Karma

Originally posted by Adam_PoE
The principle of Karma is reflected in Newton's 3rd Law, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Imagine that every living thing is connected to every other living thing by a web of causal relationships. When living things interact, they exact forces upon one another that result in new causal chains.

Just as disturbing only one strand affects the whole web, so do our actions. How the web is affected is determined by whether our actions are good or bad.

The idea is that because it is your actions that create the world you have to live in, "you should be the change you want to see in the world".

I think its not quite so equal and opposite as Newton's laws... and I think a buddist would at least be uncomfortable with Karma being explained so scientifically, but the rest of your explaination is very good I think. Maybe its like the chaos/ripple in the pond kind of principle mixed with Newton's third law... kind of.

Originally posted by Turbo-Cajun
I think its not quite so equal and opposite as Newton's laws... and I think a buddist would at least be uncomfortable with Karma being explained so scientifically, but the rest of your explaination is very good I think. Maybe its like the chaos/ripple in the pond kind of principle mixed with Newton's third law... kind of.

I actually practice modern Buddhism and this is the principle of Karma according to our belief.

I have done a lot of reading on buddhism and feel like I have some knowledge of what it is, and probably would consider becoming a buddhist if it weren't against your beliefs to take intoxicants, I was saying though that maybe the scientific explaination doesn't really do the concept of Karma justice... making it sound scientific seems to take buddhism somewhere where it shouldnt go. And the comment about "equal and opposite reactions" doesnt seem accurate because if things are like you say (the web of casual relationships) things do not need to be equal and opposite. That is a bad example. How I understand Karma, it is not equal and opposite. If I kick someone's dog it doesn't mean that someday someone will kick my dog back... and I know that is not what you meant, but thats what terms like "equal and opposite" really mean...

Instead I would have said that if your actions are evil and you cause people pain, those actions, that hurt you are creating will eventually come back to you. If you spread love and compassion then good things will return to you.

"What you reap is what you sow"

Originally posted by Turbo-Cajun
... making it sound scientific seems to take buddhism somewhere where it shouldnt go.

Modern Buddhism is a moral philosophy that conforms to scientific principles.

Originally posted by Turbo-Cajun
And the comment about "equal and opposite reactions" doesnt seem accurate because if things are like you say (the web of casual relationships) things do not need to be equal and opposite.

According to Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, whenever objects interact, they exert forces upon each other. The formal statement of this law, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," simply means that in every interaction, there are forces acting on the two interacting objects.

Originally posted by Turbo-Cajun
If I kick someone's dog it doesn't mean that someday someone will kick my dog back...

In the example you provided, the reaction you describe is not equal and opposite but equal and identical. This is beside the point. The principle of Karma is that our actions exert forces on everyone including ourselves.

Originally posted by Fire
I doubt something as that exists, there are crimes that go unpunished there are good deeds that go unrewarded

Mabye the punishment for the bad action is no reward for the good action.
Mabye the reward for the good action is no punishment for the bad action.

Interesting

Karma isn't some kind of punishment for being bad......

Originally posted by Cipher
Karma isn't some kind of punishment for being bad......

Depends on your perspective. It could be. It's like the universes way of balancing shit out, assuming you live long enough for the good or bad to come back your way.

Well, if you do enough shit things to people, eventually things will come back and bite you on the ass. Whether it be by way of cosmic interferance or just pissing the wrong guy off.

-AC

I believe in Karma. What goes around comes around. It may not happen right away, but it will, for that, I always try and do good. 🙂

I actually only speak/wish Bad Karma on people I hate. I always tell people who pick on others, do horrid actions, are violent towards people, etc, countless areas, that "Karma's gonna kick you in the ass one day, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon you'll get your ass kicked twice as bad, and I hope you learn a lesson or two." I'm not sure about positive Karma, because other then getting a job, my life hasn't had a ton of ridiculously large high points lately. It isn't like I'm going to change because of it, I just worry about my future sometimes, and worry I won't be able to marry and have children with who I want to, and worry about my future career and the such.

But yes, I believe in Bad Karma, and I've heard of Good Karma as well.

Originally posted by JToTheP
I actually only speak/wish Bad Karma on people I hate. I always tell people who pick on others, do horrid actions, are violent towards people, etc, countless areas, that "Karma's gonna kick you in the ass one day, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon you'll get your ass kicked twice as bad, and I hope you learn a lesson or two." I'm not sure about positive Karma, because other then getting a job, my life hasn't had a ton of ridiculously large high points lately. It isn't like I'm going to change because of it, I just worry about my future sometimes, and worry I won't be able to marry and have children with who I want to, and worry about my future career and the such.

