Karma. A discussion.

[sylekage]

I've been thinking for awhile, if karma, as the idea if you do good, good will come by you, and if you do bad, bad happens to you, is true or not. I have had many long discussions with friends about it, and they've given me counter arguments trying to give examples of how good things have happened to them.

Personally, I think it's a load of crap. I've seen people treat other people terribly, and be complete assholes, but get everything they want handed to them. On the other hand there's me. I treat everyone I meet with respect and kindness until they either A) give me the same respect, or B) be complete jackasses. If it's the former, I will be as nice as I can to them. If it's the latter, I will lose all respect for them and forget completely. I treat everyone as kindly as possible, and let them talk to be about problems and I try to help.

Not much good has come to me so far. people tell me to be patient but I'm waiting still. I've given up on Karma and have stopped believing in it.

And here it is for you, fellow Escapists, what do you think of it? Do you think it exists? And if you do, have you been affected by it?

P.S. I used the search bar and found nothing else like this on the first page.

EDIT: I didn't really mean for this to be anything against religion or the sort. Just for people that don't think about it every day, and if they believe in it.

 

[Julianking93]

Karma's just a bunch of bullshit to make people feel good or guilty depending on their choices.
No, it doesn't exist.


I've seen far too many good people suffer and far too many horrible excuses for humans thrive and succeed in life to believe that.

It's a nice thought that maybe one day your good choices will be rewarded or that those who wrong you will get theirs in the future, but that's all it is; a nice thought.

 

[Realitycrash]

Scientifically? It's a load of crap. However, as a matter personal belief, I state that everyone, in the end, gets what they deserve. But that's more of a reflection concerning cause and effect, and not "Karma" per say.

Edit: Let me clarify my statement. I don't believe in Karma, no. However, it's easy to point to a logical effect of an action and say "Oh, that's Karma". If you act like a shit towards people, they will act like shit towards you. If you cheat on your girlfriend, she will most likely dump you or cheat on you.
It's cause and effect, and it's what you deserve. However, this cause and effect is mostly direct and single-track. Karma is the theory that everything "adds up" in the end. But acting like a dick doesn not mean you have a smaller chance of winning the lottery, nor does being a gentle person mean you will find the love of your life.

 

[Nickolai77]

It's a load of bollocks- stuff happens to you in life, and this is either as an intended or unintended consequence of your own actions, the actions of others, or actions of mother nature.

Basically, life is just one complicated mix of luck and personal responsibility. People may interpret good luck as good karma and affiliate it with ones past "good" actions, but really life can be read in many other ways, most of which are wrong.

 

[Fanta Grape]

You know what else sucks? That Christianity bollocks. It's totally not realistic and doesn't make sense. It's bullshit.

and because it's the internet...

/sarcasm

 

[darth.pixie]

Nope, don't believe in it. If someone is really out there, marking karma scores, he's doing a bad job.

There's a saying where I live that would basically translate to "Money is drawn to money" or "good wealth to good wealth". Its mostly said when the ones who have it good get good things happening to them(most being assholes), which in my experience is much more frequent than good things happening to the average guy.

I've known examples in which someone who was treating people fairly made the others think he was a doormat.

 

[sylekage]

You know what else sucks? That Christianity bollocks. It's totally not realistic and doesn't make sense. It's bullshit.

and because it's the internet...

/sarcasm

Can I ask what that has to do with this?

 

[Matt King]

I believe karma in that sense taken so literallly is a bit bullshit, but thinking about it, if you are nice to everyone you meet there is more chance that people will be nice to you when you need them, but if you're a twat to everyone there is very much chance they will do the same to you

 

[Scout Tactical]

Can I ask what that has to do with this?

Karma is a central aspect to the Indian religions (namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism). Making a thread where you declare it's false may be highly offensive to people who are of one of those faiths, just as a thread claiming Christianity is false would be offensive.

Please consider these things more carefully when making threads.

EDIT: Further reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

 

[ultrachicken]

Morals are a creation of the human mind, not a physical aspect of the universe. Therefore, there can be no natural law in which morals are upheld without human causation.

So, no, I don't really believe in Karma.

 

[sylekage]

snip

I actually did know that to an extent, but it didn't once cross my mind, I completely forgot. That's my mistake.

 

[Nouw]

To be frank I believe in it fully and please don't tell me I'm wrong.

Also as Scout pointed out, it its a faith so please be more respectful. However other things affect how I live my life but I still do so.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Karma is this life is obviously non-existant.

I'll get back to you once I'm dead about if if does occur after death.

 

[Lyx]

My view on this stuff can be summarized as this:

Who needs karma when there is this mechanic, that humans (inefficiently) model with causality? And who needs that when on top of that, mutualism has synergetic consequences?

What people try to "add" to the world via karma, is already a fundamental part of the world. It's just that:

1) What you may consider "fair", may in fact be quite unfair.

2) The feedback-loop may in some cases stretch beyond your lifetime. From my observation, such cases are however less frequent than loops that DO come back in your lifetime.

So, does karma exist? Yes and no: "Yes" as in what you're trying to do with it, does exist. "No" as in you don't even need karma for that.

 

[Madman123456]

You know what else sucks? That Christianity bollocks. It's totally not realistic and doesn't make sense. It's bullshit.

and because it's the internet...

/sarcasm

Can I ask what that has to do with this?

Let me try to explain that: With Karma, you have to believe in it. If you do, it becomes your personal stress reliever. If you do good things then, you will notice any good thing that happens to you more easily.

Same with Christianity, if you believe that there is a god and everything will eventually make sense in his great big Plan, Life becomes less stressful.


Well ok, Christianity is a bigger pile of excrement then Karma in my Opinion because if you believe in Karma and do good things to a Person, that Person may remember that and there's a slight chance that this Person may help you out in some way instead of kicking you in the Face while you're down.

So the Karma thing has the possibility of actually doing what its supposed to be doing, even if you don't believe in it.



Personally, i like doing good things because then i feel like a "good" Guy. Which is nice because i'm not doing any good things out of fear that some cosmic power will punish me if i don't because that would be bullshit.

 

[Leon Last Lord Shyle]

As a realist i often find that its not so clear cut, it's very rare to find a clear cut bad or good person, things happen randomly the thought that the universe itself made that bad thing happen because you i don't know kicked a puppy one time seems really to be arrogant and exaggerating your own importance in the grand scheme of things

 

[Smooth Operator]

It's just a neat and simple moral compass, telling you not to do things to others you don't want to be done to you, and help others so others will in turn help you.

All religions have the same sort of compass only they bring it with commandments or somesuch, but they just slide one or two sneaky messages into them: "follow our way or eat shit and die burn in hell"

 

[Grospoliner]

Can I ask what that has to do with this?

Karma is a central aspect to the Indian religions (namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism). Making a thread where you declare it's false may be highly offensive to people who are of one of those faiths, just as a thread claiming Christianity is false would be offensive.

Please consider these things more carefully when making threads.

EDIT: Further reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

How about people who get offended man up and deal with it? Not everyone shares the same viewpoint.

 

[Joepow]

Can I ask what that has to do with this?

Karma is a central aspect to the Indian religions (namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism). Making a thread where you declare it's false may be highly offensive to people who are of one of those faiths, just as a thread claiming Christianity is false would be offensive.

Please consider these things more carefully when making threads.

EDIT: Further reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

How about people who get offended man up and deal with it? Not everyone shares the same viewpoint.

Seconded. People have every right to say that something doesn't make sense to them, whether it's part of a religion or not.