Is Karma Real? | Unveiled

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Is Karma Real?</h4>

How many times have you been told, or have you thought, that something that happens to you is the result of karma? In the modern world, karma has become a kind of catch-all term; an explanation to seemingly link any one action, event or experience to another, previous action, event or experience. But whenever we do drop the ‘k’ word, what’s really happening behind the scenes of reality?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; is karma real?

Karma is a centuries-old concept that crosses cultural boundaries. It’s a key element to various (and many major) belief systems. And it’s a seemingly cosmic force. But the question always remains; is karma truly governing our destinies or is it merely a psychological creation? 

The term "karma" finds its roots in ancient Sanskrit, with it roughly translating to mean "action" or "deed”. As with a lot of the legend that surrounds it, the precise origin and first use is quite unknown. But, in general, karma emerged in the religious and philosophical traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, karma is a fundamental concept intertwined with the cycle of reincarnation. It posits that the consequences of your actions, both good and bad, will go on to influence the course of your future lives. It’s a web of cause and effect, known as the Law (or Principle) of Karma, which forever encourages followers to always try to do the right thing. Good deeds breed good karma, which leads to a pleasant and comfortable path through to your next life. The idea is much the same in Buddhism, too, where karma means that actions shape the trajectory of your existence. However, Buddhism famously introduces the idea of breaking free from the cycle of rebirth through enlightenment - through reaching nirvana - at which point karma has a less prominent role.

Elsewhere, karma has found a place in Jainism, Sikhism, and it influences a number of western new age philosophies. Each system, religion and culture imbues karma with its own unique flavor, with various different and subtle nuances, but the essence remains - it’s a moral law of cause and effect.

Throughout history, then, ideas around karma have formed the basis for countless myths and legends. For example, in Hindu mythology, there’s the figure of King Harishchandra, who is famed for his unwavering commitment to truth and for always keeping his promise. Harishchandra is put through a series of major, sometimes harrowing misfortunes. However, because despite his suffering he still keeps his word and integrity, good karma eventually means that he is rewarded. No matter how bad things get, so the story goes, you will come out the other side of your troubles if you avoid bad karma. In Buddhist folklore, the Jataka tales recount stories of Buddha's past lives, and also emphasize the importance of virtuous actions in the journey towards enlightenment. These stories therefore show the enduring effect of karma, highlighting how it’s a force that is often felt only long, long after the original, virtuous (or non-virtuous) act.

Religious doctrines and theological morality tales aren’t enough to definitively prove that karma is real, however. Over recent years and decades we’ve seen philosophies rise that attempt to make better sense of (and often oppose) what’s really happening. For instance, existentialism. Many existentialist thinkers, such as the writer and critic Jean-Paul Sartre, would likely reject the deterministic nature of karma. For them, the whole thing demands too much of a submission to unknown powers. Instead, they focus more on personal responsibility and the freedom to choose one's actions, emphasizing individual agency and subjective experience rather than some kind of higher guiding hand - which is essentially what karma amounts to. Nevertheless, the idea of psychological karma has taken some hold in modern times. The general suggestion is that our actions (chosen or not so) clearly do influence our mental and emotional states from that point forward. In this way, karma might be viewed more like an accumulation of experience, some of which will impact you in noticeably positive or negative ways - depending on what it is you have (or haven’t) done.

Still, neither philosophy nor psychology offers empirical, physical evidence, if there is any to be found. For that, there are some scientific theories that attempt to bridge the gap between a spiritual feeling and cold, hard proof. Although none has yet revealed any undeniable evidence, there are a couple of fields with some interesting crossovers. Such as in the ever-murky world of neuroscience - the study of the brain. In analyzing the inner workings of the human brain, researchers can show that it does at least physically record and process moral experiences. Actions that could be deemed "good" may trigger positive neural responses, and when done over a prolonged period of time can lead to positive cognitive habits - such as feelings of confidence, happiness or contentedness. At the same time, actions that could be deemed “bad” can set all our worst and negative neural pathways flashing. In either case, any action in the present seemingly does have the capability of influencing our future well-being and our overall lives. Perhaps this could be said to be karma in action.

And finally there’s the emerging field that seemingly could hold the answer for almost all of life’s greatest mysteries, in one way or another; quantum physics. The biggest potential link between this and karma is that experiments have shown that at their lowest levels, seemingly unconnected particles can be shown to actually be very deeply connected. Thanks to quantum entanglement, we even know that two subatomic particles will remain intrinsically linked no matter the physical distance between them. They could exist at literally two ends of the universe, and yet whatever happens to one will be mirrored by whatever happens to the other. This, in itself, doesn’t prove karma… but there’s some argument that a similarly spooky relationship perhaps could exist between actions and consequences. That, in an infinite universe, what we know happens with subatomic particles could also, somehow, happen with larger, macro things. And perhaps this is karma, instead.

