Popular spiritual teacher and author of the bestselling The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle offers a simple definition of karma. He says:

“…karma is the unconscious conditioning that runs your life.”

But is that accurate? Has Tolle adapted his explanation of karma to make it more palatable to Westerners? And in so doing, has he left out essential aspects you need to know to truly understand karma?

Let’s take a look.

The Definition of Karma

Karma is a Sanskrit word that literally means “action.” Karma refers to both the power contained within an action and the results an action brings. Thus, karma is often referred to as the “law of cause and effect.”

From a Buddhist perspective, the law of cause and effect governs the universe. Every action (cause) has a corresponding effect. You might see that effect immediately—for example, you hit someone and they hit you back. But most often the effect occurs in the future. And so many years later, you don’t necessarily grasp the connection.

I agree with Tolle in the sense that karma can be intricately linked with unconscious conditioning. Unconscious conditioning impacts how we act. Often, our actions seem to have little conscious choice whatsoever.

But karma does not mean “unconscious conditioning” as Tolle suggests.

There are times we break free of our conditioning and act in new and different ways, aren’t there? Our actions—conscious or unconscious—produce karmic consequences.

In essence, karma is a teaching about responsibility and what can go wrong when we don’t take responsibility for our actions. And conversely, what can go right when we do.

Karma and Ethics

You don’t become awakened by accumulating good karma, according to Tolle. 

Tolle claims awakening—the arising of presence—happens spontaneously and it can happen to anyone from a hardened criminal to a long-time meditator. Presence is another dimension that just “breaks into the karmic realm.” Awakening is unrelated to the accumulation of positive karma.

His explanation of awakening seems to be rooted in his own personal experience. Tolle suffered from anxiety and depression his entire adult life until that “fateful” moment of awakening. He had never studied or practiced any form of spirituality prior to this sudden, unexpected occurrence.

One day, when at his worst, he noticed there were two aspects of his mind, the one who suffered and the one who observed the suffering. He fell into a void and woke up in an awakened state. 

Tolle can’t tell you why awakening happens this way.

I agree, this type of awakening does occur on rare occasions. But if Tolle doesn’t know why awakening sometimes happens spontaneously, how does he know it doesn’t relate to karma?

And if karma has no impact on awakening, what’s the point of spiritual practice? What’s the point of listening to or watching Eckhart Tolle’s teachings and contributing to his net worth of $80 million dollars? 

Why not just sit around and wait until en-lightning strikes?

From a Buddhist perspective, karma by definition means that positive actions result in happiness and negative actions result in suffering. 

As the Dalai Lama explains in Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World:

“On the other hand, in the non-theistic religions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and a branch of the ancient Indian Samkhya school, there is no belief in a divine creator. Instead, there is the core principle of causality, while the universe is regarded as beginningless. Without a creator figure in which to ground inner values and an ethical life, the non-theistic religions instead ground ethics in the idea of karma.”

Awakening itself depends on the two accumulations of merit and wisdom. Merit means the accumulation of positive intentions and good actions which leads to good karma. Wisdom means transcendental knowledge, for example the direct experience of emptiness.

Hence, enlightenment doesn’t happen by chance as Tolle suggests. It does relate to the cultivation of good karma along with wisdom.

Karma and Interdependence

Karma is not a stand-alone philosophy that can be fully understood apart apart from the ideas of causality and interdependence. As the Dalai Lama says in the above quote, causality is a key principle in Buddhism. 

Thus, everything occurs due to causes and conditions. 

For example, a seed you plant depends on multiple causes and conditions to grow into a tree, including optimal soil, water, and sunlight. Obtaining the seed in the first place depends upon another set of causes and conditions. 

This network of causality and interdependence is so vast and far-reaching it may be difficult to comprehend. The contemporary spiritual teacher Adyashanti explained interconnectedness like this in a 2020 retreat:

“The reason for any one instant happening is ultimately everything else that is happening in the universe and has ever happened. Because everything goes together as one coherent whole. Everything is affecting everything else. Some things are affecting other things in ways that are obvious. Other things have an effect that is very obscure, very distant, and very slight. But nonetheless, the reason for anything happening is everything that has ever happened and everything that is happening—that’s interconnectedness.”

To make this more comprehensible for myself, I think of the way an earthquake in Chile can cause a tsunami in Hawaii. In 1961, a tsunami that originated in Chile, destroyed Hawaii’s Hilo Bay and killed 51 people. A day later, the same tsunami killed 180 people in Japan.

Your awakening depends on your actions, but it also depends on causes and conditions coming together to make your awakening possible. 

Those causes and conditions could be meeting a spiritual teacher, reading a spiritual book, or in Tolle’s case, a depression that was so profound he suddenly began to wonder about the self that felt depressed and the self that observed the depression.

Concluding Thoughts

I don’t think Tolle gets everything wrong about karma. He says presence brings an end to karma. There is both truth and more to know about what that actually means. For example, presence isn’t mere mindfulness.

At the same time, I can’t accept Tolle’s view that karma is unconscious conditioning alone. Nor can I abide by the notion that awakening is a random event unrelated to karma. 

I’m steeped in the Buddhist view. It makes sense to me. But I know it’s not the way for everyone. And I understand a view is just a way to get a little closer to the unknowable. 

But when you analyze Tolle’s statements on karma from a different lens like Buddhism, you have to wonder where did they come from? 

• Did he just make them up himself? 

• Does he think his own personal experience of awakening is the cookie-cutter model for everyone else? 

• What is this “other dimension” of presence that breaks through and makes you awaken?

I’ve been inspired by The Power of Now like millions of others. I’m inspired Tolle has helped so many individuals wake up to their spiritual nature.

But I don’t think we should sit in the audience with our eyes wide open and our mouth agape believing every single word a spiritual teacher says. You need to examine the teachings you receive for their veracity.

Otherwise, you could end up on a very long spiritual detour.

[Photo by Ariel Castillo on Pexels]

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