Karma?

With certain religions comes the value of Karma.
''What goes around comes around.''
''What you cause this life, will be dealt to you next.''
''Everything has its consequences, sooner or later you'll feel them too.''
''What you have dealt, will come back 3 fold.''

However you say it, karma seems to be the same concept; what you do will eventually effect you as you had effected others. Karma or some THING to the effect of Karma surfaces in countless religions and paths. People for ages have expressed their views of natural justice. Karma is of course a religious concept, although people who believe in Karma may not belong to any specific religion. The idea of ''what goes around comes around'' can not be traced all the way back to its very origins.
- Meaning, Karma is so old, we can't fathom or trace exactly how old.

People sometimes assume Karma has to do with some form of deity. Such as Christianity, their God will have justice. Supposedly.

More often though, is Karma expressed as natural, not necessarily due to the work of gods. Yes, perhaps the gods set Karma in motion according to some, but often times do they recognize it as an independent force created by but not controlled by a deity.

So yes, Karma is not exactly the same in comparison between various religions/beliefs.

Hinduism is one of or the oldest known religions the recognizes Karma as a powerful, and effective force. This religion dates back about 3,000 B.C.E (before common era). Yeah, it's old. Karma according to Hinduism, deals with reincarnation. Reincarnation is a term most people are familiar with. It is the recycling of souls, when you die, you are later reborn. Well the Hindu believes, that what you do this life, will effect who you are and what you are your next life. So if you're currently a farmer and brutally murder someone, you will die, and you may be reborn a slug which is not a very glamorous life. Why? Because it's Karma, doing its thing getting you back for what you did the previous life. Now if you're currently a farmer, and you save and old lady from a burning building, you will die, and you may possibly be reborn as a wealthy king. Why? It's Karma!

Buddhism is probably the most popular of all religions that recognize Karma. Buddha believed in the typical, ''you get what you give'' Karma. And the same goes for Confucianism, surprisingly people don't realize that the famous ''Golden Rule'' is a form of Karma: ''Do unto others, what you wish done unto you.''

Then you have others likes Wiccans, that generally believe in a more severe punishment for misdeeds. They behold the 3 Fold Law, ''what you do now, shall come back 3 Fold''. What the phrase ''3 Fold'' is referring is like giving this formula:
(what you do)(what you do)(what you do) = what you get
Scary? Perhaps, but it's what they believe.

Christianity, as with many other things, plays into certain beliefs systems when it comes to karma. Just as they believe in certain forms of reincarnation, they believe in "what goes around, comes around." Thus the idea of Hell comes into the mix. Some believe that on a trip to said "Hell", bad karma can actually be "burned" off. This idea comes from a form of projection to lower plains (Hell), and certain levels can make for differing results in letting off that karma. Christians do not particularly believe in projection, but their concept of Hell is found to be useful for such occasions.

Now then, some people don't believe in Karma at all. Some have figured that it is just a bunch of bull.
But the question is, are they just trying to disprove spirituality so badly that they make crap up to make excuses for denying Karma? Or is Karma really just hoax to get kids not to cheat on Math tests?
Is karma something to fear?

Resulting Paradox of Absolute Reason.

There is a problem with the idea of Karma being the what causes the punishment of all misdeeds, assuming that karma causes all mishaps.
That is a theory: that all misfortunes that ever happen is karma.

This creates a paradox.
Given certain cases, karma causes karma according to this theory.
Karma not necessarily being a good thing, causes itself.

Clarification:
There is a young boy of say 2 years old, his father is a heavy drinker, and on a regular basis beats the small child.
Situations similar to this have happened.
Is the child guilty of something so severe he deserves his father's torment?
Is the man's actions merely Karma at work?
If so, in the case he is sent to jail for child abuse would the man be punished according this particular theory of karma?
Therefore, wouldn't it be considered karma causing karma?
And again, assuming the boy did something to deserve his lashings, would that be karma at work as well?
Because, karma is responsible for all mishaps and misfortunes.

That is the paradox of this specific theory on Karma, or is it actually logical? I think it would be interesting if anyone had their own theory of karma, or any idea as to how this particular theory is actually rational.

Personally, I believe in cause and effect. For every action, there is a reaction.

The example you have given of the child is a prime reason why I do not think there is some cosmic force out there watching our every move ready to hit our knuckles with a ruler for our misdeeds or give us a shiny gold star when we do good. To protect members from an extremely long rant, I will not get into the concepts of good and bad.

I think Karma can be looked at a few different ways.


The psychological version is that your brain will look for like situations according to your emotions. If you feel guilty, you brain will seek out "punishment" from a subconscious level to give you essentially, what you feel you deserve deep down inside. The same can be applied for feelings of pride and accomplishment.
The problem I have with this one is while it is more likely to occur, it doesn't explain why "bad things happen to good people" since there are people who only believe bad things deserve to happen to them, after they actually happen.

That brings us to the other version-
The spiritual version is that there is a deity, divine source, cosmic hall monitor, ect. who is watching our every move on the ready to praise or condemn us.

The problem I have with this theory is that there is no set guideline as to what is good and what is bad, so you are basically walking around blindly and even "doing your best to live a good life" could result in negative consequences based on your lack of positive actions according to the ultimate judge, or pay back for a past life.


I prefer to see life as a chain reaction. What you do has an effect on everyone around you, causing them to adjust accordingly without necessarily knowing that you did anything to affect it. I do not think that if I help an old woman cross the street that I will be blessed in this life or any other. I also don't think that if I have negative things happen to me, it's because I squashed a bug or murdered someone in my past life.

I agree.
I appreciate you mentioning the psychological side of Karma, it brings deeper thought into this topic.

I am a firm believe of the "butterfly effect" myself, a "chain reaction" as you described seems sufficient.
I don't believe that everything comes back to bite one in the rear end, but I do believe that everything goes around to bite someone in the rear end, regardless of who it being.
Thus, I will say I don't personally believe in spiritual karma.

Karma i belive is the unvierses way of keeping balance.
if there is to much of one emotion there is a lack of balance so those who are good get hurt because there must always be those who are hurt and people who hurt otherwise there is no balance.
even people who care for others get hurt because they give there all to people and people just want to be happy themselves not caring about other people (i know this first hand)

Karma i belive is the universes way of keeping a balance that is needed because if we all wanted to hurt people then we would wipe ourselves out if we all wanted to help people then we would all live a lot longer and we would not be able to deal with threats

A balance is always needed so we all must suffer for it because thats the way life works..

In my opinion anyways

Do you believe that Karma has kept that needed balance?

I believe that karma is the consequences of our actions. That being said some entity could "mete out" karma, however it would be their own actions based on ours, meaning their actions would be consequences of ours.

IE: You go poke Ra in the eye, he may decide to poke back.

The metaphysics side, difficult to disprove. :)