However you view it, what’s clear is that for many people karma does at least play a role in how they live their lives… and, seemingly, in how their lives play out. The belief that good actions lead to positive consequences, whether in this life or the next, fosters a sense of moral responsibility. The fear of retribution for badness, either in life right now or in future incarnations, serves as a deterrent against engaging in harmful behavior. Of course, opponents to karma would argue that you shouldn’t need the supposed influence of something higher than yourself to persuade you not to do bad things. Equally, you shouldn’t only do good things in the hope for some kind of cosmic payoff in the future. But still, when apparently good karma arrives unexpectedly, those who encounter it are left feeling satisfied. When supposedly bad karma arrives without warning, those who meet it are left to reconsider their life choices.

Ultimately, as yet, there is nothing by way of clear, empirical, solid evidence that karma does really exist. Certainly the idea of karma exists in a big way, and therefore does hold sway over how many - even millions of - humans live their lives. And there are hints at some kind of physical embodiment of karma, via early studies into specific neural networks and potential quantum links. But, again, nothing has been proven beyond doubt and, in fact, far from it.

What’s your personal view? Have you experienced karma before? Have you witnessed it in action? Do you live by the Law of Karma yourself? Or do you believe that nothing about it is even remotely possible? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

For now, karma can at least serve as a moral compass for many who even suspect that it could be real, guiding actions and potentially shaping destinies. It drives a feeling of accountability, reminding individuals of the interconnectedness of their choices with the rest of the world, and even with the broader cosmic order. While science may not endorse the many metaphysical aspects of karma, it does acknowledge the psychological and societal impact that it can have. That impact is a real thing.

So, is Karma a true force, weaving the threads of fate all around us… or is it merely a construct of the human mind seeking to make sense of the complexities of life? It seems as though there will always be two sides to this particular debate. 

What happens after you die? Does life after death exist? Which version of the afterlife is most likely to be the right one? For many, these are big questions but the answers are quite simple; when this life ends we begin anew.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; Is reincarnation real?

Reincarnation is the belief that there is a lot more to this life than just this life. The exact nature of it differs between belief systems but, broadly, it says that when you die your soul - or something equivalent to your soul - will pass over into a new, physical body. The body you have right now won’t last forever, but the inner essence of your being will. For many, it’s a fundamental aspect of reality, of spirituality, and of how the universe really works.

The word itself, reincarnation, is rooted in Latin and translates as “entering the flesh again”. Some refer to it as transmigration. A variation in Ancient Greece was known as metempsychosis, while some describe it as a rebirth. For many, reincarnation is a cyclical and eternal phenomenon; it happens over and over again, potentially forever. In some versions, a soul can be reborn into the body of another human being, but also into an animal, a plant, or even into some kind of transcendental figure. In both Buddhism and Hinduism - two of the most widely-followed religions where reincarnation is key - it’s a process deeply interwoven with the concept of karma. The idea being that positive thoughts and actions will breed positive karma, which will ensure a favorable outcome when you’re reborn into your next life. For believers, the endless cycle of reincarnation is also known as Saṃsāra - which roughly translates to mean “a wandering world”. As such, the ultimate end goal is to break free of Saṃsāra in order to achieve absolute self-knowledge, enlightenment and liberation - the state of being that Buddhists refer to as nirvana.

It’s not as though reincarnation is especially forgiving, however… and, in fact, one often vital part is the long and continued experience of suffering. In Buddhism, the Bhavacakra (or, “wheel of life”) is a central, visual representation of Saṃsāra, and is effectively what followers must break free from to reach nirvana. The wheel is in part divided into six sections (or realms) and many of those realms are steeped in suffering. Physical pain, mental anguish, social injustice… these all form part of the gauntlet that a reincarnated soul must run, time and time again. A similar feeling is held by other groups in history, too, such as the Orphics. Orphism is a religion dating back to Ancient Greece, where reincarnation is again painted as more like a punishment than a reward. The Orphics believed that when you died you either ascended to godliness… or were cast back down to Earth via reincarnation.

What’s disturbing is that some of the claimed physical evidence we have for reincarnation also implies a great deal of suffering in terms of whatever came before this life we’re all living right now. Dr. Jim B. Tucker is a child psychiatrist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. But he’s also the director of the same university’s Division of Perceptual Studies, a branch dedicated to “rigorously evaluating empirical evidence [to suggest] that consciousness survives death and that mind and brain are distinct and separable”. Through his work with the Division, and through publishing various key texts, Dr. Tucker has become a world authority on children who remember their past lives. That is, children who say or do things that indicate that something has been carried over from before to now. They might recognise someone they’ve never met before; speak about an event they can’t possibly have known about because it happened before they were born; or even directly reference how it was that they last died. In some cases, there are even reports of physical “birthmarks” that correspond with the claims that are made. And, very often, particularly with regard to the past death, those claims involve some kind of violent injury or fatal accident.

