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A "The Western Religious Tradition aNAda #39 A
A and the Concept of 'Collective Karma' A
A by Uberfizzgig 04/07/00 A
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The Dalai Lama commented somewhat on the Chinese occupation of Tibet
in his book "Violence and Compassion". In one part, he mentioned that it
was the Collective Karma of the Tibetian nation that eventually resulted in
the loss of their homeland at the hands of the Chinese. An arrogance
manifested itself in their faith over time and led to this disaster. The
idea of a common, shared karma in Eastern cultures is easily understood
given the significance and importance placed on history, ancestors, and
social harmony. However, it was interesting to me to discover that in the
Western individualistic tradition, evidence of the idea of collective karma
could also be found. Consider Old Testament books that are common to Jews,
Christians and Muslims alike.
In the Book of Exodus, for example, when Moses is trying to convince
the Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go and worship in the desert, the
plagues God sends to demonstrate his power and punish Pharaoh for his
refusal to allow this are visited upon the whole of Egypt, not just Pharaoh
himself. Another example is in the destruction of Soddom and Gomorrah,
where the people living there were not judged individually, but collectively
doomed their cities to a firey destruction. Earlier still, the story of
Noah and the flood demonstrates how the collective karma shared by the rest
of the people lead to their destruction. Perhaps the most important example
of collective karma to be seen in the Western religious tradition occurs in
the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden where their collective
karma was applied to the entirety of humanity for the rest of time. Given
that the notion of collective karma thus permeates the roots of Western
religion, why is it not present in our current view of the world?
The answer to this question would result in this becoming a very long
paper, but basically has to do with three main factors. First, the rise of
Rationalism and the Scientific Method back in the 1700's which rejected the
operational dependance on the divine. Next, in Christianity, the arrival of
Protestantism and the "personal relationship with God" which removed the
history and interdependence of the Roman Church. Lastly, but perhaps most
importantly, the emergence of capitalism and its method of distributing and
utilizing material resources which is directly related to the individual's
ability to perform as an independent market participant.
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{ (c)2000 aNAda e'zine * * aNAda001 * by Uberfizzgig }
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