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          A       "The Western Religious Tradition     aNAda #39   A
        A       and the Concept of 'Collective Karma'                A
     A                     by Uberfizzgig              04/07/00         A
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        The Dalai Lama commented somewhat on the Chinese occupation of Tibet
 in his book "Violence and Compassion".  In one part, he mentioned that it
 was the Collective Karma of the Tibetian nation that eventually resulted in
 the loss of their homeland at the hands of the Chinese.  An arrogance
 manifested itself in their faith over time and led to this disaster.  The
 idea of a common, shared karma in Eastern cultures is easily understood
 given the significance and importance placed on history, ancestors, and
 social harmony.  However, it was interesting to me to discover that in the 
 Western individualistic tradition, evidence of the idea of collective karma
 could also be found.  Consider Old Testament books that are common to Jews,
 Christians and Muslims alike.

        In the Book of Exodus, for example, when Moses is trying to convince
 the Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go and worship in the desert, the
 plagues God sends to demonstrate his power and punish Pharaoh for his
 refusal to allow this are visited upon the whole of Egypt, not just Pharaoh
 himself.  Another example is in the destruction of Soddom and Gomorrah,
 where the people living there were not judged individually, but collectively
 doomed their cities to a firey destruction.  Earlier still, the story of
 Noah and the flood demonstrates how the collective karma shared by the rest
 of the people lead to their destruction.  Perhaps the most important example
 of collective karma to be seen in the Western religious tradition occurs in
 the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden where their collective
 karma was applied to the entirety of humanity for the rest of time.  Given
 that the notion of collective karma thus permeates the roots of Western
 religion, why is it not present in our current view of the world?

        The answer to this question would result in this becoming a very long
 paper, but basically has to do with three main factors.  First, the rise of
 Rationalism and the Scientific Method back in the 1700's which rejected the
 operational dependance on the divine.  Next, in Christianity, the arrival of
 Protestantism and the "personal relationship with God" which removed the
 history and interdependence of the Roman Church.  Lastly, but perhaps most
 importantly, the emergence of capitalism and its method of distributing and
 utilizing material resources which is directly related to the individual's
 ability to perform as an independent market participant.

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 {  (c)2000 aNAda e'zine *                     * aNAda001 * by Uberfizzgig  }
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