One of Dr. Tucker’s most high profile cases first made the news in the mid-2010s. Ryan, an American boy from the Midwest, claimed to have once been an actor in 1930s Hollywood. His mother tracked her son’s story, as he gave out more and more details over a short period of time. Ryan remembered also working as an agent, and as a dancer in New York. He recalled having had three sons, and he remembered variously small details - including names of friends and significant addresses. Reacting to the snippets of information that Ryan had given her, his mother reportedly bought books filled with photos of 1930s Hollywood. They looked through them together until Ryan found a photo that he claimed was of himself (working as an extra) and of another man named George. The image really was of a “George” - an actor at the time called George Raft - and many of Ryan’s other claims could also be corroborated. Dr. Tucker and Ryan’s family researched some more, until it was discovered that the extra that he claimed he was… was a man named Martin Martyn - otherwise known as Marty. Marty had been a bit-part actor, and then a dancer, and then an agent; he also did have three sons.

According to numerous interviews given by Dr. Tucker, Ryan is hardly on his own. There are thousands of cases just like his, and that’s not including the ones that are never properly studied. Unsurprisingly, there is something of a taboo around past life remembrance. Many parents, understandably, don’t want their children to have inherited memories of trauma. And, as Dr. Tucker’s studies reveal that the average age of death in the past life is just 28, and that almost three quarters of cases involve a violent, frightening or unnatural death… it’s clear that recalling this kind of information really could be traumatic. Even without that, though, it could also be true that many parents may not even register that the “make believe” stories their children recall could actually be grounded in real life, historical events. 

As to how it all happens, Dr. Tucker has before spoken of a potential link with our growing understanding of quantum mechanics. Today, we know that if you travel deep enough down into something - to the subatomic level and beyond - then the laws of physics begin to fall apart. The physicality of anything doesn’t truly exist until that thing is observed… and many argue that this could be the basis of the separation of brain and mind; of body and consciousness. The underlying point being that perhaps consciousness doesn’t need the brain, and so can continue long after the brain is dead. Again, this is something that Dr. Tucker, as director of the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies, has long campaigned for; that consciousness differs from our physical selves.

Past life regression (or past life hypnosis) is generally regarded as a pseudoscience. While there have been hundreds of claims made by those who have undergone it - that their past lives have been variously revealed to them - there are precious few mainstream academics that subscribe to any perceived recollections being genuine. Importantly, however, with most cases involving children, there is no hypnosis needed. And usually very little by way of context to influence anything that a child might say. In terms of remembering past lives, this is about as close to the real deal as we’re ever likely to get. But, what’s your verdict? Could it really be true that some part of us - the soul, to some - will one day continue on inside another body? Or are you unconvinced that that kind of transcendence could ever really happen? Let us know in the comments!

The traditional ideas on re-incarnation have been revisited and rewritten in recent years, too. We took a closer look at “The Egg”, a short story published online by the author Andy Weir in 2009. That episode will follow on directly from this right now, so be sure to keep the video running! Because, between the world’s religions, the research of those like Dr. Tucker, and the creative minds of those like Andy Weir… that’s why reincarnation could be real.

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What Is the Egg Theory?</h4>

Do you ever contemplate the universe and feel totally overwhelmed? Do you ever wonder what difference you can make in something so unimaginably vast? Well, hold tight, because according to one idea… it could be that, actually, no-one is more important than you are, right now. 

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what is the egg theory?

The Egg Theory was born via a short story written in 2009 by the US novelist Andy Weir. Weir is also known for “The Martian” which was, in 2015, adapted into a Hollywood movie starring Matt Damon… but perhaps “The Egg” is what will truly enshrine him in the annals of theoretical science and philosophy. Weir himself has expressed some surprise at the enthusiasm shown for his Egg idea, which he says took him less than an hour to jot down before posting to an online forum. But really, in a modern world where a “meaning” for life perhaps feels more and more difficult to understand… maybe it’s not so surprising that the Egg should catch on.

So, what actually happens in the story? Weir’s main character is known simply as “you”, and quickly you meet God, who’s referred to as “me”. What follows is essentially a conversation between you and God, then, through which the true nature of reality is revealed. At the beginning, the bad news is that you’ve just died in a car crash. God explains this to you, but also explains that you’ll soon be reincarnated as somebody different - as a young Chinese girl, alive almost 1,500 years ago. God further reveals that this isn’t your first reincarnation, either, far from it. You’ve actually been brought back countless times before… into countless different bodies, living in all Earthly locations, and at all times in the past, present, and future.

