School Days

There is a well-known expression that states: "Life is a school". This is a fair analogy that attempts to describe one of the purposes of our being here. But where are the teachers? What classes are we taking? What are the lessons we are here to learn?

The Earth is our Schoolroom. Karma (the Law of Causes and Effects) is our Teacher. Our reactions to external stimuli are our Tests. The experiences that result from our reactions are our Lessons.

Fairly simple concepts, but concepts that completely escape the notice of many. If man would make the effort to pay attention to his life, to look at life as an ongoing course of instruction and correction spanning many incarnations, he might be able to begin to perceive the Grand Design behind the reason for his existence. When one pays attention to one's life, then even the most mundane occurrences are filled with meaning.

At this point in our evolution, the human life-span is short. Therefore, much experience must be crowded into a small period of time. This presents us with continuously oscillating forces in our lives, swinging us to and fro from one seeming "crisis" to the next. In truth, embedded within all of our troubles are the seeds of divine instruction, the teachings that we need to improve and refine ourselves as we attempt to move from men to super-men ("super" meaning "above", "more than", "higher").

Karma is the key, as it provides us with a mirror in which to see ourselves in. How is this done? Let's say that a soul - while incarnate as a man - mistreated his wife in a past life, perhaps several lives back. Let us say further, that in this current life, that soul is now born as a woman. The woman grows to become virtuous and righteous. She marries a man who at first loves her but gradually becomes abusive towards her. The woman cannot understand why she is being so poorly treated. What has she done to deserve this? Is she not virtuous? Is she not righteous?

If she could only peer beyond the veil which cloaks our past existences from us, she would recognize straight away that she was being shown herself. Rather, the soul was being shown the effects of its previous causes, or actions against another soul, through a previous personality. Now, the soul gets to look into hate-filled eyes and a snarling mouth. Now, the soul experiences what it is like to cower in fear and walk on eggshells. Now, the soul realizes the tremendous wrong that it has perpetrated in a prior life. If the lesson is taken properly, these tendencies should move towards being extinguished, never to appear in future lives.

Another example which may help to illustrate the point is when a child is disrespectful or ill-mannered towards their parent(s) , sometimes right on through adulthood. Those "poor parents" are more than likely reaping the bitter fruit of a harvest whose seeds were planted long ago, when they were the children mistreating and dis-honoring their parents.

This is why when we view tragedy, we should try to look past the heart-wrenching facts of the event and recognize that there is undoubtedly some cause, the nature of which we are not privy to, which required the participation of certain souls in the calamity. These souls are repaying karmic debts, brutal as the transaction may appear to us.

This is not to say that everything that occurs in life is a reckoning of sorts. Do accidents happen? Of course, they do. The point is that there is usually a very good reason behind the events that take place in our lives. By having our former causes reflected back to us, we are enabled to "look in the mirror", as it were. We are forced to confront and deal with matters that we would otherwise pay no attention to. We are given the ability to see ourselves. The hope is that we will be chastened by what is being shown to us, and work to expunge those qualities from our lives.

We've been at this school-thing for a long time. Graduation is literally right around the corner. Our Higher Education beckons. Pay attention to life. Put away the self-pitying cry of "Why me?". Recognize the lessons that are being offered to you and work to master them, once and for all.

~ g