Every religion has the concept of karma, or ‘reap as you sow’ as Christianity puts it. The idea suggests that we shape our future by our actions today, but I think it is far more subtle-and interesting-than that.
At its heart, the idea supposes that we are actualised beings who make decisions and take action. In short, we are responsible for what we do.
I think this is rarely the case. If you look carefully at what we do and think, you’ll see that most of this movement comes from the past; as The Untrue Story of You argues, you are increasingly the past as you have experiences that you don’t fully understand.
The past plays out through you—is you—and into the world. This sense of you is the past.
So karma is the past creating more past.
Only the fully conscious person, who is free of the past and can meet the present moment, is conscious to the complexities of the present moment, is free of karma. Only the conscious person leaves no foot-print in time.