one of my favorite albums, "Sister" by Sonic Youth.
His premise maintains that people walk around today "thinking" they are Napoleon or Jesus because the energy created by those individuals is circulating about and becomes coincidence with their consciousness...for whatever reason of Physics. This goes along the whole matter and energy not being created nor destroyed...but begs the question about the permanence of matter or energy being organized. This has been particularly interesting to me as i have come across many discussion about the Genesis of our world and how it can be considered to have been organized by God rather than an ex nihilo creation - the idea of which came first, the Law or God.
Now, for our purposes it seems that all action is predicated on a notion of faith. One 'does' nothing without a belief that it will be a successful endeavor. I set my alarm at night believing it will wake me up at a certain time...i direct my hand to grasp the door handle believing that it will result in the door being opened for my passage...i breathe in air with the belief that oxygen will pass into my lungs...etc..
I've wondered about something similarly... like if there are a type of spiritual families, or spirit corporations with different missions - kind of like you'd find going through a phone book. I don't believe in strict determinism yet I do see that free agency is not 100% free (without being a non entity full of infinite potential). So, maybe all of this karma and duality is limited to us entities. And as you implied, faith underlies everything we do - otherwise we wouldn't even try doing it if we didn't have faith it could be done.
So... tell me if you think this might be true.... If there is such a thing as karma - or rather energy that is affected and affects - it would be based on both intention and action; intention from a metaphysical and potentially material affect... and action as just material (immediate consequence).
Another somewhat related question: is it true that "there must needs be opposition in all things" - and how does that relate with karma?
Does joy need to be balanced with pain? Are opposites real - or just subjectively interpreted and relative?
I hate irresponsible harm done in the name of relativism, so I'm not suggesting to do away with morals, but I wonder if morality depends on circumstances - like a note not being "bad" or "good" but inappropriate in certain contexts (timing, key, pitch, etc.).
Are yin/yang influences part of karma - energetic wholeness?
by the way... how do you think God and schizophrenia would be related?
I've read that schizophrenia (from a spiritual perspective) may be spiritual maturity that is overdeveloped compared to intellectual/social/psychological understanding and higher dimensions theoretically are "infinite possibilities of infinite possible universes" - so maybe schizophrenia sees more truth - but the truth is overwhelming in the world we live in.