Karma

[Ferbian]

We all know karma, the common description of a bitch so to say.

Karma is very widespread in the Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jain and Sikh) and is a kind of "god's payback" you could very well say, if you're not careful and don't treat people well "karma" will come back to bite you in the ass, therefore, the common description "Karma's a bitch"

I've never really been the big follower of Karma, never believed in it, and never believed that anything comes back to bite me if I don't act a certain way to please this said Karma.

Either way, I ask you now: Do you believe in Karma? do you adjust your life through the ways of trying to be on the positive side of Karma? why? why not?

Note: Please don't make this a bashing thread towards any religion, or anybody who chooses to believe, or not believe in Karma, it's that persons life, and we shouldn't judge.

 

[One Punch Doug Crashin]

Personally I think Karma exists in one way or another. Just think of the golden rule that we learn when we are kids(well at least that was when I was a kid I learned the golden rule). Do unto others as you would do unto you. However, the Indian subcontinent also believes that we can get rid of karma. There are two types of karma they believe. Positive and Negative and they believe we can get rid of the negative by doing something positive. Does that make any sense?

 

[Ferbian]

Personally I think Karma exists in one way or another. Just think of the golden rule that we learn when we are kids(well at least that was when I was a kid I learned the golden rule). Do unto others as you would do unto you. However, the Indian subcontinent also believes that we can get rid of karma. There are two types of karma they believe. Positive and Negative and they believe we can get rid of the negative by doing something positive. Does that make any sense?

That makes perfectly good sense, and I myself am aware of the "two types / sides" of Karma, and while as I mentioned, don't believe in it, I do know of the whole "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you" and while I personally never associated it properly with Karma, I merely associated it with common sense and etiquette.

 

[SalvIsWin]

I outlined my views on these type of concepts in this thread: http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=112397 , but a little redundancy never hurt any one haha. I am a skeptic through and through, I embrace the scientific method and chose to pursue that for my post-secondary education (and soon enough to be post post-secondary!). I don't believe in spirits, ghosts, God, psychics, supernatural explanations, karma, or any other thing that is in line with what I just named.

Not only that, but I study Psychology, and there are some specific psychological theories that would explain why so many people want to believe in the concept of karma, and therefore convince themselves that it must be true via a plethora of means. In parallel with just-world theory, I think there is evidence to suggest that people want to believe the world is a just and moral place, and that bad things happen to bad people, or that if it does happen to a good person, there will be payback (for lack of a netter word).

I think a lot of people base their belief in karma on anecdotal evidence. Either you had a friend who did some thing bad, and it came back to bite him, or some thing like that. It's stories like this that perpetuate the idea that karma exists and people pay special attention to them even though there are countless stories of bad things happening to good people and people benefit from it, it happens all the time. I act in a way because I am consider myself a moral and ethical person that has compassion, not because I am afraid of some unknown force exacting revenge on me.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Karma is a lot like luck to me- You don't necessarily have to believe it, but you will find yourself calling it out when you are fortunate or unfortunate.

To me, Karma isn't a religious thing. It's a natural occurence like luck. Yes, there are differences in luck and Karma, especially the "pay-back" bit, but they do go side-by-side often, like fate and destiny.

Another good word is "feng-shui" (hope I spelt that right). Now I could be wrong, but the way I view feng shui is it's a lot like drawing positive energy, mostly referring to a room of sorts.

ex. "You think this rug makes this room?" answer. "It sure does give it feng shui".

I'm sure people use that term like Karma and not understand its spiritual or religious meanings.

 

[LigerBomb]

Call it what you want but to me it's the religion wide Golden Rule; though one may consider it closer to Dharma rather than Karma. The great thing about doing something "good" is that regardless of whether it eventually returns (or not) you can feel good as you're doing it and immediately after the fact. In that way it's almost self serving. But then again doing good should make you feel good which in turn will invite you to do more good in the future thus helping plenty of others in the process.
I don't believe in Karma per se. But I know people tend to not do as many bad things to the good people they know. Similarly people are more inclined to want to help nice people when they're in trouble. On the other hand the unknown is just that, so plan for what you think you can. Point blank leave the world in better shape than it was given to you regardless of whether it's directly good for you to do or not. That's my only rule.

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

People should always strive to do good towards others and towards themselves.

For me, I've always tried to be a good person in whatever way possible. I have found that if I do something bad towards someone, then something bad will happen to me. I don't know if it is infact Karma or just coincidence, but I like to believe that it is Karma.

I know that bad things happen to everyone regardless of good or evil, but I like to think that everything works out in the end for the good.

In my opinion, people should always try to become a better person by doing good in their lives. It doesn't matter to me why people are good, as long as they are and if that means that people need their beliefs in Karma to ensure they are a good person, thats fine.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I believe in some kind of cosmic balance that i refer to as Karma. Suddenly random good things happen and sometimes random bad, that could all be attributed to something else you did beforehand. Of course you'll never know what 'karma' is reacting to, but i believe it's there in some form or another.

My favourite example is when i picked up a 1/4 of weed and lost half of it before i'd even opened it. I attribute that to karma getting me back for the wonderful day that i found an 1/8 in the street after waiting for my dealer for some 4 hours only for him to return empty handed, some 3 years before.

Anytime something goes well or cocks up inexplicably, i persoanlly attribute it to karma

 

[Richard]

I'm a big believer in Karma.

I have one example that Karma exists and is a bitch for those who don't believe it and be mean to other people. At school, this guy used to pick on me and bully me all the time. What happened during our last year at school? He got SHOT in the face and was in the hospital for ages. It wasn't just me he bullied, it was pretty much everyone smaller than him.

Karma works and it's a bitch.

 

[Loveless]

Yeah I absolutely believe in karma, through various means, none of them anything to do with gods. For every action there is a reaction and what goes around comes around, even if it takes a long time. Shrinking the world down to, lets say, 8 friends, if you piss off/hurt one person eventually it'll come back to you either directly or via others who suffer as a group.
Really the two main things you'll get from Buddhism right away is that it is about avoiding actions which cause suffering in others, but also avoiding actions which causes personal guilt and suffering. Essentially unless you're a psycho or sociopath (in which case you're suffering anyway), you can't avoid suffering from the consequences of your actions.

 

[INDYjon22]

I am a strong believer in karma. For the last few years of my life I have really begun to believe more and more in this idea that if I do good things then bad things will not happen to me and for the most part it has actually worked out that way, in my life of course. When I do good deeds then good things tend to happen to me and when I do bad things well, then bad things happen in return to me. Someone previously noted that this may be due to luck and that may be true. I also have a ton of bad luck but when I am being a better person I seem to have better luck. This may be an isolated thing that only effects me but I do indeed believe strongly in karma and that if I do good then good things will happen to me.

 

[Jonnie Walker]

I certainly believe in Karma, because if you rob a bank, you get arrested in most cases. If you molest children, you'll probably get caught and raped in jail. If you give someone a green rep on the Wrestlezone forums, you may be entitled to a green rep from that person. Think about it. If Karma didn't exist, we would have a bunch of bank robbers unarrested, child molesters unraped, and green reppers ungreenrepped. And when I was in middle school, I was picked on by these kids for being of mixed races and being small and people thought I was gay. Well, one of those three is dead, one is in jail, and the other works at Walmart as a people-greeter. Also, the Walmart greeter who picked on me because I was mixed had a kid...in junior year. If that doesn't give me a reason to believe in Karma, then I have no idea what does.