Karma

up or down I trust your suggestion will be dealt with more promptly than the place we came from.... Originally Posted by atlcomedy

Didn't your momma teach you to never speak ill of the dead?

Do you believe in it?
If you do, what does it really mean to you. Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius

No, I don’t believe in Karma and never have. However, I firmly believe that you reap what you sow and that you are responsible for your own choices, your actions and you are directly accountable for the decisions you make in life.

Didn't your momma teach you to never speak ill of the dead? Originally Posted by discreetgent

Bad karma!

I do not believe in it in reality but I am sometimes superstitious.

I do believe that if in fact their is bad karma, she be a bitch! lol

What up LD?

No.

Watching the game, having a bud.

In a sense I do believe in karma... time and again I've observed the truth that the energy you put out is returned in kind, whether that energy be negative or positive. As Olivia so vividly put it, evil people may seem to thrive, but they do so in conditions that few good people would ever desire, not even for the accompanying "wealth" or power.

However, I think that many forget that the "true" philosophy of karma deals with many lifetimes, so it could be argued that good people who suffer horrible experiences are in fact working through the karma of being less then good in a previous lifetime. Then again, that's always seemed to be a rather convenient explanation for bad things happening to good people...

I do in the sense that our ethical actions guide us toward behavior that leads towards more such actions. (if you walk in s***, you'll keep walking in it)

I do in the sense that our ethical actions guide us toward behavior that leads towards more such actions. (if you walk in s***, you'll keep walking in it) Originally Posted by Happy Diver

That goes along with my theory the first time you do something bad it is much harder than the second and third time. For example, taking a life is one of the hardest things a person can do, but serial killers find it not only gets easier each time but becomes pleasurable.

That's why there are certain lines one should NEVER cross. Once a boundary is broken - all hell breaks loose.

Of course if you hang out with pigs you will smell like a pigsties. Is that karma or common sense.

Does anyone have any scientific fact that karma exist? I mean is there some cosmic formula that states that if you do good you will be rewarded? If you do bad you will be punished? If you run around on your wife your dick will fall off? If you go into a profession that is illegal/immoral you will suffer a fate worse than never seeing you reflection again? This karma thing sound allot like a Godless religion. A way to keep one in line with societal rules. Problem with karma is how fluid the rules can be.

Is Tiger getting bad karma?. . . or good? If that is bad karma , please give me a dose of it!

If there were scientific proof that karma exist then the initial post would be moot. I'm not sure it would really need to be Godless religion. There is no reason that karma cannot exist within a the confines of a religion.

Of course if you hang out with pigs you will smell like a pigsties. Is that karma or common sense.

Does anyone have any scientific fact that karma exist? I mean is there some cosmic formula that states that if you do good you will be rewarded? If you do bad you will be punished? If you run around on your wife your dick will fall off? If you go into a profession that is illegal/immoral you will suffer a fate worse than never seeing you reflection again? This karma thing sound allot like a Godless religion. A way to keep one in line with societal rules. Problem with karma is how fluid the rules can be.

Is Tiger getting bad karma?. . . or good? If that is bad karma , please give me a dose of it! Originally Posted by WTF

No, it's not scientific, it's cultural. Codes of conduct are similar throughout most cultures and beliefs. It's a humanity thing. Relationships between men and women develop stylized patterns because we evolved these as part of our culture. When you go outside those patterns, you incur the disapproval of the society that created them and this can affect your future in that society. And for sure there is a lot of variation. I'm reminded of many Hispanic cultures where it is practically expected that the husband is going to be unfaithful in the marriage. But he's usually discrete about it and in public he's a good and loyal husband to his wife and that behavior is approved of by society. Even though everyone knows he's probably a scalawag. Hypocritical? Sure. Human, definitely. Tiger Woods is still going to be a great golfer and rich--but not as rich as he was, definitely not as rich as he was.

If there were scientific proof that karma exist then the initial post would be moot. I'm not sure it would really need to be Godless religion. There is no reason that karma cannot exist within a the confines of a religion. Originally Posted by discreetgent

The karmic concept was born out of religion: Within Hindu and Buddhist belief systems this is a key concept in how the universe is perceived.

The karmic cycle in Buddhism isn't just about good and bad karma. The belief is that anything one does, traps a person into a cycle of birth, from which we should be trying to liberate ourselves - to be free of desire and suffering. By effecting the universe as little as possible, when we are released from the cycle of life, we are reunited with the Ultimate Reality from which we came. God.

I spent a short while visiting a Buddhist monk at a temple in Toronto. Her head was shaved and you could see a set of burn marks going down her scalp in what was obviously an intentional pattern. I asked her what that was about: She said it was a ritual, made to illustrate ones choice to deny pain.

Not all Buddhist traditions teach this sort of nihilism, but it's the one I got the most exposure to.

Within Hindu culture karma it permeates everywhere. It plays huge parts in the story themes of literature and movies. It also plays heavily into the caste system which has been such a difficult thing for India to shake itself of. They consider Karma the laws of cause and effect that rules over every aspect of your life.

Within the pagan faith system you have what's called the law of three. The energy you put out into the world comes back to you threefold once it has worked it's way through the web that binds us all. Your actions gain momentum.

In the Buddhist and Hindu context, it isn't really about good karma and bad karma.

I believe there's some common good sense behind the concept of karma that is ultimately life affirming when applied to the north american philosophies.

However, I to some extend also believe in Karma in the religious meaning, and I believe in fate. In Karma we have the free will to choose our actions and how it filters through the world and reflects back at us, I also believe in effecting the cycle of nature as little as possible, and effecting the cycle of other peoples life's as little as possible giving them the right to free will as well. I think with it comes a responsibility to make yourself happy, and not count on the actions of others to do so. I think somewhere in the Buddhist philosophy lies a secret to peace.

Fate is not controlled by free will, and I don't necessarily believe it's written in stone or decided by an Omnipotent Being. It's the culmination of ones personality and life history, interweaving with the flow of the universe around us, leading them blindly towards moments of great joy and great sorrow.

Its not just the evil people thriving though that convinces me that that paradigm of karma is broken. Nasty, petty and small people frequently succeed in life. Shit floats to the top. Every had a boss or a supervisor that was petty or narcissistic? Ever seen someone move ahead based on someone else's work or ideas? It happens all the time and selling a line that some immeasurable "force" is out there wrecking psychic havoc on that person's soul is not comforting and does not balance things out.

Further, nobody seems to want to talk about good, kind and considerate people who get crushed, ruined, or even killed. Where's the balance there?

And according to whose values are these actions we commit every day "good" or "evil"? Theoretically, is the soldier who shoots an Adoph Hitler or Idi Amin due some negative repercussions on down the road because they've committed murder?

If it helps you sleep at night, by all means, knock yourself out and have a heaping slice of karma-cake. For me, I think you make your own luck and make your own destiny. You don't always get what you deserve, but you also don't always give what you owe. I don't need a psuedo-religious construct to convince me to live a good, kind and positive life.

So long as my karma railroads your dogma...all is good!

If it helps you sleep at night, by all means, knock yourself out and have a heaping slice of karma-cake. For me, I think you make your own luck and make your own destiny. You don't always get what you deserve, but you also don't always give what you owe. I don't need a psuedo-religious construct to convince me to live a good, kind and positive life.

Agreed, good comment.