The A-Z of Believing: K is for Karma

Written and presented by Dr Ed Kessler MBE, founder and director of the Cambridge-based Woolf Institute, this compelling guide to religious belief and scepticism is a must-read for believers and nonbelievers alike.

Founded in 1998 to explore the relationship between religion and society, the Woolf Institute uses research and education to foster understanding between people of all beliefs with the aim of reducing prejudice and intolerance.

Says Dr Kessler: “Latest surveys suggest that 85 per cent of the world’s population identify themselves as belonging to a specific religion, and in many parts of the world the most powerful actors in civil society are religious. Understanding religion and belief, the role they play and their impact on behaviour and decision-making is, therefore, vital.”

Dr Kessler – who was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations in 2011 – is an affiliated lecturer with the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, a principal of the Cambridge Theological Federation and additionally teaches at the Cambridge Muslim College.

He says: “This A-Z of Believing aims to show how the encounter between religions has influenced and been influenced by the evolution of civilisation and culture, both for good and for ill. I hope that a better understanding of believing will lead people to realise that while each religion is separate, they are also profoundly connected.”

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is the law of the universe and spares none. Wrong done and injustice inflicted is paid back in the same coin. No one has escaped justice of the universe. It is only a matter of time. –​ Anil Sinha

Karma refers to the cycle of cause and effect; what happens happens because we cause it with our actions. So teaches Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. If you are a scientist, you’d already be familiar with the concept because karma echoes Newton's law of action and reaction: every thought and feeling will, eventually, have a reaction with the same level of energy coming back to the one who caused it. It is also said that Karma is like gravity – it treats everyone the same.

In terms of spiritual development, Karma is about all what a person has done, is doing and will do. It’s not about punishment or reward. We are responsible for our own life and how we treat one another. ‘What I give is what I get back’, parents in particular should remember. How we treat our children is how they may grow up to treat us – particularly important if they are going to choose our old age home.

According to the Dalai Lama, karma extends from the individual to the communal. The world and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us contribute to the world in which we live. We therefore all have a common responsibility for the world and are connected with everything in it.

In Hinduism and Buddhism, actions, both good and bad, will come back to us in the future. This includes reincarnation because karma extends from all past to future lives as well. Karma therefore is a teacher, compelling people to face the consequences of their actions, and thus improve and refine their behaviour – or suffer, if not. And this can be put another way: when you lose, don't lose the lesson.

In contrast to karma, according to Christian teaching, God's kingdom operates by grace. What’s amazing about karma, it might be argued, teaching you get what you deserve? Worse still, the argument goes, it teaches that you get what your past deserves. But grace, is when you get what you don't deserve. Grace is unmerited favour. For Christians, grace is the consequence of Christ taking on our sins, the sins of the world, as St Paul discovered on the road to Damascus: "There is none righteous, no, not one," he wrote. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God ... the wages of sin is death."

Whilst karma teaches we can do good and receive our due after this life, this Christian teaching suggests there’s nothing we can do in this life to make us worthy of receiving goodness now or in the life to come. Grace reaches out to sinners deserving death and takes its place. Getting what you deserve is horrible because if we’re honest, we all deserve a rotten life. Getting what you don't deserve is wonderful. Not so much amazing karma; rather, you might suggest, amazing grace.

But does this mean there’s no chance of uncovering Christian, or for that matter, Jewish karma? Well, you won’t be surprised that there are different opinions, even from the same person. The very same St Paul offers a strikingly contrasting view when he wrote: “No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others – ignoring God – harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds. But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life."

This reminds me of the Sikh saying, "As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma."

What about Judaism? The rabbinic term, middah k’neged middah, which means "measure corresponding to measure", seems like a Jewish version of karma. According to this teaching, our actions not only have ramifications but those ramifications will reflect the original deed. For example, after Jacob tricked his father Esau to obtain a blessing that was due to Ishmael, he was tricked by Laban. The kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, even teaches that what we do in this world will determine how God behaves towards us.

Yet, Judaism, like Christianity, also contains ideas contrary to karma and teaches that humans can influence their fate. For example, through declarations of repentance and remorse at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Jews proclaim ability to change themselves and God’s judgment, thus breaking out of any cycle and to begin anew. And this demonstrates the fundamental difference between Jewish and Christian claims to karma and the Dharmic understanding. Like the law of gravity, the Dharmic concept is impersonal. In contrast, however, in Judaism and Christianity, God plays an active personal role. Ever since the creation of humanity God has, as it were, a personal stake in humanity.

Another way of explaining the difference is by considering the answer to the following question: are you punished for your sins or by them?

Next week is: L for Land

Listen to each episode of 'An A-Z of Believing: from Atheism to Zealotry' on the Woolf Institute podcast site or wherever you get your podcasts