The Line of Saint James

Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning "to do" or "done" and is closely related to the principle of reincarnation. This principle is interpreted very differently in Western and Eastern philosophy, and we agree with the latter only in that it is a universal law that rules our acts, determining that every effect has a cause and every action causes a reaction.

In our previous article, I explained that the Karmatic future is the result of the actions or omissions that we human beings make in our journey through the evolution of consciousness and awareness; this assumes that the purpose of the human spirit at birth and rebirth in this world is first to acquire awareness of material reality, and when this is achieved, it must acquire awareness of immaterial reality and finally of its spiritual essence.

In theory, and I say in theory because let us remember that we cannot and should not try to know God by reason; God is a conscious and unconscious being because He is all encompassing; from time to time a small separation or individualization of His unconscious essence takes place and with it is created a new evolving being whose purpose is to begin the path of consciousness and awareness that will lead it at some point in eternity to return or reintegrate with itself, but fully and absolutely conscious.

The primitive Khristian teachings state that resurrection, or enlightenment, is the last stage that a human being can reach on this planet after passing through eons of reincarnations, and that at that moment he is completely freed from being subject to the cycle of reincarnation.

However, this does not mean that an enlightened human being has been reintegrated to God, because enlightenment in this world is just another stage on the way back to the Divinity of that portion of individualized Divine Energy, and what happens after this stage is, of course, known only to the enlightened.

In Eastern philosophy, it is believed that this little unconscious part of God begins its evolutionary journey by incarnating in each and every creature of the animal kingdom, and then moves on to the human kingdom. This is why some Tibetan monks, for example, refuse to kill any animal, no matter how small or tiny. Here in the West, we deeply respect this belief, but we do not fully share it because we believe that the animal and human kingdoms evolve separately.

What does it mean to incarnate and reincarnate?

When we first come into this world, this experience is called incarnation and is recognizable because the new being displays a personality in which its basic instincts, emotions, and desires prevail over its ability to reason.

After the first cycle of existence, which is usually short because the new being has difficulty adapting to this world, these short cycles of birth and rebirth are repeated until the level of adaptation increases. These next incarnations are called reincarnations or successive incarnations, and this is repeated for eons until the being reaches resurrection or enlightenment.

I have observed that in most cases these new beings are born in the bosom of families of initiates (conscious or unconscious) who, with their loving and patient treatment, help them to increase their level of adaptation or consciousness of material reality.

After many years of observation and study, I am fully convinced that children diagnosed with the so-called Down's syndrome correspond to the new souls that come into this world; therefore, an extra copy of chromosome 21 is developed or created in the organism, so that the new being is more sensitive to physical and psychic perception than to intellectual perception, see the symbolism of the four elements that make up this world, in card XXI of the Tarot of Marseilles.

That is to say, during its first steps on the earthly plane, the new being must learn to know and master its instinctive nature more than its intellectual nature, then, with the passage of time and successive reincarnations, it will begin to pay more attention to its rational side, until it no longer needs this extra chromosome and begins its work of developing the intellect to finally reach the path of developing spiritual consciousness or consciousness of being.

It is important to mention at this point that the Instructors and Masters of The Western Initiatic Chain usually refrain from instructing and training anyone who claims to be an atheist or who, as a believer, does not accept reincarnation-resurrection as a true fact. Because their lack of faith or lack of personal responsibility for their unconscious actions means that their evolutionary stage of awareness is not yet ready to accept and understand the true cause and purpose of their sojourn in this world.

Accepting this reality is fundamental and essential to understanding the true causes of human suffering and why equality does not really exist in the Universe - a subject we will address in the future when we study the laws of the Supreme Hierarchy or Awareness and the laws and principles that allow for true material prosperity and abundance.

In our next article, we will continue to explore the nature of the Law of Karma, and I will give some examples of how conscious initiates learn to alter their Karmatic future; a knowledge that allows them to transform pain and suffering into awareness.