Do you believe in Karma?
 

Do you believe in Karma? The idea that what you do comes back to you? If you do good, good things happen and vice versa?

An example:

Several years ago, I slept with a girl who's a friend of mine. I knew she was interested in me and had been for a few years. I also knew I didn't feel the same and that this was just sex for me. I didn't lead her to believe that I wanted a relationship before we had sex. Afterward, I know it broke her heart.

Flash forward three months, I'm hanging out with this beautiful girl that I've known for a long time. We dated years ago, but it didn't work. Anyway, after alot to drink and some flirting, we end up in bed. Afterward I'm thinking, "This is great, she finally sees me as someone she could date."

Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing but a night of fun for her. It took me months to get over the pain. The wheel turned boys and girls, and it ran right the hell over me.

Since this time I'm a firm believer in Karma. I try to live so that I want to get back what I give.

What do you think? Have your own Karma stories to share?

I used to be a big believer in karma but than I realized that if karma was real I should be dead.


I've done some pretty shitty things to people in the past.

I guess, you could say I believe in Karma to a point.
Same thing with luck...

i'd like to beleive that some of these assholes will get their just deserts. Sometimes it works out that way. Usually not, but sometimes it does. When it does... I take out the lawn chair, grab a soda and popcorn...sit and watch the festivities.

yeah, i believe in karma.

no specific incidents that i can think of that led me to believe innit, it just makes sense on some gut level.

but as with everything, i believe that whatever the individual believes has some bearing.

but the universal powers that be are greater, in the end.

What's that they say, "life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it."

I need to put more good stuff into it, myself. <sigh>

My Karma ran over your dogma.

And yes, being from the Eastern Religions, I believe in it.

well, there's really nothing there to "believe in" except cause and effect you know....

I believe in Bad Karma. You treat people like crap and it'll come back and get you. I'm not sure about Good Karma because it doesn't seem to be working out.

If there were anything to Karma, then why do so many bad things happen to good people and visa versa? I *do* believe that we put forth energy, positive and negative, and it is that energy that directs the course of good and bad in our lives.

What about all the good things that happen to the good people and the bad things that happen to bad people? The point of Karma is not to have a predesignated "good" and "bad" but a dynamic view of one's cosmic surroundings.

To me Karma goes hand in hand with Existentialist philosophy that you are free to create your own self and the principle of cause and effect is ever present within and without. What you do today makes a difference...especially to those close to you, through your actions and examples.

The idea of Karma that I have been introduced to is really just a part of a much larger picture. To me it is comforting, and helps me to feel like my life is very fair - in both good times and bad. It is empowering to me to not have to feel like a victim all the time. Personally accountable...I am the cause of all I see, hear, feel etc. That is all a part of Karma as I undertand it.

As far as the "bad things...good people" point is concerned, I think the idea of Karma may extend beyond the boundries of this lifetime.

c_b

I suppose I do believe in karma. I've always followed the idea of what goes around comes around and that is why I try to treat people nicely. I don't think it's a good idea to believe in it to such an extent that you allow it (or fate) to rule your life. Some people will sit back and let shit happen because they feel it was "in the stars" and can't be helped. Wrong. You create your own destiny but I think that if you treat others you meet with respect and honesty then that will rub off on them, they will treat the next person they meet that way and so on and so on and so on.
Well - here's hoping, anyways!

This is a great thread!

I thought I knew what Karma was- the type of vibe/energy that one puts forth will eventually come back to her, but there are some intriguing comments here that have me pondering.

The dictionary definition speaks of Karma perpetuating reincarnation. I go back & forth on whether there's a *next existence.* I hope so.

Karma is very real. In highschool I was pitching during a baseball game and decide I need to hit the batter. I bean him in the shoulder. After the game i'm walking to the parking lot when a foul ball hits me in the head. KARMA IS A BITCH

unless karma is like the government, i.e., slow moving, I will never believe in it. I am owed way too much good stuff for me to believe in it.

I believe in Karma because I have found that in the past when I did many things I am not proud of they always came back to haunt me later on. Since then I've come to understand that perhaps there is an underlying force that does in fact keep things balanced when you do good and vice versa. For myself, it seems the only possible explanation. Alot of times things happen to us and in that instant it may seem like nothing is working out and that it could be some kind of "punishment" we had coming to us...until we look at it again in hindsight and realize that it was just what needed to happen in order for today to be so great.

I treat everyone as I'd like to be treated...most of the time :D

I believe there is a link between karma and existentialism as Simple Min expressed. Existentialism is all about how our actions have consequences that will affect us. Maybe not in the next hour or two, but at some point, and we should more thoroughly consider the importance of what we do. It seems to me that every story so far on this post deals with decisions made very quickly with no recognition of the repercussions deal with whether karma exists or not.

I believe it. I go out of my way to be nice to people, and do good things, and in my life it seems that the universe bends over backwards to make sure I get by. When I do something bad, shit happens to me.

