Episode 67
Have you ever encountered a spiritual teaching that sounded beautiful… and yet somehow didn’t fit with your lived experience?
Perhaps you’ve heard things like:
Everything happens for a reason.
The soul chooses its experiences.
There are soul agreements.
There are no victims and perpetrators.
And yet when you look around the world, or perhaps even at your own life, you find yourself asking:
Really?
What about suffering?
What about betrayal?
What about injustice?
What about the people who cause harm?
And if souls truly choose experiences, then why is there karma?
A beautiful question was left on one of my recent community posts, and it stayed with me long after I read it.
And the question was:
“If there are no perpetrators and victims because we all choose these roles to play, then why is there karma?”
And I thought, what a wonderful question.
Not because I think I have the answer.
But because it touches on a place where many spiritual teachings seem to contradict human reality.
In this episode, I’ll be exploring karma, soul agreements, responsibility, compassionate action, and what it means to navigate life when more than one truth may be operating at the same time.
So if you’d like to join me, pull up a comfy chair, invite in your soul and be open to receiving exactly what you need to live, be, and thrive as the embodied soul you are.
As always, with these conversations take what resonates and leave the rest.
This is not Truth with a capital T.
This is simply how I’ve come to understand these things through my own experiences, reflections, and what I’ve learned through my Guides.
The first place I’d like to start is with karma itself.
Because I think many of us inherited an understanding of karma that isn’t necessarily how I experience it.
Often, karma is spoken about as punishment.
Someone does something bad.
Eventually something bad happens to them.
Case closed.
But I’ve never really understood karma that way.
To me, karma feels less like punishment and more like balancing.
A movement toward equilibrium.
A movement toward understanding.
A movement toward wholeness.
Not because some cosmic authority is keeping score.
Not because we’re being judged.
But because energy naturally seeks balance.
Because consciousness seeks understanding.
And because the soul seeks experience.
That last piece feels important.
The soul seeks experience.
Not just comfort.
Not just happiness.
Experience.
And one of the images that comes to mind when I think about this is a diamond.
Or perhaps one of those disco balls covered in countless mirrored facets.
Imagine the soul wanting to understand something like love.
Not from one angle.
Not from one perspective.
But from every possible facet.
Every angle.
Every experience.
Every expression.
The soul is not simply interested in duality.
Love and heartbreak.
Light and dark.
Good and bad.
It’s interested in understanding the entire jewel.
Every facet contributes to the whole.
Every perspective reveals something new.
And so when I say the soul seeks experience, I don’t mean that it seeks only pleasant experiences.
The soul may wish to understand trust.
And courage.
And forgiveness.
And compassion.
And loss.
And resilience.
And joy.
And grief.
And countless other experiences that help create a fuller understanding of existence.
Now this is where karma enters my understanding.
Not as punishment.
But as balancing.
As understanding.
As experience.
If the soul seeks to understand something fully, it may eventually seek to understand it from many perspectives.
Not because it is being punished.
Because it is expanding.
Learning.
Growing.
Experiencing.
And this is where the conversation often becomes uncomfortable.
Because someone will immediately ask:
What about people who harm others?
What about abuse?
What about violence?
What about war?
What about the truly painful experiences we see in our world?
And I think this is where nuance becomes incredibly important.
Because this is where many spiritual conversations start to fall apart.
One thing I’ve reflected on many times is that intention matters.
Consciousness matters.
The energy behind an action matters.
For example, two people can speak exactly the same words.
One person speaks them to help.
The other person speaks them to wound.
The words may be identical.
But the consciousness behind them is entirely different.
The intention behind them is entirely different.
And therefore the energetic imprint is different.
And thus the outcome, or reflection in experience will be different.
The visible action is only one layer of the story.
The consciousness behind it is another.
And this brings me to something I feel is very important to clarify.
The possibility that souls participate in experiences together does not remove responsibility from the person making a choice.
I want to say that again.
The possibility that souls participate in experiences together does not remove responsibility from the person making a choice.
The idea of soul agreements is not a free pass.
It is not justification.
It is not permission.
And it is certainly not an invitation to harm.
The intention to harm carries its own consequences.
Its own balancing.
Its own lessons.
Its own experiences.
So I would like to share an example.
There was a period in my corporate career that was incredibly difficult.
Many people would probably describe the relationship I had with one senior leader as toxic.
There were tears.
There was stress.
There were experiences that from a human perspective, I never would have consciously chosen.
And yet many years late, after this experience, after I had already left the company and moved on with my life, I had a dream that completely shifted how I viewed the situation.
In the dream, I was presenting my life plan.
Interestingly, we were standing in what looked like the very building where I worked.
And one of the people standing with me was this individual.
As I explained what I wanted to learn and accomplish in this life, I began outlining the role I needed them to play.
At one point they looked at me and said:
‘But you’re going to hate me.’
And I remember responding:
‘I won’t. I need you to do this. It’s the only way I’ll learn what I came here to learn.’
They agreed, though somewhat reluctantly.
Now, whether someone believes dreams reveal soul agreements or not isn’t really the point. What mattered was how it changed my perspective, my relationship to the experience. Because it allowed me to hold two possibilities at once.
At the soul level, perhaps this person had agreed to play a role in an experience I needed.
