This sort of paradigm may have been appropriate for the ancients but in 2013 it is atrociously out of synch with a more sophisticated and nuanced experience of life. And so here is an attempt to present karma in a more accessible language:
Karma, quite simply put, is Universal Law of Equilibrium. It is the balancing principle of Reality that always seeking to restore balance where there is imbalance, to restore harmony where there is disharmony.
Karma is the energetic component of Consciousness which generates phenomena in the Universe. In the Universe it is experienced as Natural Laws. Within Consciousness it is precipitated by the Movement of Will.
Everything in the known Universe is subject to the karmic principle of balance. Electrons are subject to karma, atoms are subject to karma, cells are subject to karma, humans and animals are subject to karma, organizations are subject to karma, nations are subject to karma, planets are subject to karma, solar systems are subject to karma, galaxies are subject to karma - from the microscopic to the macroscopic, karma operates on each and every level manifesting as Natural Laws in the Universe which originate from Movements of Will within Consciousness.
In your own life, each one of you experience the balancing principle (Karma) in a variety of flavors some that are unique to you and some that are collective:
As an individual, you experience certain imbalances within your own psychological makeup which eventually translate into your material reality. These imbalances reveal themselves in the form of negative thought patterns, anxiety, depression, over aggressiveness, anger issues, depression, listlessness, lack of fulfilment, lack of trust, over zealousness, fanaticism, fear, greed, jealousy, envy, neediness, low self-esteem, showmanship, dominance, over competitiveness just to name a few. These are the disharmonies which, through expression and interaction, generate an inducing effect on your Life and your circumstances. Your own inner psychological experience influences and induces your physical circumstances and vice versa. You will attract circumstances whose eventual goal is to restore balance to that area of experience of your psyche and similarly imbalances in your life circumstances can be smoothed and balanced by cultivating an inner psychological balance. This is essentially the "Law of Attraction" that many self-help gurus and books like 'The Secret' advertise in a dumbed down and narrowed perspective.
This is not just limited to the realm of action but goes all the way down to to the root of intention itself. Your inner and outer realities are not two disconnected Universes brought together simply by action. A negative thought impacts your outside reality well before it ever gets translated into an action. We tend to have a very simplistic sense of responsibility that only extends as far as our actions, yet responsibility goes all the way down into the roots of our inner experience, our thoughts, emotions and intentions. But whether we realize the magnitude and impact of our inner experience or not, the Balancing Principle (karma) operates regardless. Imbalances experienced within your inner experience will attract outer experiences that eventually balance them out.
Trying to predict outcomes based on how this Balancing Principle works is beyond the scope of the human intellect. If the "what goes around, comes around" concept were true, there would be a very uniform experience of Life for each individual. However, what circumstances you attract in your life is based on the very specific requirements of your own psychological blueprint. If you and your friend are equally greedy, yet you never seem to have enough money and he just won the lottery, it seems completely inconsistent because the same psychological principle should, in theory, attract the same circumstances to balance them out. You may scream and curse the heavens for being unfair but it is you who has missed the point. It is not that simple.
A negative internal imbalance such as greed may for one person attract more poverty in order to temper that person's perspective on material wealth and therefore result in a more balanced perspective. The same greed in another person may attract a winning lottery ticket in order to highlight the experience of the greed and magnifying its uncomfortable side effects. It is impossible to judge what a person "should" be experiencing beforehand. And to suggest that any person deserves a fate other than what they are currently experiencing is to see things from a very narrow viewpoint of experience. In the larger scheme of things everything happens and operates according to the Balancing Principle. There is no "should", there is only what is.
In addition, to your own individual karma dynamics, you are simultaneously subject to endless layers of karmic principles that operate on every level of existence from the microscopic to the macroscopic. In addition to a person you are also a universe of electrons that are subject ot the karmic principle through quantum laws, the atoms in your body experience karma as do the molecules, the cells, the microbes and bacteria. You experience their collective karmas as an effect of their individual karmas. Every electron that reaches an excited level must return to a steady state, each cell that turns hostile needs to be neutralized, each bacteria that emits removes toxins is allowed to expand. There is an entire universe of birth and death, triumph and tragedy, sin and redemption, imbalance and balance happening within a single square millimetre of you index finger. It impacts you.
On a collective level, you exist as part of a family that has its own unique familial karma, a school/organization/group which has its own institutional karma, a faith/religion/spiritual circle which has its own spiritual karma, a nation which has its own national karma, a species which has its own specific karma, a planet which has its own planetary karma. When a tsunami wipes out an entire chunk of a population it is the law of balancing which is happening on a macroscopic level which trumps the karmic implications of the individual human being. Just like when you scratch your head, your desire to restore the balance of comfort to your scalp trumps the individual karma of a skin follicle on your scalp.
The balancing is continuous and never personal. Even and especially on the individual level, it is never personal. Your poverty is not the result of the neglect of some divine being in the sky, but an automatic prescription offered to you by your circumstances that address the symptoms of your psychological condition. Your psychological response to this prescription then lays the scaffolding to how the next circumstance will unfold. It is a truly organic process. You and your Life are not two separate entities, rather you form a symbiotic partnership where one follows the other and responds. Everything is guided whether consciously or unconsciously by the Principle of Balance.