Absolutely! I believe you get what you give in life, good or bad. Karma can be your best friend or your bitter enemy. It is up to you. I prefer to have her on my side thank you very much!

I do believe karma is real. But I don't that there's anything that surprising or metaphysical about it. It's just an aspect of a logical universe. What you put in is what you get out.

-D.S.

I believe in Karma not because of past experiences, but only because it is the only logical way things should work imo. I never base my beliefs on past experiences.

yea. it makes sence that it would work, not only in the 'spiritual' sense, but just out of logic.

Hmm. Cause and effect, as Art stated, but I think there's a bit more to 'The Big Picture' that I call life. Or, I hope, anyhow.

I really, truly believe that, eventually, you reap what you sow. I do not, however, believe every little action and word spoken has a balanced end.

I guess an umbalanced yin-yang?

I hope we all truly do reap what we sow. then again... if we do.. i got a lot of shit to own up to.

i think everyone wants justice in the end, and that's what karma comes down to. hopefully we all, people as a society, will continue to grow and make (and break) laws to help people recieve justice. i'd hate to leave it up to the cosmos, then die, and no bad deed is punished.

gah i'm tired. gonna shut up now

I don't think it has anything to do with Eastern Mysticism or whatnaught.

You live a good life and try to do right by others; others will try to do right by you. It is a simple cause and effect circuit. Good things happen to good people because good people do good things; and ditto for the assholes too.

In the general sense, I believe that if you are good to others, they tend to treat you better in return. I don't believe in karma per se though.

I'd just like to add one more thing. I strongly believe that everything that I do consciously has an effect and that I will live the consequences of those acts in time. That doesn't mean that if I do something bad, shitty stuff is bound to happen to me in THIS life. I believe in reincarnation and I believe that everything you do and everything that happens to you balances out in time.

i believe in karma to a degree. like a bunch of bad things happening at one time, but not like if i do something bad now, something bad is gonna get me later.

I'd like to believe in Karma, but my brother-in-law is still alive. There must be a flaw in the system.

For those who believe good karma never works:

Are you sure it isn't just that when something bad happens we look around everywhere for something to blame it on?
Yet when something good happens, we look no further than our ourselves to see who to congratulate?

What I'm saying is, maybe you have been repaid (although I think that's the completely wrong way to look at it) for your good deeds, but you attribute the benefits to your own actions rather than seeing it as karma.

How many of the above people who replied consider themselves part of a faith that holds the idea of Karma at it's core? (Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism)

I am just curious that's all.

I agree with ART, once again.

Futher, I do not understand why this mysterious karma can be so obvious when so much is done to innocent people, who in turn go on to inflict harm unto others. Seems very chicken and egg.

Assuming choas, destruction and strife aren't the main themes in life.

I, too, love to ask questions about what people practice/believe.:)

I myself am what I consider a maverick Christian. ie, I believe fully in Christ, ressurection, the Trinity, and a few other things. I do not believe in most everything else, though. I research my beliefs best as I can and try to keep an opened mind so I am willing to accept changes. I believe that Christ will back me up as long as I thrive to understand, do right, and believe in Him.

as for karma. no per se ties to it spiritually.

Sigh, that's nice to know WhoaitsZ. But since Christianity does not encompass Karma why are you advertising?

It would have sufficed to claim you were a christian and quit there, because we all know what it means to be a christian.

Yeah I believe in karma. If I get treated like crap at work, I am more likely to treat some else like crap. If I fuck over one of my friends, one of my friends is more likely to fuck me over.

I'd like to believe in Karma, but I see some people screw others over and over and nothing bad ever seems to happen to them. Or at least nothing worse than is happening to the guy who isn't a bastard.

Well "Karma" does not follow the physics laws of spring constants and is not "Action and immediate reaction."

The religions that teach Karma also teach patience and understanding as crucial traits. That's not to say that you should hold a grudge or be resentful of someone forever.

Karma to me is merely a word to describe the interplay of the vast concert of existence. There's nothing mystical to it, and it's not entirely about "good to those who do good and bad to those who do bad".

In buddhism, there is a lot of talk about "skillful means" where in order to lead someone to enlightenment it may be necessary to hurt them, or do really cruel things.

If you think about the chains of action and reaction long enough, you can see where pretty much any good thing you do could work back to something bad happeneing in the world around.

Hence, good people get crapped on, and bad people get good fortune. There's no need for an arbeiter being pushing good fate and bad this way and that.

Or something.

I've always been a believer in what goes around comes around.
Also the golden rule..
Very hard to live by...

A lady I work with is one of the biggest bitches I've ever met. She never stops.. EVER!.. Well a couple of months ago her husband passed away...I felt bad for her...I thought hmmm maybe this will turn her life around and make her realize life is short ...be happy...nope...She was only back a couple of weeks and she was back to her normal bitchy self...Then last week her mom gets put in the hospitol. hmmmm Well she's still the same and it looks like that no matter what happens she'll never change.