by J. Lang Wood

Created on: July 08, 2009   Last Updated: July 27, 2009

Finding love in today's society can be a daunting task. With hectic schedules and conflicting demands, trying to find that perfect someone can seem an impossible task. What can complicate an already difficult search is repeatedly returning to an ex-lover or ex-spouse with which one has had a number of attempts at reconciliation, to no avail. Why do these situations occur? What karma is being worked out in the constant return to a situation that does not work? What does it mean-and does returning to these people cause us to grow?-or to fall back into previous patterns?

Karma is a concept of eastern philosophy. The word karma means 'action,' and it is this capacity that we can best understand what karma is about. Karma is action-a doing something-an active property of existence. Something happens in karma. Something is either begun or finished. Karma is spoken of in terms of beginning (starting a process that will finish later), ripening (closing the issue and the conditions that cause it), or repeating (a situation that continues to occur because the issues are never resolved). We speak of 'good karma' or 'bad karma,' but that is imposing a judgment on an equation that is essentially neutral in value. Karma can be good in one situation, but bad in another. Karma can teach us a great deal about ourselves and about life in general. Karma can also hurt us repeatedly if we do not understand that an action must be completed to stop it.

The laws of karma state that everything we come into contact with has a cause, that nothing is accidental, and that we create the conditions we live with. Certain things occur because of previous actions, in this life or previous lives. Certain things we pay attention to are in our field of vision because of our karma with that situation. And certain things we ignore, we ignore because of previous karma with that situation. It is all a chain of events where one thing causes another thing to happen. What we do from this point on is up to us, however.

Certain life experiences come our way because of previous karma. If for instance, we were careless and unthinking with money in a previous life, we may find money very hard to come by in the current existence. If we were generous and loving with others, we may find that we have a wealth of people and opportunities available to us in this life. If we find ourselves drawn to the helping professions in this life, it is likely because we were the recipient of someone's

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