Good one! I love it when some crazy driver speeds passes me on the highway and then a few miles down the road, there he is by the side of the road getting a ticket. Not exactly Karma, just a cop doing his job, but at least the officer was in the right place at the right time.

I really do believe in Karma and what goes around comes around, good or bad.

I don't ... if by that you mean that, in the end, everything good and bad pretty wells evens out for everyone.

A parishioner's family had had a long series of seriously hurtful issues in their family with which to cope: one child not mentally capable, another died young of cancer, leaving a small daughter, a third hit by a train, plus their barn burned down, etc. While I felt that they coped admirably with the strains, I think that the community would have said that it did not appear that they had any outstanding joyful experiences or benefits to offset that major line of trouble.

Without making reference to any of the hundreds of thousands of women in Africa and elsewhere who have been raped, as a purposeful instrument of torture not only by rebel gangs, but by government soldiers, as well.

Or how about the multitudinous victims of armed gangs that run through an area of south Sudan, killing and burning villages, with complicity denied by the government of Sudan.

The Sudanese want to move the current inhabitants out and take over the area ...

... as it has a potentially rich oil field under the ground.

ole joyful

I agree with you, Ed. And I would add man's inhumanity to man, beginning with parents to children, sibling on sibling, the list is long. It seems that it is human nature.

Some people are born lucky, others not so much. While I am sure many people are able to overcome their miserable circumstances, unless you are in the right situation it is impossible. Those you cite cannot. And I will say that if it is within karma's, or god's, or fate's, capability to affect a hockey game, then perhaps it is time misspent.

There is life, such as you say. I could never say world suffering or disease is karma but to do something bad and to get a similar experience happen, I totally believe that. What you list is our unjust world - really. I don't think I will get "karma" because I am not helping all these people either. I do the best I can with what I can.
I think for me to say these people did something to deserve it would produce bad karma for me but I don't believe that for a second nor will I imply or say such a thing. I think it is bad for people to say such a thing - just using myself as an example, of course.
My personal example for karma was when I went shopping and realized my kid was holding a mascara which I didn't pay for in the cart. Instead of going back to the store, I kept it and when I went to use it, lo and behold, it was dried out and useless. That is karma for me. I didn't want to be honest about it and voila, I got it back.

Awesome video Cookie!

I believe enough in everyday 'karma' to try and be honest, kind and always do the right thing... just in case. :)

I say you can pick and choose and weave any story you want to believe, but unfortunately the "bad" guy doesn't always lose. In that case we bump it up to the next life, God is going to punish them...whatever...
Sometimes things do seem to balance out, but you have to ignore a lot of unfair suffering to be content with that.

I believe in karma, and therefore I try to live by the Golden Rule. However, if you are speaking of world injustices and the horrors that are perpetrated on the innocent around the world, there seems to be limited justice. I thank God everyday almost that I was born where I was born and to whom I was born.

I loved the video, BTW. I hate it when you go to a sporting event and have a moron like that sitting by you. That's the kind of karma I think Cookie is talking about.

I am not sure how 'Karma' balances out in the 'whole world view'....I only know that "IT SEEMS" as though when people behave and do hurtful things, the happenings in their lives eventually pay a price. That old saying about "doing unto others, as you would want done to/for you" plays out nicely in my life....and for the events that have happened to me that are or have been painfull...I know that that person must be suffering painfullness too and I just do not know about their pain. Make sense? No too much!

The sufferings of the family to which I referred had consequences which went on for years or was as permanent as anything in this life is, and there was little or no visible counterbalancing joyful experiences or benefits.

The mother was an optimistic person and the father was a rather stoic person that went on about his daily life: both fine citizens.

If there is such a thing as karma, it works less often than a postal worker. I'm kind of tired of seeing good people die while the ones who deserve to die live, people spending everything they have and get public assistance, innocent kids killed, sick, maimed and I could go on.

Karma is simply another religion people use when they need a crutch. It's another easy explanation for things that can't stand on their own.

Cynic, have you ever considered that "good people dying" is a reward rather than a punishment? I gather you don't have belief in God, but if you do, read Isaiah
57:1-2. It really helped me just last week when my "good" mother died. :)

Thank you Juellie.. The reward certainly doesn't
always happen immediately..but maybe that is for
non-believers to soothe themselves.

