Karma - I Got A Problem With It
As most of you probably already know, karma is the notion that you get what you give; that what goes around, comes around. Karma can be either good or bad. What you do in life will determine what happens to you. Karma originated in the Hindu and Buddhist religions but it has become a very popular belief in the Western world as well these days.
The concept of karma is nice - that if I do good, I will receive good and if I do evil then I will pay for it. Justice. Who doesn’t like that idea?
But karma is just a fanciful idea; life really doesn’t work that way. And I believe we should ALL be thankful that it really IS just a fanciful idea and not a reality?
To believe in karma is to believe that the victims of 911 deserved what they got - that they all did something to make those men fly planes into a building. Or that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold only shot students that in some way deserved it. That any victim gets what they had coming to them because of their past actions.
The reality is that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. There is NO correlation. Think Princes Diana got what she deserved? Or Steve Irwin? Mahatma Gandhi - Martin Luther King Jr. - Abraham Lincoln - Cassie Bernall and countless others? I don’t.
So you’re saying there is no correlation — that I can be evil and still have a good life? Yes, it’s possible, but not probable. I believe that we are not punished for our sins, but by our sins. That if you do wrong and still have a soul that it will eat away at you. But, technically speaking, you can do wrong and still not receive what you deserve. I believe this is called Grace.
Grace is an amazing concept — some might even say divine. It is the gift to receive that which we DO NOT deserve. I must admit, that doesn’t sound like anything a human could come up with…
But doesn’t Grace, unlike karma, let people off the hook? Yes it does. And how beautiful is that - there’s an element of Grace that karma lacks; that of love. The pop singer Bono tells it like this, “Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”
But then why should we do good if there isn’t any incentive? By incentive you mean like going to heaven or to stop the cyclical reincarnation cycle? I don’t believe that doing good works adds points to an invisible scoreboard where if we obtain enough points it will at some point swing the pendulum in our favor and we will then get into heaven or achieve nirvana. No, I don’t think there’s a scoreboard; and thank goodness for that because if there was, I’m afraid we would ALL fail. But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still do good…
I think that ‘most people’ - religious or not - would agree that humans are amazing creatures with exceptionally developed minds giving us an impressive range of intelligence. Because of this we have the ability to distinguish right from wrong. So because we have this ability we should use it.
So you’re saying that I should do what’s right just because I know what’s right? Yes, I am.
Now I would like to address a few more issues that I had after reading a recent blog post by Jonathan Fields. But first let me say that I am not trying to bash Jonathan here - I simply take issue with some of what he said in his post and feel compelled to address some of his comments.
Jonathan tells us that karma is, “Simply put — the energy you put out into the world eventually reflected back onto you.” So really it’s about saving your own ass, is it? It’s not about treating people kindly because it’s the right thing to do? But, because you don’t want bad things to happen to you - or because it really would be nice to stop that never ending reincarnation ferris-wheel and get off, wouldn’t it?
Jonathan also says that one of the benefits of receiving good karma is that it “positions you as a leader, a philanthropist, a visionary, a mentor and massive-success story” Yeah, that’s exactly why you should treat people kindly — so YOU can become a hero…
Jonathan would like us to believe that Buddhist teacher Michael Roach’s philosophy’s about karma are sound because, after all, his New York diamond business makes an impressive 9-figure income. To that I say the thickness of a man’s wallet is no indication of how sound his theology is.
Jonathan then ends his blog post with giving us three case studies. Each of which ends happily ever after with the person becoming a financial success. There’s nothing like treating people kindly and just waiting for financial success to come… But how do you explain all those poor devote Hindus and Buddhists? Are they not being “good enough”?
Look I’m sure that Jonathan Fields is a very nice guy and is compassionate towards others. That’s a wonderful thing and I want to encourage everyone to be compassionate towards others. Ultimately we have to look at the underlying motives behind the idea of karma. Are they only self-serving?
Let me conclude - I believe we should treat people with kindness because it’s the right thing to do. Period. Rich or poor - Hindu, Buddhist, Christian or otherwise - you know how to treat people, so do it.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
If the thickness of one’s wallet was directly related to their happiness, you would never stop smiling, my friend.