But yes, I believe in Bad Karma, and I've heard of Good Karma as well.

What about the murderers and rapists who do their act and live a long healthy life without any repercussions? Did karma just overlook them? Or is it just that it's a belief that gives comfort to people so that when they hear about something bad happening they can say "well, karma will get that guy, so it's okay".

Sheesh don't touch on that it reall pisses me off ranting

Karma will get them in the end and Yes it makes me angry as well that they can get away with it for now, but in the end they will get theres.

I dont believe in karma or reincarnation

Karma doesn't make judgments. A cause has an effect and that is a fact.

What is a bad thing for you maybe a good thing for someone else. This has nothing to do with Karma. Karma is like this; you kill someone, that person's brother hunts you down and kills you. Karma didn't punish you for killing, but the dead man's brother did. Now, lets say that you get away, you now think you can get away, so you do things that you would not have done before. This Karma has changed the path of your life, and the effects of that change will appear in your life, or lives to come.

Karma is not like a punishement from a god, its just the natural course of action of the universe, like the laws of physics. If you throw something against the wall, and when it comes back it hurt you. That just happened because thats how its supposed to be, and because Newton 3rd law, not because the almighty wall pushined you. From that you can learn to not throw things in the wall, so you don´t get hurt anymore.

Originally posted by Atlantis001
Karma is not like a punishement from a god, its just the natural course of action of the universe, like the laws of physics. If you throw something against the wall, and when it comes back it hurt you. That just happened because thats how its supposed to be, and because Newton 3rd law, not because the almighty wall pushined you. From that you can learn to not throw things in the wall, so you don´t get hurt anymore.

I agree...

I think there is this misunderstanding about Karma, that somehow it means life is fair. However, everything has Karma and everything is very complex. If you gain power over your life, you will be able to jump out of the way when it comes back or learn how not to throw it in the first place.

No, I don't think so, Shaky. I believe that if you gain control over your life you can see the ball coming back toward you. You can see which angle the ball will come back and ow fast. And you can prepare for it.

There's a huge misconception with Karma that I think should really be straightened out. If a man in a hockey mask was running behind a guy in another mask, and a cop were behind both these men yelling stop. Now, let's say that another, unrelated man were to see these men, pull out a gun and beam the middle man. He kills the guy, and in the huge shock that follows, the other mask guy gets away. Now, it turns out that the guy who was killed was an under cover agent. Would the shooter get negative Karma- he killed a guy wrongly, or would he be praised- he was trying to help.
That might not be the clearest conceptualisation, if it's too hard, say so, but I think it's clear enough to get my point accross. The point is that your point of view could be different from someone elses, your wrong is not always the official wrong. By trying to help, you could be hurting someone/thing/etc... This is why Karma doesn't really work for me unless it's completely understood. (obviously not 100% understanding, but the complete basis is a mandatory recognisation in order to be allowed - in my books- to follow, call upon Karma.

Karma could be what Jesus was referring to as "Reaping and Sowing"

What you sow in this life you reap in the next....

Originally posted by Lord-of-Dreams
No, I don't think so, Shaky. I believe that if you gain control over your life you can see the ball coming back toward you. You can see which angle the ball will come back and ow fast. And you can prepare for it.

There's a huge misconception with Karma that I think should really be straightened out. If a man in a hockey mask was running behind a guy in another mask, and a cop were behind both these men yelling stop. Now, let's say that another, unrelated man were to see these men, pull out a gun and beam the middle man. He kills the guy, and in the huge shock that follows, the other mask guy gets away. Now, it turns out that the guy who was killed was an under cover agent. Would the shooter get negative Karma- he killed a guy wrongly, or would he be praised- he was trying to help.
That might not be the clearest conceptualisation, if it's too hard, say so, but I think it's clear enough to get my point accross. The point is that your point of view could be different from someone elses, your wrong is not always the official wrong. By trying to help, you could be hurting someone/thing/etc... This is why Karma doesn't really work for me unless it's completely understood. (obviously not 100% understanding, but the complete basis is a mandatory recognisation in order to be allowed - in my books- to follow, call upon Karma.

I think you do not understand me; your first statement is true and agrees with what I said. I probably didn't say it clearly. Karma is not good or bad, right or wrong, karma is cause and effect. If you put baking soda and vinegar together it will fizz and over flow. This is not good or evil; it all depends on you and your point of view. There is two types of karma, malleable and inmalleable; I think about killing someone (malleable) but I do nothing, the karma I have created has an effect that depends on what I do next. If I then kill the person (inmalleable) the person dies and the consequences of that action come into being in my life, what ever they are.