Simply speaking, karma is supposed to a form of "cause and effect" (... NOT "what goes around, comes around" like many people think). Whatever you do now sets in motion other forces that eventually work for or against you. This being the case, the opposite then also becomes true. What is happening to you now is the resultant effect of something you did in the past. If you are in a good place, you did good things in the past. If you are in a bad place, you were bad. You and you alone are responsible for what happens to you in your life.
Karma is not necessarily in our lifetime as we know it... karma transcends birth and death and continues throughout time with the reincarnated human soul. So to believe in karma, you need to also believe in re-incarnation - the continued re-birth of the human soul. For example, the man who stole your promotion and bought the Porsche is indeed gonna get his. Maybe not while you are alive and ready to witness the long-overdue vindictive justice, but maybe in his next life. Aborted kids (or even children who fall victim to brain tumors, etc.) could have been gangsters and hoodlums in their past life who are finally getting the "Death Penalty" they manged to skip.
Karma isn't quite what I expected it to be. Similar to Newton's Law of physics ("What goes up must come down"), I think most people think karma is "what goes around comes around." Like... Traffic is bad today and the lane ends ahead sign has been posted for the past 3 miles. However, this idiot decided to race to the front. I suppose I will let this person in front of me before their lane ends - so maybe next time I don't heed the warnings, someone will let me in front of them.
Previous to this weekend, I think I believed in karma. Turns out, though, I don't believe in it at all.
For a somewhat similar perspective to what you researched you should read "Conversations with God". It's pretty interesting (although I have to admit I never finished it).
ReplyDeleteSame sort of thing, though; YOU bring whatever is happening to you onto yourself. In essence, you "asked" for it in some way or another. You let it come into being.
Some of this I can buy. Some of it, I cannot. Such as, I don't think every single person on a plane that crashes "asked to die" all at the same time.
Although, in general, I do believe most things happen for a reason (TBD and it may take years and years to figure out what it was).
It sort of comes down to this for me. I don't know what is really "true" except you can never go wrong working your hardest to be an honest, decent, caring person. Of course, that is always easier said than done!
I am sorry that something happened to you this weekend that got you to thinking about this...
ReplyDeleteFollowing the loss of Baby Thornburg, Jon and I could often be heard saying to each other "Karma!" whenever thinking or saying nasty things. It actually made us feel better to be in a positive space! I do sometimes find myself slipping.
Hope that Kendal continues to improve...if it makes you feel better, it is not the flu shot that did it. That is an old wives' tale!
Well, I tried not to comment, but I think I have to.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in Karma (as you defined it). I believe that we need to lead the best lives we can (live by the golden rule - Matthew 7:12), but that bad things will happen to everybody. There is not always an explanation for them. We use the bad as learning experiences to become better people OR we let them ruin us. Spiritually speaking, I think that God is in control and that we, as mere humans, cannot always see or understand the meaning behind the things that happen. I agree with Amy that things happen for a reason, we just can't see it sometimes. This doesn't mean that there are not times when I want to scream at God "WHY?!?" But I don't think I will ever have the answers until I am in heaven and can see the ultimate picture of life.
Makes me think back to the time when I petitioned the Army to transfer me to Fort Hood to live with Rob (while pregnant with Grace). I was denied my request. Turns out that the unit I would have been assigned to was deployed to Iraq around the time she would have been 4 months old (which meant I would have had to leave an infant for a year). The need that I thought I had wasn't met, but it was because in the grand scheme of life, it wasn't supposed to have been met. I wouldn't have had Faith when I did and maybe not the boys either.
On another note...
I do not and will not think that the reason for childhood deaths is as payback for something done. I don't think that God is vengeful like that. For example, my life has been blessed with knowing Sarah, even though she was taken so early. Because of her, we give money to Make A Wish and St Jude's. Her death may ultimately lead to more money being raised for childhood cancer research which could lead to a cure being found. I don't think that it is because 250 years ago, she was a bad colonial woman. Her life had a purpose, even if it only lasted 3 years. Our job (as those who knew and loved her) is to make sure that we give her life a positive purpose. Maybe that will give us good 'karma' :-)
sorry for the longest comment ever!
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