And at the human level, the choices made within that experience still mattered.
The role may have been agreed upon.
But how we each choose to embody our role remains our responsibility.
And that distinction feels important to me.
And for me, this brings us to what I think is the deepest part of this conversation.
The existence of multiple truths.
Because I think many of us are trying to force life into a single perspective.
One answer.
One explanation.
One truth.
But what if more than one thing can be true at the same time?
At the soul level, there may be agreements.
There may be lessons.
There may be experiences unfolding.
There may be balancing occurring.
And at the human level…
Suffering is still suffering.
Pain is still pain.
Choices still matter.
Actions still matter.
Responsibility remains fully intact.
Not because we are being judged.
But because every choice creates an experience.
Every choice creates a ripple.
The soul may choose experiences.
And we are still responsible for our actions.
Whether in this life or another.
For me, both of those things can be true.
In fact, I think many of the challenges we face arise when we try to collapse those two perspectives into one.
And this is where I think spirituality can sometimes become tricky.
Because concepts that are meant to create compassion can sometimes create distance instead.
We can hear things like:
“It’s their karma.”
“They chose it.”
“It’s their lesson.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
And while there may be truth within those statements at one level, they can also become a way of stepping away from our humanity.
A way of disengaging.
A way of not feeling.
A way of not caring.
A way of not responding.
Understanding is not the same as indifference.
That distinction feels important. Because when I encounter suffering, I try not to get lost in needing to understand why it exists.
Instead, I find myself returning to a different question.
What is mine to do?
Not: Why did this happen?
Not: Whose karma is this?
Not: What lesson are they learning?
But: What is mine to do?
What is the highest choice available to me right now?
Sometimes that answer is very tangible.
Feed someone.
Give them water.
Offer shelter.
Listen.
Support.
Help.
Intervene.
Show up.
And sometimes the situation is beyond our immediate reach. Someone is across the world. A tragedy is unfolding that we cannot physically touch.
In those moments, compassionate action may take another form.
Prayer.
Intention.
Holding someone in love.
Holding a vision of peace.
Holding a vision of someone moving beyond their immediate circumstances.
Seeing them healing.
Rebuilding.
Finding peace again.
Finding love again.
Finding joy again.
Not because we’re denying what has happened. But because we are remembering that the story does not end with the wound.
Seeing beyond the circumstance and remembering the wholeness that still exists within them.
Not reducing someone to their current experience.
Not defining them by the wound.
Not trying to fix them.
Not trying to control the outcome.
But holding space for healing, possibility, and the wholeness that remains present beneath the experience.
Offering a frequency of compassion rather than becoming lost in fear, judgment, or despair.
Because our energy matters too.
Our intentions matter too.
How we show up matters too.
And this brings me to something I’ve lived by for most of my life.
I wasn’t raised with a particular religious framework.
I didn’t grow up thinking about heaven and hell.
But I often found myself asking a very simple question:
If I were in that situation, how would I hope someone would respond to me?
If I were hungry, how would I hope someone would respond?
If I were scared?
If I were grieving?
If I were struggling?
If I were drowning?
How would I hope someone would respond?
And strangely enough, that question extends into even the smallest moments.
A spider in the house.
A bug trapped in a pool.
A frightened animal.
A stranger having a difficult day.
How do I want to meet life?
How do I want to show up?
Not perfectly.
Not flawlessly.
But consciously.
Compassionately.
As often as I can.
Because every choice matters.
Every response matters.
Every moment creates ripples.
And just as actions rooted in fear create ripples, so do actions rooted in love.
A smile matters.
Kindness matters.
Compassion matters.
Helping someone matters.
Encouraging someone matters.
Offering hope matters.
Those energies ripple too.
Those experiences matter too.
Balancing doesn’t only occur through difficulty.
Love creates ripples.
Compassion creates ripples.
Generosity creates ripples.
And those become part of our experience as well.
Sometimes I think about all of this through the image of a mountain and a trail.
Imagine standing on top of a mountain.
From there you can see the entire valley.
You can see how paths intersect.
You can see connections that aren’t visible from the ground.
That feels a little bit like the soul’s perspective.
But when you’re walking the trail itself, things feel very different.
You feel every stone beneath your feet.
Every climb.
Every fall.
Every challenge.
Every triumph.
That is the human perspective.
Neither is wrong.
Both are real.
The challenge is learning how to honor both without abandoning either.
To recognize that there may be layers we cannot see yet.
And at the same time remain deeply committed to compassion, responsibility, kindness, and care.
So perhaps the question is not:
Who is right?
Who is wrong?
Who deserves punishment?
Perhaps the question is:
Given what is in front of me right now…
What is the highest choice I can make?
And perhaps that’s where karma, soul agreements, compassion, responsibility, and embodiment all meet.
Not in theory.
Not in philosophy.
But in the choices we make when life is standing right in front of us.
Thank you for exploring this with me.
If this conversation resonated with you, I’d love to hear what came up for you. Feel free to leave a comment below. I find that when we share these reflections and perspectives with one another, it often opens new doorways for everyone in the community.
And if you feel inclined to like, subscribe, or share the episode, it really does help these conversations reach those who may need them.
Thank you for being here, and I look forward to being with you again next week on Embodied Soul.