I’ve seen that monstrosity you call a wallet.
Ben O.
October 13th, 2007 at 9:44 am
OMG Ben, you just made coffee come out my nose!! Hey, I got hard candy in my wallet
October 27th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Oh, you mean that I have to face the fact that the universe and the laws governing it can’t be crammed into my little comfortable notion of candy for good kids and coal for bad kids? I’m sure our politicians (read saviors) at this very moment are crafting legislation to require fairness of outcomes for all.
I’m in a cynical mood.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:55 am
If we should treat people with kindness because it’s the “right thing to do,” then that simply begs the question of what the ‘right’ thing is. Unless God himself comes down from Heaven to tell me what the ‘right’ thing to do is, can I really be expected to act in conformity with your idea of what’s ‘right’? Wasn’t that the whole point of postmodernism–to question traditional ideas of ‘rightness’? Not that I’m a postmodernist, but I’m definitely skeptical when it comes to assumptions of correct social mores and norms and ideas of ‘rightness’.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
@trademark registration - good question. See, I don’t think I or the Bible, or the Koran, or Confucius, or Deepak Chopra, or Oprah or anyone else needs to tell you what’s ‘right’. That’s what’s beautiful, I think that [most] people, if they are true to themselves, already know the ‘right’ way to live. Regardless of what the nightly news would have you believe [most] people treat each other kindly and are gracious to help when needed. Again not all people, but most. Of course, I believe that’s the way that God created us.
That’s good, you should be. But I’m willing to bet that whenever faced with a moral decision to make if you search within yourself and listen closely - you will know the ‘right’ choice.
December 9th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hi,
Karma really is a huge player in life and it does have a significant effect on people and remains hidden in many circumstances. For instance a person may be doing tremendously good things for other people, but eat meat, thinking that an animal is nothing of importance and there will be no retribution. So, in this life, I see many people who are nice and fine people, and then something bad happens and I think to myself, “it was that life of eating meat”. There are people like me who spent 20 years of my youth thinking eating meat was o.k., and I still run into suffering now and then because of that, and may very well be killed by someone because of this.
Moreover, from a Buddhist perspective, past life karma has a very large impact on happenings in the current life, which would explain why some of those nice people, who do many nice things for others die in sometimes difficult ways.
I would like to believe karma to be a fanciful notion, but it just isn’t the case. Study all the religions, and books written on religion, then study them again, then formulate an opinion.
December 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I also think that Karma is so built into life, such an astoundingly complete function, that it often times goes unnoticed. Please do believe in karma as it will help you in the long run. While grace also exists, it is intricately linked with karma. For instance someone who has done bad things because they didn’t know about karma, but always feels bad about doing those things and has many good intentions will likely receive grace. God sees peoples intentions clear as day, and will try to help those who do wrong/bad things but don’t understand why they are dong those things. Also if someone apologizes frequently (in their mind to God) they will receive grace and help.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
@Rain Wilber - you are entitled to your opinion…
Is it wrong for the lion to eat the Gazelle so that it may live?
Is it wrong for the Gazelle to eat the grasshopper so that it may live?
So why is it wrong for the human to eat the cow that it might have life?
If karma is real then it would be reasonable to believe that humans are advancing through the years as we learn from our past mistakes and progress on the road to Nirvana. BUT, nothing shows this happening. In fact we have no recollection of our past lives and so no learning is taking place.
I understand why people like karma. People like to feel like they are in control and can work their way to God, if they just work hard enough. Wouldn’t it be great if karma was real, I do some good stuff and watch the rewards come pouring in. Too bad that doesn’t happen, just look at the people of Tibet. Are they getting what they deserve?
