In this selection William LePar's spiritual source, The Council tells us how karma works.

Questioner: So, people really get themselves in a bad way in this life, that is not the way it has to be, like people who deservedly, if I can say that, get ... [a] traumatic disease, that does not have anything to do with the fact that they were real stinkers in a past life, it has to do with the fact that they did not change their way of activity which caused the problems in the past life and is still causing problems in this life?

The Council:  Well, you are oversimplifying it.  There is a direct connection or a link there.  They have not learned to act in love.  They have not learned the respect for oneself that is necessary.  How can you make proper choices, godly choices, if you do not like yourself, if you do not love yourself, if you do not respect yourself?  The only thing that governs you in a case like that is your ego, the immediate what is going to feel good to me now, what is going to please my desires now, and so you act on that.  Does that make sense?

Questioner:  Yes, one other question.  Between the lives, when you are not in the physical and you are laying out the life plan for the next life, are you thinking clearly in a godly self-loving fashion at that point?

The Council:  Well, when the final point of actually planning out the lifetime, you have worked through all this hodge-podge of misthinking and misunderstanding and you have centered back on the proper understanding and that is that evolvement comes through the act of self-love and respect and that same love and respect for others.  So, your life is planned out that way.  That does not eliminate the ego problem you have.  You still have that choice that must be made.  Will you take the avenue that is right or will you take the avenue that pleases you the most?

Questioner:  Where is that ego when you clear everything away and you are making your life plan, you don't have a problem with your ego at that point?

The Council:  No, because the ego is turned into self-esteem.  It is a positive aspect.  You need ego to carry you through life.  There are two types of ego.  There is a destructive ego which is a self-serving ego, and there is the proper ego that fortifies the self-esteem.

Questioner:  That gets out of balance when you get back into the physical world?

The Council:  Yes.

Reprinted with permission.