The Eastern Philosophy of the Several Fold Path of Rebirth and Karma

There are those who believe that we may have to experience a number of incarnations in human form, until such a time as the soul has obtained an appropriate level of enlightenment, through the process of a number of rebirths and experiences of life here on the earth. Often this has been considered to be something we have no choice in and that it may entail having rebirth here on a number of occasions in human form, (This should not be confused with the transmigration of souls, which is a different understanding that is thought to entail transmigrating from the lower species to the most evolved species here on the earth, which is human). Many that have believed in rebirth have believed that it may involve working off the karmic debt of past lifetimes and therefore hardship and sufferance in the present lifetime has often been attributed to any past life karmic debt, that has been brought forward by negative actions of past life onto the present life and incarnation, thus any present life suffering might be attributed as a consequenting result of the karmic laws and be seen as karmic debt and therefore unavoidable. The karmic laws being the laws that are thought to maintain an equilibrium through action causing reaction and for every action there will be consequenting reactions, therefore positive action is thought to result in positive reaction and negative action resulting in negative reactions, either in this present time or in some later incarnation.

It is thought that whatever karmic debt or credit we might of brought forward with us there will eventually be compensation or remonstration for both our past and present acctions. For those who do positive action and have also done so in their past lifetime there will be a positive reward and for those who have done negative actions there will be debt to make amends for and possible hardship and suffering as a result of their past actions. This is seen to address who we are and how we conduct ourselves and those who have a more positive life are seen to be further along the pathway toward enlightenment and those who have hardship are also on this same path and are receiving the lessons that teaches negative action results in negative reaction and the lesson is that through doing positive action they will escape the consequenting negative karma and instead further their own enlightenment to living within the karmic laws.

Some except the karmic laws as an unavoidable fact of life and to prevent misfortune in a future incarnation they may choose to set about only doing positive action in this lifetime, thereby working off karmic debt of any previous life and preventing it in any future life and that by doing so it will help to bring enlightenment and the understanding necessary through several incarnations to achieve the required enlightenment and level, where it becomes possible to move on for a time into a higher level and state of existence beyond the mortal realm. This belief again has good merits and many true understandings, but I feel is not completely correct, but has good values and teaches practical and logical ways in which to live a good and practical life within its understandings.