Karma

Donegal Lass

or what about chi- give a little, take a little, save a little!!:D

Degsy

mountainyman wrote:

Karma is an evil, evil idea that condemns 300 million indians to lives of misery and degradation.

Thats a lot of misery and degradation.And it must've taken you ages to conduct a poll of that many people.

mountainyman

It took yonks Degsy absolute yonks

mountainyman

It took yonks Degsy absolute yonks

Ruu_Old

Karma ftw, close thread!

coffee_cake

18AD wrote:

If it is real than believing in it or not won't make a difference.

If so I like to think it's real. Only without the reincarnation aspect as that seems highly unfair.

If it's you performing actions, it's hardly unfair that you bear the consequences, whether they're good or bad. I daresay you wouldn't be complaining if you were rich in another life as a result of some action(s) in this one.

Its not a fair world we live in and there is no all-seeing power keeping score on the actions of each individual.

Karma doesn't claim there is :rolleyes:

Karma is an evil, evil idea that condemns 300 million indians to lives of misery and degradation.

I'd say doing away with the caste system would be a better idea, they could still observe a dharma then and there'd be less misery.

Nevyn

mountainyman wrote:

Karma is an evil, evil idea that condemns 300 million indians to lives of misery and degradation.

no, that is the rigid caste system and that is curtural not to do directly with karma.

DaBreno

bluewolf wrote:

Karma doesn't claim there is :rolleyes:

Bad Karma for the smiley

Dave!

Hobbes wrote:

Karma is just something to help those who got screwed over feel a bit better.

yeah I agree, it's just like religion in general.

I'd like to believe in Karma, the world would probably be a better place if there were such a thing (or maybe not, I'll ponder that at some other stage... or maybe not), but I can't bring myself to believe in supernatural stuff like this.

coffee_cake

DaveMcG wrote:

yeah I agree, it's just like religion in general.

I'd like to believe in Karma, the world would probably be a better place if there were such a thing (or maybe not, I'll ponder that at some other stage... or maybe not), but I can't bring myself to believe in supernatural stuff like this.

I guess newton's law of actions must be supernatural too :rolleyes:

Puteq

I would agree with DavMcG and Hobbes, there is no Karma, and as far as i can tell people who believe in it believe in it because they want to believe in it. Hell I even like the idea, its just that that does not make it so. Likening it to Newtons laws does not make it so either, not to mention the fact that Newtons laws break down when you introduce Quantum mechanics.

mountainyman

Thaedydal wrote:

no, that is the rigid caste system and that is curtural not to do directly with karma.

Karma is an Indian cultural construct. The caste system derives its justification from Karma. If you mean 'what goes around comes around' it doesn't.

If one sins in deed one becomes an insect in one's next life.
If one sins in word one becomes a bird or animal in one's next life.
If one sins in thought one becomes an untouchable in one's next life.

The fact of being an untouchable is proof of evil in a past life; one's literal darrkness (of skin) reflects a previous darkness of soul.

If one doesn't want to be an untouchable inthe next life one must accept submissivly the humiliations of this life and follow the dharma of one's caste.

bluewolf without Caste how can you have Dharma?



MM

coffee_cake

mountainyman wrote:

bluewolf without Caste how can you have Dharma?



MM

Sanatana Dharma isn't the only one out there, that's all.
There's buddha-dharma for a start...

I would agree with DavMcG and Hobbes, there is no Karma, and as far as i can tell people who believe in it believe in it because they want to believe in it. Hell I even like the idea, its just that that does not make it so. Likening it to Newtons laws does not make it so either, not to mention the fact that Newtons laws break down when you introduce Quantum mechanics.

I'm just trying to point out that there's a lot of misconceptions on karma, and while I'm still studying a lot and don't claim to be an expert on anything ever, it just seems that a lot of people miss that the word just means "action" and generally speaking it's "actions have consequences". Yes there's a less straightforward aspect to it - reincarnation or rebirth - but for the most part I'm just trying to see if people say it's all just an idea know anything more about it, that's all

18AD

Actually I change my mind. I don't like Karma anymore If I do bad stuff I don't want any retribution. Also I prefer the Taoist idea of giving without wanting anything in return.

Also, based on absolutely nothing. Would it not seem like poeple who do nice things would believe in Karma and those who do bad things don't?

