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Some people seem to consistently fail to do well in life, and this (you may say) has to do with kamma. But what does that mean? Does it mean that there’s nothing they can do about it, and so they’re doomed to be like that for the rest of their lives? |
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When people speak of kamma, often they mean it like it’s fate. And that is not how the Buddha meant it. We need to bear in mind that kamma means action. Of course it can mean past action that is causing present results. But viewing it that way alone can be quite disempowering. |
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Technically, when people speak of kamma like it’s fate, they are speaking of only the result of kamma, or what the Suttas sometimes call “old kamma”. When meeting old kamma, what we normally do is to respond badly, i.e. create new bad (unskilful or unwholesome) kamma. |
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On the issue of consistently failing to do well in life, the old kamma here is the belief or perception (saññā) of being a failure, formed based on one’s repeated past experience of failure. Regardless of whether we are aware of our perceptions, we think, speak and act out of them. In other words, they control our lives. Out of the perception of being a failure, the bad kammic responses may include giving up and living with the situation in a negative way, such as doing one’s work in a half-hearted or haphazard way. That of course is giving in to that negative perception, and thereby sustaining it. |
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Sometimes, being unbearably averse to failing, people cope by avoiding it. And that may include avoiding new or difficult tasks completely. In doing that, one avoids having to experience failure, but that also means that one remains failing to do well. |
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Some may also cope by fighting it, and that may include pushing oneself ceaselessly to meet unrealistic goals. Expectedly, one fails miserably, thereby strengthening the sense of failure. |
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To undo this whole thing, one has to first admit that one is in such a condition. This is the most basic step in wisdom. Without doing so, there wouldn’t be any chance of doing anything to change the condition. Furthermore, one should regard that sense of failure as something that came to being, instead of regarding it as oneself. This creates a sense of separation between the sense of failure and oneself. With that, one can become properly aware of this thing that has been perpetuating failure, without needing to avoid or fight it. |
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If one has been avoiding or fighting it for a long time, regardless of how much one desires to stop, it can be very difficult. Habits have been formed. So one has to find the right strategies and have the resilience to change them. If not, one cannot begin to meet the sense of failure with understanding so that one can undo it. |
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The journey of recovering from this sense of failure is bound to be challenging. One needs to be on guard against the sense of failure itself. Otherwise, it prevents one from making any effort at all. |
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It’s okay to fail. We all do. And if we learn from our failures, then we didn’t fail. We’re on our way to success.
Writer's profile: https://justpaste.it/kumara |