It's important to emphasize that reincarnation and karma involve justice, not punishment. For many people, the model of the afterlife presented to them as children involved an angry God who punishes sinners for the slightest misdeeds. This way of seeing things can feel terrifying to a child and can even unsettle an adult.

Punishment is a linear process. You do something wrong; and you get punished. It happens all the time. This is why mainstream notions of heaven and hell are so scary: If you go to hell, you're stuck there forever. Reincarnation, by contrast, is cyclical.  What goes around comes around. Instead of getting punished for our misdeeds, we do what is necesssary to put things back into balance. No eternal punishment. Of course, there's no eternal reward either, but there is a promise of of growth and evolution over the course of many lifetimes.

Psychologically speaking, reincarnation removes the "fear of God" as a factor of life. In  its place are the energies of trust and love: trusting in our deeds, whether good or bad, shape our future and therefore trusting that we are always capable of making good choices that will lead to a better tomorrow. Love meanwhile, is at the heart of all good choices, which in turn lead to bliss of a happy sojourn in the afterlife before reincarnating in a positive new cycle.

In our imperfect world, justice is handled poorly (if at all). Many people get away with murder (litterally), while others wind up in prison just because they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Karma suffers from none of these faults. You can keep dirty deeds secret from everybody, but the forces of karma know what's up. It's important to remember, however, that karma is not a system of punishment. It is a system of justice. In other words, karma sets up future circumstances that redress our wrongs and reward our good deeds.Here's one way to look at it: Think of the universe as an ultra fine tuned precision instrument. Whenever someone does something wrong, it throws the instrument out of balance. Karma is the force that brings all things back into balance. Of course this means that some form of compensation needs to occur. If you do something wrong, you get to clean up the mess. You don't get punished, but you aren't left off the hook either.

You might think, what good is karma? If I do bad things but don't face the consequences of my actions for another lifetime or two, won't I just keep doing more harm, at least this go round? And if I do good, what's the point if I won't enjoy any benefits for lifetimes to come?

Ah, no one said karma only influences the the distant future. One important element of karma is often overlooked: the force of instant karma. This is karma that shapes your current life, not some future incarnataon. In other words, you face consequenses of your actions, whether good or bad, in the same lifetime as the actions themselves.

Obviously, instant karma is a powerful incentive to clean up your act (or keep doing good stuff) now. When an alcoholic loses his his job or marriage, that's instant karma at work. When a philanthropist gets a reward from the government for her good deeds, that's a bit of instant karma as well. Karma is always at work in out lives. Remember that karma si the force of destiny by which our actions shape our future. Future, however, could mean the next few minutes or 500 lifetimes from now.

Selected passages by Carl McColman