A client comes into practice. At some point she indicates that she believes that the course of her life, which hasn't been easy (and still brings the necessary challenges), is determined by karma.
Karma is also called the law of cause and effect. This means that everything we do (action) is a cause that has a consequence at a later date. That later time can relate to this life or a next life.

I ask the client what it means to her that she believes in reincarnation & karma. 
She says: "It must have been my own fault that my life has run like   this, I am the cause of it. Is that right? I ask. Is it your own fault?
Do you know what all your actions were in a past life that makes your current life run as it is? No, she says.
Do you have the control of your life? Did you choose the nest in which you were born? The conditions as they look like? Have you chosen your parents? Were you doing that? I don't know, she says. 

Is it your Life or Life that is living you? 

And which voice do you hear when you say:'It is all my fault?'
Is that the voice of the heart, the voice of compassion and love?
Or the voice of your parents, the voice of the past, the voice that is connected to painful memories, the voice of the mind, that keeps repeating the same scenario: it is your fault that your life runs like this... Is that true? And are these convictions helpful? 

As long as we are programmed and conditioned beings, can there be freedom of choice? The freedom to act differently from the scenarios written in our program?

What is the use of looking at yourself and existence in this way (guilt and penance)? Do you see that the mind seizes everything, even the concept of karma and reincarnation to keep you trapped in guilt, in condemnation of yourself?

Yes, says the client, that is what I realized later..., it isn't helpful. The only thing what I can do, is how I deal with this life in this moment. Exactly, I say, taking responsibility for what comes on your way, waking up from the conditioned state of being, awakening from all those learned reaction patterns and beliefs that don't support Life. That has nothing to do with guilt or punishment. 

In the end we don't know if karma exist, we don't know if reincarnation is true or untrue. And does it matter? 
Your life take place here and now, focus on that. 
Meditate and use self-examination to escape from the grip of the mind, which terrorizes you with thoughts and emotions such as guilt, fear, not being good enough, karma etc.

And: Life remains a mystery. Fortunately…, we can philosophize about it, but we don't know the final answer. And that's a good thing too.

Having said that, I feel an affinity with the concept of 'reincarnation'. In other words: the Consciousness, Life itself (not an 'I' or 'ego') chooses the circumstances (life after life), to come home to the Self (which we already are, but don't remember) from where we are released from the wheel of rebirth.

A while ago I read a book by Osho (Until you die) in which he gives a refreshing view of the basic concepts of religions such as Hinduism (reincarnation/karma), Sufism and Christianity. It fascinated me.
I would therefore like to share with the reader what Osho has to say about these topics. A few pages from the book (page 144 and further), in a shortened version, form the basis for the text below. The italics of certain Osho statements comes from me, as well as some words that are written in brackets. By 'false' is meant: the conditioned, mechanical structure (ego/mind).

Okay, here we go:
'The truth can't be told directly to you. Something needs to be done so that you gradually follow your path to truth. (...) Knowledge must gradually grow in you through certain circumstances. And of course only false circumstances will help, because you are unreal. (...) 
To give an example: suppose you live in a closed house, a house you have never been out of. You have never seen the sun, you never heard the birds, you never felt the wind going through the trees. You have never been outside, you have never seen flowers or the rain. You have lived in a closed house, completely closed, not even a window. Then I come to you and I want you to come out and sing with the birds and dance with the wind and be like the flowers that open (...) for the infinite. But how can I tell you something about the world outside? There is no language for it. If I talk about flowers, you will not understand. 'Flowers?', you will ask, 'What do you mean by flowers? Prove first that they exist.' (...) And with whatever proof I come, you can refute it, you can come up with counter-arguments. (...) 
'You dream,', you will say. 'It is your imagination', you will say, 'there is no outside world'. This is the only world; there is no other world. What are you talking about?' (…)
The difficulty is: in which language should I speak to you, which parables, which symbols should I use? Whatever is said, it will evoke misunderstandings - because you can only understand something when you have experienced it. (...) 
I will have to apply some method. 
That method is neither true nor false. (…) 

For example, I can create a fever situation: 'The house collapses. Come out as soon as possible! (...) Jesus did that. 
He said, 'The whole world will collapse. (...) 
The end is near - The Day of Judgment.'
So far it hasn't happened. And Jesus said to his disciples, 'Before you die the day of judgment will come. Make sure you undergo a transformation, change yourself, repent! Come to repent! Because time passes quickly and the house collapses.'(...) 

What does he say? 
You can't understand the language of freedom, only the language of fear. That is why he says that the day of judgment is near.
Jesus says: 'There is only one life. Once lost, always lost.' 
That is why Jesus never used the Indian tool of reincarnation. (...) Jesus says, 'This is the only life', to induce a fever in you of fear. Because if he says that there are many lives, you can relax; then you can say: 'There is no hurry. This house will not collapse during my life and there will be more lives, so why should I hurry now?'(...) This way you can keep postponing. Jesus rejected procrastination. He said, 'There is only one life, this is the only life.' (...) 'And soon in this life, before your death, the day of judgment will dawn. Then your sins will be judged and you will be punished.'
What does he say? (…)
He is trying to get you out of your house. (...) As soon as you follow Jesus, as soon as you leave the house, you know that it was a ruse, that you were lured out. But then you are not angry: you feel grateful because it was the only way. And you were so unreal that even a Jesus had to use a lie to get you out of it. But once you get out, you forget everything about the day of judgment and god and his kingdom; then you forget everything about death and fear. As soon as you are outside, in the open air, in the wind and sunshine, you celebrate that, then you enjoy, then you are eternally and forever grateful to Jesus, because he showed such compassion that he even lied to you to be able to bring you outside.

