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You can find several ways to look at karma, along with many various ways of stating it. Personally, I tend to view karma as a sort of cosmic scales, and that by cosmic law, they must balance. They may possibly have been out of balance over a very lengthy time, but over time they WILL balance out. Even that view, however, fails to entirely describe the way karma works.

Karma has historically been most frequently thought of in terms of ‘positive’ or ‘bad'. Karma may also be ‘weighted’ one way or the other, based on the experiences.

Many Pagans talk of the 3-Fold or Nine-Fold Law (that which you put out will come back three or nine times, respectively). While neither is absolutely true, both are examples of ‘weighted’ karma. Let’s look at a young soul as an example. The soul gets in what becomes a fight with someone, punching that person in the eye. That soul has just incurred some bad karma. The scales tip. Later, some thing equivalent will occur to them, and the scales tip into balance. The karma has been resolved. That is a one times return. So neither the Three-Fold Law, nor the Nine-Fold Law applied. Now, let us look at the same experience, but with a really old soul. The scales tip negatively far more heavily now, because that ancient soul should've known better. To make the scales balance, the old soul might end up getting mugged or beaten severly, landing in the hospital as a result. That may perhaps be far more than 9x the injuries inflicted originally.

Practically every choice you make has some sort of karmic results. Sometimes the acts are so minor as to be unnoticeable, or they might be unbelievably major. It depends upon your actions, the outcomes of said actions, the age or evolutionary level of one's soul AS WELL AS your INTENT. As an example:

Let’s say that you are shopping in a grocery store when you see a type of apple which you have never seen before. The apples look yummy, but you can't tell whether you'll like them or not. So, you decide to sample one. It does not matter should you purchase more apples as a result of that sample or not. The fact remains that you have stolen an apple, and incurred some negative karma as a result. And it will definitely be paid off.

Bad karma can be earned not only via what we do that directly affect other people, but additionally by our what we do towards animals, and the environment. A person who leads a life of crime may very well created so much negative karma that it can take them several lifetimes to re-balance it.

Up til now, we have spoken only of negative karma, but karma is also of a positive variety. When we do something very good through compassion or love, that will also tip the scales in what becomes a positive direction. And that good can either come back to us by having something great come our way, or can assist in re-balancing the bad karma that we may perhaps have incurred. However, carrying out good deeds simply to earn positive karma isn't enough. Positive karma is earned only when the good deeds are performed via a genuine desire to do good, or as a result of an act of compassion or love. The motivation is an essential consideration. The same is true for bad karma.

One time I heard about a woman who was driving home one day with her children. She drove by a family who was hitchhiking: a man, woman along with two young children. She went on home and had dinner with her family. Her meal was simple, but plentiful. After she finished eating, she got to thinking about that hitchhiking family. The woman went looking for them, intending to feed them. Unfortunately, she was unable to locate them. However, her intentions alone generated good karma for her.

Karma is often thought of as a teacher, as it shows the soul the difference between right and wrong, good from bad, etc.

As previously mentioned, motivation can also have a direct affect on karma. Sometimes, you may do something that, under normal circumstances would incur bad karma, but because of your motivation, will create good karma as a result. Let us look at a dramatic example: There is a shooter on the rooftop shooting and killing people. Without question, he is earning bad karma. You find yourself in a position to stop his slaughter, but the only means for you to accompish it, is by shooting the sniper. Under these circumstances, you would earn negative karma if you only stood by and did nothing, but by shooting him and stopping his madness, you will gain good karma because the intent is the higher good.

The city where you dwell has karma. Whether positive or negative, this karma has been generated by the actions of the city in general in addition to the actions of the people that are living in it. Examples: Some small communities learned that it was possible to generate an income by turning their town into a speed trap for uninformed drivers from other areas. Or take the small village that has a single traffic light. The village’s police officer sits at that traffic light where he can control it. He will make certain that the light will be red for any driver who doesn’t reside in that community. And it will stay red until the driver gives up and runs the red light, whereupon he is then written a traffic ticket.

Just as communities may earn karma, so can nations. Saddam Hussein earned karma when he invaded Kuwait, but so did his entire country. The planet Earth also has karma.

There exists one additional aspect of karma to talk about, known as ‘karmic obligations’. This is a thing that often takes place throughout many lifetimes. In other words, you perform some action in one lifetime incurring karma that must be paid in another. Suppose you do some thing that has a really deleterious effect on someone else, which you can’t pay back during that lifetime. The obligation to that individual continues after you die. In a subsequent lifetime, or the lifetime after that, you will find yourself in the position of paying off that karmic debt. And likely not understanding the reason.