Core Tenet #7: Ka is a Wheel

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Topic: Core Tenet #7:  Ka is a Wheel


Ka is a wheel, and everything moves in cycles: fashion, and war, and cultural revolution. Be prepared for everything to happen again. 

The concept of Ka comes from the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, a patron saint of the Path. The series is eight books long and is recommended reading. The word has two meanings: Fate (or Destiny) and Life-force (or Essence). This is because who you are as a person (your Life-force) determines what happens in your life (your Fate). Let’s take a look at how these two meanings are applied. 

Ka as Fate can apply both on a personal and social level. In this context, Ka is a wheel, and the same patterns tend to repeat. A perfect example is the alternating popularity of capris pants and bell-bottoms. We also see cycles in history: we tend to fight the same battles over and over, in both the military and the cultural sense. This is Ka. In our personal lives, we may also see the same patterns repeating themselves. This happens because we still have some lesson to learn from them. However, if those patterns are damaging, if you find yourself running into the same roadblocks, you can and should exercise Self-Control and Mindfulness to adjust your behavior and take control of your own Destiny. Ka as Fate is also similar to Karma: If you work toward putting good energy into the world, in whatever ways you can, then good energy will come back to you. This is also Ka.  

Ka as Life-force refers to the combination of energy and consciousness that is You, rather than the meat-puppet you’re driving around. It means who you are right now, all the decisions you have ever made, and all of your memories. You can think of it as some version of a soul. In The Stand and The Dark Tower, Stephen King writes of a man named Randall Flagg who can project his Ka into animals like crows and wolves. Scientifically, Ka can be defined as the fluctuating electrical activity in your brain that continues to some extent even after clinical death.  

Do you believe that we can control our own Destiny? Or do you believe that everything is pre-ordained? 

Namaste, 

Reverend CJ Carlin 

 

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