Do you believe in Karma?

[Caressa]

Ok...so until today I fully believed in Karma...and I'm basically a good person, I have my moments like anyone else, so I never felt I had anything to worry about...no reasons to later get my butt kicked for past sins.

Until this month...I've vented a few times already on the general ickiness of things going on...but my bad streak hasn't ended yet!

I had another trauma at work today involving our company vehicle...again!...and I'm starting to think I should just stay away from it forever...But I'm renewing my faith in life and I refuse to let it completely get me down...I'm strong!!!!GRRRR - DON"T MESS WITH ME KARMA!!!

So...what do you think about Karma...and has it ever gotten to you?

 

[Wiggles]

I believe in Karma.

It's been pretty good to me so far.

I know a few who really need their karma to kick in though. My mom is definitely in need of some good karma. It seems as if the worst stuff happens to the nicest people. But maybe it's just because God thinks they can take it.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Caressa.

 

[MechaBlade]

The reason I don't believe in a god is the same reason I don't believe in karma: the suffering of innocents.

MechaBlade

 

[bluemuse]

Correct me if I'm wrong....

...but I believe that how yu live this life determines what your next existance is going to be like. For Instance, if you have created karmic ribbons by treating a person poorly...you may find yourself in a position in your next life where you must make up for your transgression......in other words, do right by the person you wronged...who has been reborn along with you. You must burn the ribbon....

Or I could be talking out of my ass.

Sounds like you are just experiencing some good old fashioned bad luck, Caressa. I hope it passes quickly.

Oh....I do believe that we reap what we sow....and what goes around, comes around.



bluemuse

 

[pabloback]

i strive to attain good karma and peace but my psyche is not always prepared to allow me to attain that state , i believe good karma brings good luck but fate is uncontrollable and destiny can be steered only as far as it allows itself to be steered

 

[J.B.]

I usually don't do this but....

I don't usually go out with my religius beliefs because I know it just helps open up that can of worms... but what the hey...

I believe in Karma... I believe in God... I believe that every thing in this life has to happen for a reason...

I'm basically a nice person to whom ever I meet... if they're being a** holes then hey F*** them you know...
I thik if you're not being the a** then you'll get what you desrve in due time -well this also works if you are being an ass..

 

[Ice Cold]

Oh yeah. I believe in karma. It may not hit you all at once, sometimes in little dribs and drabs. But I feel for each action there is a definate universal reaction.

 

[riff]

Well, like someone said earlier in another thread, they were quoting Bill and Ted, they said, "Be excellent to each other."

Sounds like a good thing to live by.

As for karma, I don't know. But there is something there. We do, in part, become our experiences.

 

[LukkyKnight]

Caressa, and whoever else is unsure:

I am going to dance around this a bit, and leave you to think if you're so inclined. If you're one of those who's already sure there's no higher power at work then there's no point reading any further, right?

Assume for a moment that something is at work, without struggling over the name or nature of it.

It seems pretty outlandish to me that you can calculate this like a checkbook - as in: "I've been being good, so my balance should cover any negative influence that happens along." I realize this is tempting given certain things said by various organized religions - such as the whole Catholic priests giving out a pennance where you say the rosary five times to erase some sin. If there is such a system it implies a whole lot of book-keeping is going on, there's like 4 or 5 BILLION people alive right now, and this power would have to be making sure none of the "good ones" came to harm out of proportion with their accrued balance, right?

Can't work that way. Hey, what are you doing lurking in here, I thought your mind was already made up that there is no higher power? This is for people who want to explore that possibility, remember? Sheesh...

On the other hand, assume some force - maybe even THE Force - might be moderating the worst of it. Imagine how much worse a day CAN go than it has. Imagine that all your goodness might, just might, keep you from being overwhelmed - keeping the events on a scale where you are challenged, yet learn something.

Now, since I see some heathen agnostic types lurking hoping I can't see them, let me suggest a very non-mystical way of considering this utterly hypothetical un-named influence.

Assume for a moment that you're nothing but the sum of your existence, that you are shaped by your experiences, not some outside interloping influence which there's utterly no proof of. OK?

When coaches work with athletes, they constantly work to overcome the self-imposed perceptions of limitations. If you don't believe you can do a thing, you generally fail in your attempts to do so, yet once you realize or decide that you can, once you believe it, suddenly you can do that triple axle (or whatever) over and over...

When you stop your day and help somebody "just because" - you feel better. Doesn't work if you do it because you WANT them to thank you, or because you WANT to feel better... but let somebody in front of you in line at the grocery store, let them merge into your lane during rush hour because it DOESN'T matter to you, and you feel better. Pick a driver you think is driving like an asshole, squeeze up to the car in front of you and force the jerk to deal with you and what happense - you're angry, you're tense, you're competing with an utterly anonymous stranger, and you have a LOT more unwinding to do after you get out of the car.

