A couple of people have asked me what I think are the karmic implications of bootlegging cds for friends, so I’m posting something I initially wrote in 1997:

The Universe Crashes My Computer
So what’s playing out in my life right now and what lessons are there to be learned from it? Hmmm, I have this big cold slowing me down, making me have to rush at the end to get this issue done on time; then one day away from completion, my computer’s Pagemaker program crashed and I was left with pages of magazine articles unprinted, no way to even open them up and no layout program to help put them together if I could open them up! I took this as a sign from the Universe to go where I wouldn’t be distracted, sit quietly, and ask (1) what was to be learned from this and (2) what was my quickest way out of it?

I’m Not Alone In This Lesson
Now I figure that whatever’s going on with me is also going on with everyone around me, whether we talk about it or not, so that’s why I share these personal insights with you. Over the past 5 years, I’d come to rely heavily on my Pagemaker program, a program which, incidentally, I hadn’t paid for and which a friend had given us a copy of. So here I was, one day away from completion, and my stolen program was letting me down. Hmmmm, such a little crime, I mean, everyone copies software for their friends, right? I reflected on how many things there are in life like that, we take something that may not have been meant for us in the first place and then get aggravated and complain when we don’t receive full benefit from it, and don’t ever make the connection!

Do I Really Believe The Universe Will Provide?
“But that’s a $750 program,” you say, “I can’t afford that!” Well, then maybe I wasn’t meant to have it so soon; here 5 years later I still only know the basics of it. Or maybe if I hadn’t stolen it first, someone would have bought it for me – people are always giving me incredible gifts! If I truly believed in the abundance of the Universe, I would have just bought it knowing that the mortgage payment would somehow get paid on time also. After all, money only comes pouring into my life when I’m pouring it out on others, I HAVE learned that much. But on some level, I hadn’t REALLY learned that or I would have recognized that by accepting the copy, I was also accepting a bit of my friend’s karma, and all that that implies.

Stealing Is Not Sharing
I thought I was just trying to save money. Trying to save money by stealing, hmmm, I wonder what the karmic implications of that are? I was trying to save MY MONEY by DENYING PAYMENT to the owner of the program. If I’m denying money to anyone, how can I expect it to flow into my life? If I stop it for one, I’m delaying it for others and I definitely stop it for me. To me that’s what karma means. Cause and effect. Anything I put into motion comes back to me – at some point on some level – even if I don’t always recognize the form it returns as.  And every year I get better at recognizing it.

Can You Trace Everything to Its Cause?
Everything that I have in my life right now is a product of what I’ve been giving out to the world during my lifetime. I can look at every item I own and each room in my house and every one of my friends and, in retrospect, on past friends, and I know what I did to bring it into my life. It’s a very liberating feeling knowing that I’m the one who controls all that. Not that I always KNEW I controlled it, but once I found out, believe me, changes rocked my world! Great changes, liberating changes, comforting changes. No more surprises! If I told a fib (even a tiny white lie) I could expect to be lied to when I least expected it. If I stole a friend’s book (hey, I was only borrowing it!) I might find my car stolen or vandalized. If I was impatient with my Granddad (jeez, stop butting into my life!) I could expect to find myself with no emotional support from others during a trying time. It started becoming crystal clear!

Freedom At Any Price
So the point of this is, I’ve thrown away any software I didn’t pay for and it’s cost me a pretty penny to clear that karmic debt, but the freedom I feel is worth it. I no longer burn copies of cds for friends; they’re welcome to come listen to them here but, if you appreciate something and find value in it, gladly pay for what you receive, and encourage others to purchase them as well.

Support the artist who created the music that gives your heart wings. Return the book you stole from the library and happily pay 3 times the late fine. Ah, what a free feeling, what an expansive feeling.

Plus then you know that what comes your way is a result of your current efforts and not old karma catching up to you. It’s easier than it sounds. Mentally note or, better yet – my favorite – MAKE A LIST ! – of every person in your life and every item in your life and see if you can trace it back to its cause.

This is fun and every day I enjoy making what I call “causal correspondences” with whatever is in front of me. “How did I attract this?” “What is this trying to teach me?”

It’s how I stay engaged in life and extract the most from it.
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