Don't Blame the Universe
“The universe said no,” laughed a commentator in response to an improbable story about two drunk drivers running into each other, each driving stolen vehicles. “Karma,” another affirmed. We like these neutral terms now.
We rarely hear the mention of things like “justice”. Even more verboten—we dare not suggest the role of God in such a thing. Imagine if someone had instead pronounced, “That sounds like God’s wrath.” That might sound cringeworthy by contrast, or worse yet, it would suddenly seem judgemental.
But blame the universe like a non-committal bow to scientism or Gaia worship and all is well. Nobody is going to ask you to back up your claim if you generically blame “the universe” and they certainly aren’t going to ask you to solve the problem of evil for them on the spot, but if you say “God”, then the probability of those interactions is well above zero. Suddenly, it becomes an objectionable claim. The Christian needs to explain himself in a way that others do not.
Now, most of the people who use this language aren’t (consciously) trying to make a religious argument. But, and this is a big qualifier, their usage of such terms really is a response to the sense that pure randomness isn’t enough to explain their experiences of the world. They can intuit a sense of order in nature. In this way, these locutions are religious expressions.
Yet, people would rather sound atheistic or generically spiritual (“karma”) than they would religious. Bystanders don’t argue with the woman who claims to be “balancing my chakras” like they might with a professed Christian. They don’t argue with Muslims either, but for an entirely different reason. The issue with actual religion, instead of generic exclamations, is the moral judgement that is attached to them. If a faith is true, then that Creator has the right to dictate the good. More importantly, we have the duty to act in accord with that determination.
So when people mention God, those around them intuit a judgement. Perhaps they are not keeping with this person’s sense of morality. Nobody likes to feel that way. The “universe” however, isn’t evaluating how they live their lives.
But when we eliminate God, we remove our moral vocabulary. It’s not merely judgement that we lose. It’s forgiveness, redemption, even guidance. The universe doesn’t tell us how to live, because it doesn’t love us. Only a personal God can do that. With the counsel of judgement, we are guided to better decisions and meaningful lives. As we transform ourselves, we transform civilization.
Paul Kingsnorth was right in his famous Erasmus lecture that our job as individuals isn’t civilization building, such that we reduce Christ into a tool. But what he missed is that a Christian civilization develops as the consequence of a Christian people. God builds through us. And as we share a common vocabulary, ethos, and moral structure, we will necessarily see that blossom.
Culture is the fruit of belief, and nowhere is that more evident than in our language and our art. The language that we use is like art in that it reflects the culture around us and serves as a reinforcing mirror. Hence “modern art” reflects the relativism of our age, in that we are asked to pretend that a random spray of paint might be gorgeous, if only seen through the right person’s eyes. And then stay mute to the reality that the right person would have to be blind.
The language through which we express the world becomes the lens through which we see it. When our words grow empty, so does our vision. Thus, we must avoid the underpinned cowardice of neutral expressions, and speak that which is true into our world. Let us speak truth, so that we may learn again to see.
Deus Vult
The concept of Karma is almost always misused in the West. I am no expert, but my understanding is that Karma is one soul's work, the stuff you have to do in this incarnation for your soul to advance spiritually. The typical Westerner seems to think Karma is a kind of cosmic revenge for doing stupid stuff. It isn't. Being the work one's soul must pursue in this life, it is the things one is interested in, the times and places one confronts as one goes through life. All are components of one's soul's work. How one responds determines whether or not one learns the spiritual lessons these circumstances present.
One does not have 'good Karma' nor does one have 'bad Karma.' There is only Karma. In one incarnation, one may be a child molester; that is one's karma. In another incarnation, one may be the cop who catches the child molester. In yet another, the child abused by the molester. Every human circumstance is karma for the soul. One's Karma may be to die as a soldier in a lost cause or to be an emperor or to live and work as a tradesman or be a deadbeat.
Dharma is the duty one has in each incarnation. It's the standard your soul aspires to reach. One's Dharma may be to avenge a family member slain or to achieve some task great or small. If you fail to avenge your family member, your soul does not encounter the circumstances demanded of you, and your Karma goes undone. It piles on to the next incarnation. You will bear that Karmic load until you resolve it, doing your Dharma fully.
Dharma and Karma are related. All this stuff gets complex, very complex.
It's not Karma when you run your stolen car while drunk into another car, like some kind of cosmic revenge. It may be the result of avoiding your Karma. It may be the keystone in an avalanche of karmic and dharmic circumstances to advance your spirit toward God.