So, product of your experiences, no mystic mumbo-jumbo, one way you're smiling and relaxed, the other way you're pumping adrenaline. If all there is beyond your own self is random chance, consider that 1) you might influence others willingness to help you by the very mood you project, and 2) if you're not biologically so pumped up that you're in fight or flight mode you'll quite possibly see many more choices.

Or not.



Have I got you thinking?

 

[Caressa]

I don't really believe in a higher being...there is practically no religion in my upbringing...

but I have always believed that things happen for a reason..in fate and destiny...and karma...and I certainly am not a nice person just because I'm afraid my bad deeds will come back to get me...so I'm just wondering if bad stuff happens to me with no bad deeds on my soul...then lots of good stuff is around the corner...like maybe my karma is acting backwards...


hmmm...that's a new thought...

 

[riff]

I don't really believe in a higher being...there is practically no religion in my upbringing...

but I have always believed that things happen for a reason..in fate and destiny...and karma...and I certainly am not a nice person just because I'm afraid my bad deeds will come back to get me...so I'm just wondering if bad stuff happens to me with no bad deeds on my soul...then lots of good stuff is around the corner...like maybe my karma is acting backwards...


hmmm...that's a new thought...

I don't allow myself to think like that..... I just try to focus on right now. After all, life is noting but a succession of nows. If we make our present better, we make our lives better. Bang- that's where I stop.

 

[Caressa]

Bang- that's where I stop.

Sorry...but you make me chuckle...


But thanks to everyone I do see things in a different perspective...maybe I've got it a little backwards...not like it wouldn't be the first time

 

[scylis]

my karma ran over my dogma....

sometimes i think that there should be karma, if there isn't, so that certain evil people get their just deserts.

then i remember that i'm one of them, and suddenly karma sounds like a bad thing....

 

[WhiteRose]

Do you believe in Karma?

Yup, and instant karma can be a real pain in the butt

 

[Thomas Paine]

Karma 101

At the risk of sounding like, well, you know who, and delivering a religious lecture that is well beyond the question, I thought I'd offer a brief clarification of karma:

Karma is not meted out by a higher power. It is not fate or justice but rather action and reaction, cause and effect, the result of our deeds while alive.

Although some Buddhists believe in accumulation of merit, karma is not like a savings account to be compiled then drawn upon. It is the natural result of deeds and life choices that may occur in the same life or many lives hence.

Karma is one of the forces that keeps the wheel of life spinning and one seeks enlightenment to escape its bondage.

Namaste.

 

[Moridin187]

I believe in something.. whether it's Karma.. or the Threefold.. or whatever you'd like to call it. And oddly enough.. it often seems to strongly affect those who do wrong to me.. Infrequently now do I feel the need to gain revenge on those who have fucked me over.. because sooner or later.. They get fucked over much, much worse than I did.. Never fails.

 

[Laci]

If there was such things as karma it must only effect the working class. What will be will be.

 

[bored1]

I beleive in Karma as I beleive in What goes around comes around,While I dont beleive in organized religion,I do beleive that choices made based on a foundation of whats "good or bad"seems to work.At least for me.

 

[Andreina]

of course

of course i believe in it... i love chicken korma.... korma here, korma there... rich, creamy coconut flavour...

oh - we are not talking about food? you say that spiritual thing? dont know about that...


Halo

 

[login]

I don't believe in tit-for-tat karma, but life does seek a balance. It seeks, but doesn't always find it. And sometimes, even when it does find it, we're so focused on the negatives that we can't see the positives.

 

[Calamity Jane]

I believe in karma -- I believe that nature seeks balance...so energy sent out, good or bad, results in energy returning.

Your bad experiences that you mentioned may not BE karma in action though, but simply things that you're supposed to be learning from. Are you learning the lessons? My belief is that sometimes you get knocked upside the head because you aren't paying attention to the subtle little hints along the way.

 

[J.B.]

If there was such things as karma it must only effect the working class. What will be will be.

not nessesarily. I believe (i know it may be a bit naive) that if you do bad @ one point you will get what's comming to you & vice versa...

 

[Blindinthedark]

I believe that the universe is always looking for equilibrium and balance so yes I believe in Karma.
Though no instant.
The Karmic wheel doesn't slap you overnight. It waits until you're happy.

 

[cherrylips_au]

I believe things happen for a reason be they good, bad or otherwise. You take what you can from them learning life lessons. I think if you can go through life not regretting anything you have done then your on the right track. Bad, sad and hurtful things happen to everyone the same as good, happy and teasured moments. Live life, experience it, treat other people how you would like to be treated, it's the little things that make the difference.

 

[J.B.]

I think if you can go through life not regretting anything you have done then your on the right track. Bad, sad and hurtful things happen to everyone the same as good, happy and teasured moments

I agree & at the risk of quoting the theme song from "The Facts of Life" "you take the good & take the bad"

Corny I know, apparently I've been studding too hard & need a break...