December 26th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Hi Golgotha,
It is not that you have to believe in karma, that is fine, you will reap the results of not believing in karma. The results may be that you do something bad that makes you depressed and angry. Karma is about control, it is learning that you can control instead of always being controlled. The truth is that people would rather continue to kill animals because it is built into their biological thinking, an I must admit is very difficult to remove. So in order to avoid bad karma, I don’t blame them! But for those who have ears to listen, please do understand that slowly giving up eating meat will produce good results. I have seen this taking place in my life, yes I was once a person who enjoyed eating meat, and that is why I say that karma is real. I am also an ultimate skeptic when it comes to everything, but the differences between how the brain per sieves the world when a dead animal body pieces are running through your blood versus without animal bodies running through your blood is so profound and significant, it can not be ignored.
If you don’t want to give up eating meat, that is understandable, because there is a whole lot of power that one can gain by eating meat. But make no mistake, it is very difficult to purify this power, and it almost always gets the best of the person, and slowly drags them down.
We can talk of animals eating animals, but they don’t have the cognitive power to make a choice that goes beyond the biological impulse. We humans do, and exercising the choice to go beyond animalistic tendencies is often a hallmark sign of intelligence.
Although no one wants to admit it, eating meat is very much a part of the Tibetan culture. Perhaps that is bringing some of the suffering to them?
Hey, I would also like for karma not to be reality, then I could do all kinds of things! But I must watch what I do, and become a better person, steadily following along with the evolution of humanity, lest I become a heretic!
January 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Hi, perhaps there is no karma, but there is certainly faith. I do believe that even faith trumps karma in many situations.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Throughout the years, I have always found it interesting, reading/listening to the thoughts and opinions of other people in this world. I am very much into developing and formulating possible solutions and/or simply exploring the topic further. So much so that I find myself, “wasting” my free time in a very random daze about the most interesting things. And one of them, was lighltyly touched on by you.
“I think that ‘most people’ - religious or not - would agree that humans are amazing creatures with exceptionally developed minds giving us an impressive range of intelligence. Because of this we have the ability to distinguish right from wrong. So because we have this ability we should use it.”
This mature reflection is a simple concept that I have found to be greatly taken for granted by much of virtually every society. Everybody thinks about it, but everybody also overrides it with their own, daily personal agendas.
One prime example of this reasoning is the eating of meats and treatment of animal hides as fashion. Know, that I myself am not a vegetarian nor a vegan, but a wandering mind (granted, I find myself eating less and less meats everyday). Why do we really eat meats? Have we not developed past our need for a hunting method? Do we practice this method out of habit? And why then the topic is questioned do we take offense or simply throw it away with any sort of validity? Yes every animal does it, but are we not/or have we not developed or minds further than an animals.
It is a proven scientific fact that you can lead a healthy, “vegitarian”, lifestyle. So much so that, by leading a meat-free lifestyle (correctly), you will achieve better results, fewer (cancerous) risks, and lead a better example for future generations (children). Animals may be “vastly inferior” from an intelligence standpoint. But only by human comparison. Think about, from and evolutionary standpoint, all of the feats the animal kingdom has overcome. Not to mention the countless animal behaviors that a scientifically unknown. If we as a world know so little, why then, would we still, “go out, grab animal, kill animal, butcher animal, coo animal, eat animal”? And why as a world do we allow commercial killing of all things, to be one of the dirtiest businesses perceivable? I know this is a rant, so I am ending it now.
just take away some of these questions (and beleive me, the list goes on and on), and ask them to yourself. not to the everyday person that you live to be, but to the highly developed human brain that we have developed to be. sorry for the poor correlation, it is just stuff I wonder. why?
February 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
@ander - here’s my thinking…
For starters, there’s nothing wrong with death. It’s just the completion of a cycle.
I tried to make the point earlier that there’s nothing wrong with the lion eating the gazelle. The lion has committed NO sin. The gazelle’s life is a gift to the lion and the lion, if it could, would give thanks for the gazelle.
If the lion were to eat me, I would do my best to avoid this, but if it should jump on me and sink it’s teeth into me I would not curse God for it. For I placed my life in God’s hands and I would be at rest, for yesterday was my day to live and today is my day to die.