In India we have used a different method and there are several reasons for that. India is very old. (...) The West is young. When you talk to an old man, you talk differently than when you talk to a young man - because their attitude is completely different. A young man always looks to the future. An old man always looks at the past, because there is no future for an old man. (...) The Eastern spirit wants to be delivered from both life and death. The East is bored, like every old man. (...) The East has enough of life. You can't promise more life. That is not a promise, on the contrary, that seems like a punishment. That is why we have used a completely different method in the East and that method is: the wheel of life and death. We say that you were born millions of times (...). And everyone continues to repeat the same pattern - childhood and the fantasies of childhood; youth and the follies of youth; old age and boredom and then death. And the wheel keeps moving. (…) 
What is the message behind reincarnation theory? 
The message is: enough is enough! Take it for granted now! Come out now! If you stay in the wheel, it will keep running. (...) 
That is a language that a bored person can understand. 
But both the one and the other are methods. Don't ask me if they are true. They are neither true nor untrue. Once you are out of the house, you will know if it is true; if you stay inside, you will never know the truth.
Everything that helps you on your way to the open air, to freedom, to openness, is true. If a religion can no longer help, it is false. 

The idea of ​​Jesus will not help the West much now. That is why the Western spirit turns to the East. Now the philosophy of boredom will be better because you are now old too. Christianity is less appealing. Hinduism, Buddhism are more attractive. You have grown old! (...) Reincarnation speaks more than one life. The Day of Judgment seems childish and one life doesn't seem sufficient. How can you judge a person by giving him only one chance? At least more opportunities will be needed to make a judgment, because he can only learn by trial and error. By giving him only one chance, you don't actually give him a chance. If he makes a mistake, he is mistaken. Then there is no time to correct the error. (…) 

They are tools. 'A tool' is something that is neither true nor false.
It can help. If it helps, it is true. If it is a hindrance, then it is false. (…) And when you really are out, there is no need for any method anymore. All methods serve only to get you out of your closeness, out of your grave, out of your insensitivity, out of your unconsciousness.(...) 

Sufis say that everything in life is so interrelated that the karma theory can't be right. And they are right, because their method is true too. If everything in life is so interrelated, how can karma theory make sense? According to karma theory, you are connected to your previous life, only with your previous life; you are a result of your own karmas and you reap the results of your own karmas. 
But Sufis say that there is a connection between everything that lives: the karma of everyone else is my karma and my karma is the karma of everyone else. It is a network of mutual affinity. (...) 
You throw a stone in the lake and the whole lake comes into turmoil. Everyone is like a stone in the lake. Whatever you do, you produce waves, vibrations. (...) The whole is whole thanks to everyone. 
Sufis say that the karma theory basicly testifies to an egoistic attitude. And they are right! 
According to the theory of karma you are - so what you sow you will harvest. That strengthens you, the ego. Sufis use a different pattern to take you out. You are no longer there. The whole is. You're just a wave. What does it make sense to think you are? Sufis say, if you understand the interconnection of everything, you simply let fall the point of view of an ego, then you are no longer a me. (...) 
It is a method.

Hindus have their own method (karma theory). They say: 'If you sow, you will reap.' They mean: if you are in a bad mood, you yourself are the cause of it. If you are in fear, you have sown the poison somewhere in some kind of life and you now harvest the result. Why do they put so much emphasis on this? 

For two reasons: First. If you feel that you are responsible, only you can let go of your misery and fear; there is no other way. If you think someone else is just as responsible as you are, you will stay as you are. What can you do about it? You alone can't change anything about it. This makes it impossible to let go of your misery and your fear.

Secondly and of greater significance: the Hindu method teaches that the whole phenomenon of the past - whatever you have done, whatever you have thought - is present in you right now. People think that the past can't be undone. Hindus say it can be undone because the past is part of the present. You carry it with you. You can't only change the present and the future, you can also change the past, you can drop it. 

And, they say, freedom is possible, because you are the only one who is responsible for your life.(…)

Hindus believe that you are responsible for your karmas. Which is good. If you are responsible, then you can change, then transformation is possible. You are the only one involved. You can let go of your karma or you can carry it with you, whatever you want? And who would like to carry fear, misery, hell with him? You'll drop it all.'
End of a shortened version.

'Religion is opium for the people', a statement by Karl Marx.
It keeps people asleep. They remain slaves to those who are the rulers - whether this is the pope in Rome (etc.) or the big capital. And so it is..., any form of religion that doesn't bring us home in our hearts, keeps man in a coma. 

Through the centuries we have been poisoned by the religions with guilt, penance, duty and hatred to ourselves and to others who live or think differently (homosexuals etc.) then that what is proclaimed. 
The head (commandments/prohibitions: no abortion, monogamy, no homosexuality etc.) instead of the heart (open and free).

Identification with a belief (I am a Christian, Muslim, Jew etc.) has led to many conflicts and wars - and still does. With the mouth 'peace' and 'humanity' is preached and at the same time the sword is raised against everyone who lives and think differently. Or the opposite: there is being threatened with hell and damnation under the guise of Love and redemption of our suffering.

The word 'religion' etymologically refers among other things to the word 'religare' which means 'reconnect'. An interpretation that resonates with me, like the interpretation of Osho: religion is a tool - to turn inward (instead of outward).

Religion can be a tool to reconnect us to the divine essence that we are, beyond belief and unbelief, beyond any rule or doctrine, beyond the mind. And if a religion doesn't bring you home..., release it, it doesn't serve you. And go in search of a living master who can guide you on your path to awakening.
Everything that helps you on your way to the open air, to freedom, to openness, is true. 
(Osho)


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