Composting Our Karma

Turning Confusion into Lessons for Awakening Our Innate Wisdom

By: Barbara Rhodes

Narrated by: Erin Humphrey Konuma

Learn to cultivate a clear mind, improve your intuition, feel naturally at ease, and generate the compassionate wisdom to face whatever arises.

Barbara Rhodes offers the Korean Zen teaching of don’t-know mind as an antidote to the overthinking, overly-stimulating modern world that is the cause of so much suffering. Rhodes shows us that there are ways we can work with, or “compost,” whatever we’ve got in front of us, digest it into energy that can get us through the rough times, and cultivate a satisfying life. And she offers fascinating insights from her professional life as a nurse, commitment to engaged Buddhism, life experience as a member of the LGBTQ community, use of psychedelics on her spiritual path, and more.

©2025 Barbara Rhodes (P)2025 Shambhala Publications

Sabotaged by a Distractingly Immature Narration

The content of Composting Our Karma holds real promise. Korean Seon (선, Seon, Zen) Buddhism remains woefully underrepresented in English-language literature, so I was genuinely excited to see a Seon-informed perspective. Even though the author is not affiliated with the mainstream 조계종 (Jogye-jong, Jogye Order), her approach still echoes the spirit of Korean Zen.
Unfortunately, that potential is tragically undermined by the narration. The audiobook sounds like it’s being read by a 16-year-old valley girl trying to sound “spiritual.” It feels painfully juvenile, almost flippant, and strips the teachings of their weight. The voice distracts rather than delivers, much like how Christy Meyers’ reading flattened When Things Fall Apart. You find yourself wincing at the tone instead of absorbing the insight.
Content-wise, while there are some luminous moments of clarity, I’m also not convinced the author believes in karma in the traditional Theravāda or Vedic sense. She seems to use the term more as an allegory than as a metaphysical law. If "allegory" isn't quite accurate, then perhaps "metaphorical device" is the better fit.
Bottom line: the ideas here could have been powerful, maybe even transformative. But they are delivered in a voice so grating it becomes impossible to take them seriously. If you’re sensitive to tone, I recommend skipping the audio and going for the print edition instead.