Black Swan

Like could it be that karma is linked to the notion of ultimate fairness in the world? Well, John F. Kennedy, the first and only Catholic president of the US, was a skeptic of sorts when he commented before his assassination, "If you expect fairness in this world, you are sadly misinformed." I would also think that his younger brother and later presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy, would have agreed, if he had been given the chance, before he too was assassinated.

Puteq

Originally Posted by 18AD

Would it not seem like poeple who do nice things would believe in Karma and those who do bad things don't?

I think it is a mistake to confuse morally 'good' behaviour with belief in Karma (or Religion either for that matter). I dont know why, but a lot of people do good in the world without the fear that God will kick their ass in the next life if they don't, and without fear that it'll come back and haunt them if they don't. Also, I'm sure (though I have no proof) that there are a lot of people who believe in Karma, and plenty Religous types too, who do plenty bad in their time despite their professed beliefs.

18AD

Puteq wrote:

I think it is a mistake to confuse morally 'good' behaviour with belief in Karma (or Religion either for that matter). I dont know why, but a lot of people do good in the world without the fear that God will kick their ass in the next life if they don't, and without fear that it'll come back and haunt them if they don't. Also, I'm sure (though I have no proof) that there are a lot of people who believe in Karma, and plenty Religous types too, who do plenty bad in their time despite their professed beliefs.

I realise that many people believe in it for there own reasons no matter how they act.

I didn't mean that people acted nice because they believed in Karma, but rather the other way around. Nice poeple for selfish reasons, and not so nice people for selfish reasons also. Nice want nice, bad don't want bad.
Now that I think about it, this doesn't make sense if you don't assume that you're beliefs change the world around you. Sorry for my confusion

solas

I don't believe in this life past life stuff, I'm not a major believer in reincarnation, although I do believe in the concept of grace, which I figure is relatively akin to the concept of dharma which is living or existing in harmony with the laws of the universe or something of a gift gained through enlightenment.

i think.

judi

i am a huge believer in Karma!! definitly what you dish out be prepared to get back:D

Puteq

judi wrote:

i am a huge believer in Karma!! definitly what you dish out be prepared to get back:D

This is a fine theory and as I have said before I like the idea, but where’s the proof? Wouldn't that mean the Nazis who performed horrible experiments on Jews during WW2 would be suffering immeasurably now - instead of living to ripe old ages without anyone even knowing their pasts? I mean, there are plenty of examples of bad people who got what they deserved, but there are plenty of examples of bad people who didn’t, as well as examples of good people who had bad experiences throughout their lives and were never rewarded or recognised for their good.

The idea of some form of balancing force or Karma in light of this doesn’t seem plausible to me (unless you subscribe to the idea of payback in the next life, but as was previously pointed out this leads to the notion that if you are disadvantaged in this life, you deserve it, which is not a good theory in itself etc)

judi

well like i said i am a believer, so proof is not what im looking for. And even if i was, Karma is not something that can be proved , you either believe in it or you dont! and although i say i am a believer, i dont believe any crap that is thrown at me, i do have limits...

stevenmu

I do firmly believe in the concept of karma, on a physical level at least. While there are always going to be exceptions, in general I believe that people usually get what they deserve, reap what they sow or whatever term you want to use.

I don't really believe this is enforced on a spiritual level by some deity or energy though, at least not in general. The vast majority of things we deem to be good or bad are based on trivial physical issues which would be ultimately irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Deer

I believe in Karma.

I must say though that over the past few weeks I've been having tremendous bad luck or bad karma. Now I haven't done anything bad or wrong to justify it so obviously I'm about to do something bad and I can now justify this badness by the fact that I've already pre-paid the karma!!:)

18AD

Unless it's bad Karma from a previous life!

How does Karma judge an act as bad or good? I shall ponder this sumore.

coffee_cake

18AD wrote:

How does Karma judge an act as bad or good? I shall ponder this sumore.

It doesn't. People call acts good or bad.

stevenmu

I've heard people say that the afterlife is neutral, there is no good and bad, or heaven and hell if you prefer. It all comes down to how you judge your own life, and no one will ever judge you as harshly as you judge yourself.

Makes a lot of sense to me anyway.