You then muse over the fact that this means you were once the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, and even Jesus Christ. While God reminds you that you’ve also been everyone else, too, including Lincoln’s assassin, Hitler’s victims, and Jesus’ followers. God continues, explaining further that, in fact, the universe was made for you as a kind of structure through which you could live every human life possible. The realization is that now (and actually always) you are (or have been) so much more than just the person who died in the car crash at the apparent beginning. Rather, you are everyone. Everyone that’s been, and everyone that will be. Essentially, the universe is for you.

Finally, God explains what the thinking behind all of this is. The idea is that through being everyone you would learn that everything you do, you do to yourself. Every time you hurt someone, you hurt yourself. Every time you help someone, you help yourself. Every time you’re kind or mean, happy or sad, selfish or selfless, you’re actually being all those things as everyone. Every human experience that ever was (or will be) is your experience. And, when you’ve lived every human life possible - today and in history and in the future - then, so the story says, you will become a god just like the one you’re currently talking to. Only then will you have infinite wisdom of what it really means to live. And so the story ends.

For the reader, there’s perhaps a clear moral message here, as it’s implied that you should always try to think, act and be your best side. Not just because it’s in your best interests, but because it simply is you. Everything is you, so would you rather everything was good or bad? However, perversely, the story also relies on the realization that all bad people are essentially your responsibility, too. This is a wide open thought experiment, then, with endless conclusions that could be reached. Meanwhile, the entire thing doubles up as a journey toward your ultimate enlightenment, and your ascension to god status. This is how Weir pitches the universe as an Egg, because it’s where you grow and develop until you reach that stage.

There are some schools of philosophical and scientific thought that this story could fall into. Or at least that it blurs boundaries with. Eternalism is a philosophy of time wherein the flow of time doesn’t really exist. Instead of the universe, your life and everything else moving through time (with the past behind it, the present always here, and the future to come) eternalism says that all those states of time are real together. Time is more a box to open up and look into, rather than a one-way road down which to travel. In Weir’s story, this is one of the first major revelations for “you”, the main character. When you reincarnate in China 1,500 years ago, it’s not exactly as though you’ll have traveled back in time… it’s more like you’ll have opened the book of time at a different page.

Next, there’s the theory of Open Individualism, another key concept in “The Egg”. Broadly, this is the idea that you are everyone. Or that everyone is you. There have been many variations to it coined over recent decades, but again it usually relies on the dismantling of the flow - or passage - of time. Time, as it’s commonly understood, doesn’t really exist for the open individual, or how else could it be that you could be anyone else, at all? Instead, and by some understandings of it, it might be said that you - your “self” - exists like a sheen over the world, applying itself to all. Or, that every apparent individual person is, in fact, linked simply by their shared experience of being here. It might feel as though all of us are different, but actually we’re not at all… at the most fundamental layer. We’re the same. Literally, the same.

Theories of Open Individualism don’t usually lead to the final point of Weir’s story, however - when it’s explained to you (by God) that once you’ve lived as everyone, you too will become a God. Here, “The Egg” takes a more theological turn, with similar concepts appearing across most major religions, but especially in Hinduism. While most religions have some form of “God the Creator” - an all-seeing, all-powerful entity - in Hinduism there’s the Brahman. This is a kind of topmost, metaphysical layer that rests over everything else, including Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - the trinity of supreme Hindu gods. The Brahman is unsurpassable. It’s the ultimate truth of all things. It never changes, can never be changed, and represents the ultimate reality in Hindu thought. One reading of Weir’s story could perhaps cast the God figure within it as something close to the Brahman… although the implication is that even it exists somewhere else, so Weir doesn’t quite tie up reality in exactly the same way.

But what’s your verdict? Do you subscribe to the Egg Theory? Would you like to but can’t quite bring yourself to accept it? Of course, it’s not as though this is something that could ever provide proof of itself. It’s an idea proposed by Weir, and a blending of various other approaches to life, as well. Similarly, there are perhaps some signs of us building in some aspects of “The Egg” with regard to our future lives, as we currently appreciate them. The hive mind, for example, is an often-cited advanced technology that human society could be moving towards. A unifying something that enables us all to think, understand, and perhaps even feel the same things. Usually it’s pitched as though it’s a path toward ultimate efficiency… but could it also lead to a greater wisdom, and effectively fast track us (you? me?) toward the Egg’s end point? Toward living every human life possible? Or would a hive mind actually take us further away from that total truth? 

When it comes to future technology like that, it’s easy to steer ourselves into an early dystopia. But, really, and while interpretations obviously differ, that’s probably not the main takeaway from the Egg Theory. Instead, this is an idea more about the boundless possibilities for life… and it’s a re-pitching of the universe, with you at the heart of it. But not “you” you… not exactly. Because, if the Egg rings true, then you are me… and I am them… and they are us. You, me, he, she and they are growing as one, and there’s literally all the time (in the past, present and future) in which to do so.