We live amid this interconnected web of cause and effect in which we are experiencing the results of our previous actions, and at the same time creating the causes for our future experiences. If we can hold this view of how things work in our minds, it helps us to understand our lives and makes us much more attentive to what we are thinking, feeling, saying and doing.

With this view, we realise that we are not just something that popped out of nowhere without causes. Causes and conditions influenced and created what we are. We are not an independent entity that simply comes about without causes and conditions. And our identity that we are so convinced we are, that too is created by causes and conditions, by karma. So, do not take that identity too seriously. It is just a karmic bubble that exists for a few years and then disappears.

At the same time, because what we say, do, think, and feel influence what we become in the future, it is very important to take care of our physical, verbal, and mental actions. If we really care about ourselves, then we will take care of the karma we create because we understand that it is silly to wish for happiness and yet create the causes for suffering. On the other hand, if we want happiness, we know what we need to do to bring about it, so we will engage in those actions. We will take responsibility and deliberately train our body, speech and mind in such a way that they create the causes for happiness. Seeing ourselves as something that is a product of the past and that creates the causes for the future helps us to have a more accurate view of what is going on in our lives. It makes us much more mindful.

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!