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DK on the Clearing of KarmaMaster: If a person commits acts of cruelty against another in this life, then later recognizes whatthey have done and truly regrets their actions, can that karma then be worked on in this life, orcan it be worked out only in a future life? If the karma must necessarily follow to another life, howcan one find any measure of peace or self-forgiveness in this life, knowing they have harmedanother? From Alaska, U.S.A.

My Dear Friend: Of course it is possible to begin clearing karmic relationships in the life in which thekarmic insult occurs. In fact, the first step is experiencing genuine remorse for one's actions. The nextstep is to ask for the other person's forgiveness. I know this can be a difficult step, since (depending onthe act for which one has remorse) doing so can expose one to potential rejection, and rejection isparticularly painful when one is asking for forgiveness. However, expressing one's remorse to the injuredperson is important - not so much for the other person as for the purification of oneself. In so doing, oftenone gets a powerful opportunity to confront internal "demons," or powerful levels of resistance, both ofwhich can be significant teachers.

It is the heart coming open to change that actually cleans up the karma. Often, hearts open by literallybreakingopen. When remorse is genuine enough to crack open the heart, real healing begins. As theheart opens, one's creative capacity opens; and in truth, even though everyone makes mistakes and hasexperiences they later regret, still everyone has an infinite capacity for creating goodness, as well. It isimportant to celebrate the fact that no matter how many mistakes one has made; and no matter thegravity of those mistakes, one still retains a tremendous capacity for generating kindness, compassionand goodness. Indeed, if one forgets this very important point, then it does become impossible to "findany measure of peace or self-forgiveness in this life," as you so eloquently put it in your question above.

If one really chooses to clear karma in the life where it arises, it is necessary to go even deeper.Remorse, left to the devices of the ego mind, can lead one into depression, hopelessness, or other evenmore morbid mental state. This is why the mind must be transcended. It thus becomes necessary toenter into some mental purification with regard to the person one has injured. Perhaps you imagine thisperson as a Buddha, or a Christ, and you see yourself bowing or doing prostrations to her/him. Mentally,try to experience profound gratitude for their presence in your life, for it has been through the unfolding ofthe course of events that you have received a great lesson. You have seen something about yourself (orwhat you perceive as "your self") that you may not have seen had this person been absent from yourexperiential realm. What a gift his/her presence was to you - even though you have remorse about theturn of events. Hypothetically speaking, if another person shows up in your life and opens himself/herselfto pain and injury so that you may become awake to the power of your thoughts, words and actions, whatgreater gift could that "other" offer to your enlightenment?

Of course, one cannot simply assume that the other person consciouslyremembers agreeing to serve insuch a capacity. Indeed, it is always important to compassionately attune to the particular pain the otherexperiences, for such seeing begets true remorse and ultimately, compassion for both self and other.However, it is also important not to let the remorse (which is desirable) deteriorate into guilt (which is notdesirable), for guilt often dissolves into paralysis, which is helpful neither to self nor the other person.What is helpful to both parties is compassionate understanding of the tremendous prices people pay toobtain their respective learning. It is ultimately through these often painful, seemingly demeaning,learning experiences that one gets her/his greatest growth. The Soul, you see, is willing to pay nearly anyprice to have its liberation.

Celebrate your learning, and celebrate the fact that others come into your life to facilitate that learning,

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whether consciously or unconsciously. It is indeed powerful to recognize that another human being lovesyou enough to take whatever karmic abuse the "lower self" dishes out in order that you might have yourliberation from old karmic patterns. We must be careful not to wax "glib" here, for such gifts from otherscome with a significant price for them, as well. Rather, one must always be sensitively aware that allbeings everywhere are paying heavy prices to obtain their learning - the learning that will ultimately free

each from the suffering levels to which all have (and must) pay their dues.

I encourage you to delve deeply into the waters of reconciliation and redemption. Such is the work youcame to do, and it will produce the spiritual maturity you seek. Do not wait for another life to dawn toclean up those karmic debts. Rather, use every opportunity you are afforded in this precious life to cutthrough the limitations of the ego mind, allowing transcendence to be the mark of your presence here onEarth. Apply yourself diligently to the task at hand, and rest in the assurance that like others before you,you too shall have your enlightenment. Walk gently upon the Earth, and dare to love all beings - thatincludes yourself!