Have you every noticed that once the lion makes a kill the rest of the gazelle will go on eating right with the lion in there presence? They are not at war with each other. It’s as if they understand the cycle and are at peace with it…
That’s my thoughts…
February 8th, 2008 at 9:21 am
@Golgotha- quick response ( i promise)
I completly agree that there is nothing wrong with death. It is a natural cycle that is also a mandatory to the survival of this planet. The same applies to one (of the many) methods of death, that being, naturalistic killing/hunting (from within the animal kingdom all the way down to molecular activity. That includes understanding that in any circumstance an animal could kill me or anyone . It is the human brain that applies blame/motive to the animals actions (which is quite difficult not too). That being said, we as a human race, have developed past the need for animal consumption in any way.
I have seen much in the way of animal cruelty, ranging from domesticated to extremely wild animals. None is acceptable, nor should it be. Then why is the commercial killing of millions+ animals a day, at the hands of human run machinery, acceptable. Is it because they are just animals? I hope not. Has God blessed us with animals so that we may cut them down? I hope not.
I guess what I am trying to say is that, your opinion is dead on…however, we as humans, are only artifically within the natural cycle.
We, as a general, do not respect the animals as they do one another.
A simple exampe to this is any roadside. Think about the number of roadside animals that you have seen in your lifetime. Like myself, I would imagine that the average person (children included) takes notice, then continues on their path. Now imagine if some of those animal bodies were replaced with a human bodies. It just wouldn’t feel the same, and looking at it from an objective perspective, I have to ask myself. why?
I think that at the end of the day animals need to attain a higher level of respect across the board. for instance, the baiji or white flag dolphin which was declared extinct earlier in the year (although it not officially) due to water pollution. It is offsetting to me that animals that have survived and adapted for a million+ years on this planet before us, are being brushed under the rug for the world turning dollar. And for what? fashion? delicacy? money?
And I am not so much an extreme animal rights activist, demading an absolute and ungoverned freedom to let all the animals devour our children at their own will. But there needs to be a deeper respect/preservation system put into place for not just endangered animals but those that have not reached that point as well.
Being very vague of my own religous viewpoints, I see that from a Godly standpoint, showing animals true compassion/mercy/respect as a essential in treating a “gift” as a whole-hearted, “gift”. I also see that from an evolutionary standpoint, an animal being an animal, us included we are very wrong. For if that is the case, no matter what the evoltuionary level is, skin and body remain consistent throughout all species and blood spilled is an experienced life snuffed regardless of the that species.
sorry, not quit as short as I had hoped but still pretty vague.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:36 am
@ander - You have many different arguments going on and you are blending them together making it difficult. Your first argument is, loosely stated, “Is it ok to eat another animal or not?” and then you move into “Is it ok to wipe out a species or not?” and then you move on to, “being cruel to animals”.
I’m going to dedicate a new post to this when I get the time because I think it’s important and demands more time than I have right now and should be in its own post. But let me hit on a couple things now.
My faith teaches me that I am to be a good steward of the earth. That means I am to respect all living things and care for them. Period.
You make the comment, “… we as a human race, have developed past the need for animal consumption in any way…”
Developed past what? If animal consumption is not wrong, and I believe the community of life would show that it’s not wrong, then there is nothing to develop past…
Where should we look to know if consuming animals is wrong? Should we look to scholars for advice? Realizing that those scholars are human of coarse seems a bit odd to me. Asking another human, even the wisest of humans if its ok to eat another animal or not seems off. SO I would submit to you that we need to look for answers within the animal community - the community itself will provide us the answers. And the animal community, if we observe it will show us this:
You may compete to your fullest, but you may not wage war. In other words, you can say that this gazelle is mine, but you cannot say that all gazelle are mine.
We are part of a community. We are fully dependent of this community and the community will provide us answers and how we should live.
again, I will go into further detail when I get time…
February 8th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Thanks for the response. I suppose it wiser of me to begin my own blog..*chuckle* And I must certainly apologize for the manner in which I present my thoughts. I imagine that I could go on for days discussing and exploring such topics on my own little cloud, not making sense to anyone but myself. For some reason when reading the , “Kharma” issue I felt like adding a VERY loosely based idea, don’t ask why. (A: I am a very random person.)
looking forward to the read sometime in the future though…
cheers.