Being Careful of What We Advise
August 16, 2008 Question: If someone asks me if they should do something wrong and I say sure why not, and they do it and something seriously bad happens to them, would I have any karmic results? Wasn't it just their own karma to have that something bad happen to them? Probably they would have done what they did whether I said anything.
Response: Whether the person was "destined" to have something bad happen to them, you had the free will to encourage them or to try to dissuade them from what you knew to be wrong. By not trying to dissuade them, at some level you made the decision to encourage them in a wrongdoing. You chose to do what was either morally or legally wrong. Irrespective of what they decided to do and whether they got caught, you chose to do something wrong.
It's all shades of gray. If you said to not do it and they did, that's one karmic result for you. If you tried to talk them out of it and when it didn't work, you gave up and said "oh go ahead," that's another karmic result. If you thought what they wanted to do was fine even though you knew it was wrong, that's another karmic result. It's all shades of gray.
You may now be thinking that you were also "destined" to say what you did.
Your destiny resulted in who you are, in what you were taught, and the circumstances in which you are living. But your every thought is not predestined. Even if having that fated conversation with your friend was destined (and I do not know if it was or wasn't) every word in it was not. At any moment, we have the potential to turn away from doing something wrong, from harming another person or being, and making the morally right decision. By making that right decision, we will redirect to some degree our future.
But if we chose the wrong decision—or encourage someone else to make the wrong decision—we will undergo the karmic consequences for what we have said or done.
Reader Comments (2)
Yesterday I sat down with a JA advisor about teaching high school students as a volunteer. I looked over the lessons and noted there is an "optional class" at the end of the classroom series--"Ethics". I commented I didn't think Ethics was optional and that it should be taught at the beginning. He seemed surprised. I am glad the class is now an option, but sad it is not a given. He said not many were interested in having the class or teaching it. I am hoping it will be selected by the teacher I am assigned.
Yes, we have Karmic choices. Choices/ethics need to be taught to the young so they know choices exist. Things seem to have gone so far off course. <sigh> Perhaps these classes will help steer the future in a better direction.
We are all Karmic "ambassadors" at times. If someone asks, how nice to be given the opportunity to advise a Right course. I am hopeful this Fall I will be given the chance to be one in the classroom.
Like the stone in a pond, the ripples are many, even if small.
In our consumer-oriented society, it seems schools are increasingly emphasizing business courses (how to make money) instead of ethics courses (how to be a moral person). I share your sigh.
Good luck on being in the classroom this fall. A karmic ambassador would be a very good addition to it.