You reap what you sow, or Karma?

[GingerMidget]

This is entirely true Nasty.

[FJRider]

Our choices and actions directly affect what will happen in the future. Karma isn't something I really believe in personally, mostly because of times when people have said 'Don't worry, karma will get them" and it never does.

Life is 10% what happens, and 90% how you react to it. Just to add another cliche.

What happens in life is life. Circumstance and coincidence. To explain it as a purpose or reason is pointless ... as it cannot be explained.

Those with beliefs otherwise ... are still free to believe.

[Big Dave]

[Virago]

. . .

[Berries]

Close enough?



Depends on your accent.

[rainman]

Karma police reporting in...

Karma is a sanskrit word (with the equivalent being kamma in Pali, the language all the cool buddhist kids use). It means "action", but in the context of the religious interpretations of it it includes only those actions that involve intention or volition.

It is not the consequences of the actions - that's vipaka (kammavipaka). It is not punishment from some external agency (who?) for doing the "wrong" thing. It is not "getting your comeuppance", "justice served", or anything similar.

There's some debate about whether the results of karma are deterministic - in other words, that positive ("kusala" = skillful, wholesome, good, intelligent, right etc) karma always results in positive outcomes, and negative in negative. For easy cases, this is clear to see, but it falls over when "bad things happen to good people" or similar. Hardcore followers of the karma doctrine will say that this is the results of akusala ("bad") karma in a past life, and thus you get the whole rebirth debate. Me, I suspect that's just bullshit to make people feel better, and the universe is a bit more complex than the fairy tales we tell ourselves.

All things arise as a dependency on some cause or set of causes. We may not understand them all - think of the economy, or the workings of society; just too complex to get our heads around - so it's not always the case that something happens and you can draw a straight line to the cause. Therefore when stuff happens which we don't understand (and we get unexpected consequences) we can take two options: a) keep thinking until we do understand it better, and change our intentions and karma, or b) write it off as "shit happens". Depends on how much time you have available as to which makes sense...

The real action, though, is in how we react to the results of our karma or that of others.
I act poorly and cut my finger, I feel pain. I can then choose whether to go on some big internal narrative about how I'm a clumsy arsehole and always do stupid things, or how I'm a useless cook, or I can choose not to, and just deal with my finger.
Someone else does something we don't approve of, and get's some consequences, we can observe it, we can help them, or we can waste our time taking delight in the suffering of others. Schadenfreude is very human, but not very skillful.
Similarly if someone else's karma produces a cause in your life, revenge and aversion are all too typical. But neither are skillful (and yes, karma can be entirely mental - e.g. hating people for their misdeeds, even if you do nothing about it that they can detect).

happiness is knowing that karma cant really get you....
Karma is BS - you are who, what and where you are because of the options you chose.

That makes no sense. Karma is not a thing or a being that can "get to you". The second sentence makes more sense though - except it isn't only the options you chose. (And what is "you" anyway? Serious question. I could explain my theory of self - it's central to all of this stuff, actually - but it would take too long. One sentence version: there is no neatly partitioned and bounded thing that is a "self", we are all part of and dependent on the reality around us, including others).

Karma is originally a Hindu belief but it has been Westernised and means similarly to reaping what you sow either for good or bad. If we are where we are through our own choices, that is Karma or reaping what we have sown.

Sorta, karma is like a seed, goes the saying. So you can't grow a plum tree from a lemon seed - but until the causative conditions are right, perhaps the lemon tree won't germinate and grow into anything. Or maybe some little bug(ger) will come along and eat it. Get the picture? It's not that God will punish you for being bad, because (and I realise this is where we will part company, but I have to put it out there)... there is no god, no (absolute) good or bad, and actually, no you in the sense that we all conventionally mean it.

"If you want to understand the present look to your past actions. If you want to know about the future, look to your present actions."

[rainman]

What happens in life is life. Circumstance and coincidence. To explain it as a purpose or reason is pointless ... as it cannot be explained.

So there is no causality?

[Spyke]

karma, I did to many drugs and the effect was having a psychotic episode, i've recovered from it now but it taught me a great lesson. Or falling off my pushbike and tearing my acl taught me not to do stupid stuff on it.

My choice to do a truck driving course directly will effect my future by gaining me employment and giving me another skill I can use to benefit me and others.

[unstuck]

It,s all about the law of attraction.Everything in the universe is vibration and if you have a good vibe going on, you get good(for those of you that believe in good) and if you have a bad vibe(for those of you believe in bad) you get to have a real crappy time. Awareness and focus are the keys to attracting a life that is pleasing.

[FJRider]

So there is no causality?

Casuality ... ???

That is in the term of one action causing one reaction. The unpredictability of a number of actions(factors) at the same time, creating many possible reactions (results) depending what those actions (factors) were.

The end result ... the "I never thought that would happen" statement. Ever heard that said ... ???

[Virago]

Casuality ... ???

That is in the term of one action causing one reaction...

... whilst being really casual about it...

[FJRider]

It,s all about the law of attraction.Everything in the universe is vibration and if you have a good vibe going on, you get good(for those of you that believe in good) and if you have a bad vibe(for those of you believe in bad) you get to have a real crappy time. Awareness and focus are the keys to attracting a life that is pleasing.

Hence honda's were created ... you meet the nicest people on a honda ...

[rainman]

Casuality ... ???

That is in the term of one action causing one reaction.

Not at all. Things can, and usually do, arise from multiple causes. And sure, they are often hard to identify and understand.

Doesn't sound like a good reason to just give up and write it off as randomness, if you ask me, though.

[mashman]

"If you want to understand the present look to your past actions. If you want to know about the future, look to your present actions."

If you're present is "defined" by your past and your future is "defined" by your present, then your future will follow the same path as your past? I would have thought a better "measure" of your present would be where you are in regards to your future, and not your past. Or is it all in the interpretation

[GingerMidget]

What is the point to looking to your past? You can't do anything about it, so just move the heck on, and deal with what you have in the moment.

After all, which side of your head are the eyes?