But, in this day of "entitlement" so many want
rewards for everything, and want them now!

I want to add that I believe that we are here to learn 'lessons' and sometimes we keep encountering the same situations in our lives over and over because we have not learned the 'lesson' of our first or many attempts previously. For years I kept finding a 'friend' who was so irritating that it drove me crazy....and I do not usually have people in my life that did that. Then, I realized that I really had to look at those 'irritating' people and find out why "they were attracted" to me. I think I have discovered that "they" were put in my life to teach me a lesson, and once learned, I could move on. I don't see it as a 'crutch' but more of a discovery of what is human about each of us...and what is in our heart.

I am a long way from being finished with my 'lessons' of life. Being human is challenging...being a wise human is even more-so.

Even better, from our viewpoint, if we can see the mistakes of others and apply them in our own lives so that we don't get our fingers caught in the wringer (of a washing machine equipped with a wringer, that is).

A friend said that, having associated with a friend for years who'd benefitted from an inheritance but pretty well lived on it - till it ran out when he was in his 40s ... he'd learned that when he received an inheritance, not to spend it in an ongoing fashion, but that he should invest it and use only much of the income that it produced (leaving some of the current income to offset the erosion of value of the asset due to inflation; that latter partially at my suggestion).

ole joyful

Oddly, when people speak of Karma, it seems 90% of the time they are speaking of in this life time and not the afterlife or another life (as religions suggest).

Anyway, of course a man who speeds a lot is more prone to get a ticket, a serial killer more prone to end up in jail, and a person who is nice and smiles a lot, more prone to get invited to parties. That's life, not Karma.

Everyone has good and bad times in their lives. You may get layoffed one day and win the lottery the next (which in and of itself may be a curse). You may get a really bad cold but win a iPod.

What is Karma? It's just to be able to say "Gotcha" at people you don't necessarily like during their bad points of life. And IMHO that's not really very nice. Don't you think doing that in and of itself would probably be bringing about bad Karma for people who seem to relish in doing it?

I don't think of it as any type of "gotcha" moment at all. I do think that it might be a way of rationalizing an event and moving forward...thinking, 'I will place that event in the hands of the universe' and stop feeling the pain over it. For an example...an ex=spouse or ungrateful child. You cannot change what happened....you can only change how you feel about it. Forgivness??? Retaliation??? Why not turn it over to the "universe" or whatever you want to call it..."Karma", and not have it weighting down your heart! I do see what you mean by 'wishing someone bad Karma' ....but I don't think it works that way.

No, I don't.
I have a good friend whose little grandson has a brain tumor... inoperable.

It seems that people who believe in Karma are more likely to see something bad happening to someone who has done bad... as Karma. But that doesn't explain to me how bad things happen to the innocent.

Why would anyone think that a "Brain Tumor" is Karma? ALL "bad things" are not Karma (or getting a "punishment" from the universe)....they are just bad things that are. Remember MATTIE STEPANEK....such a gifted little boy who died so young and bravely from a rare disease. He was a teacher from the day he was born as he struggled to live...and to show others HOW to live and rise above adversity. I really don't understand the universe or GOD or the why's and wherefore's of it.....I just DO know, that often "innocents" are here so we can learn from them.

OOPs....meant to add this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1332951/Mattie-Stepanek-The-story-boy-poet-words-inspire-millions.html

What do we learn fron "the innocents," but how to watch pain and suffering, helplessness and futility? Do we really need to see a child suffer, a woman be raped, a man lose his arm, etc., to learn a lesson? What lesson is that?

For me, it is not karma, fate, the power of prayer, god's will or any other "explanation" other than plain luck and coincidence. I cannot imagine believing in powers and spirits that pick and choose whom to help or to ignore so we can learn our lessons. I can accept randomness and luck, coincidence, nature, but not deliberate willfulness so we can learn lessons.

We all learn the lessons of life like not getting stuck in the wringer, but that is entirely different from war, acts of nature, accidents, disease, evil-doing. All we should learn from the innocents is that there is pain and suffering in the world. Period.

Shermann, here is a different perspective. Your Soul's Plan (which was originally published under the title Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?) explores the provocative premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we are born for the purpose of spiritual growth. Through compelling profiles of people who knowingly planned experiences such as AIDS and cancer, parenting handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents, this book shows that suffering is not purposeless, but imbued with deep meaning. Copied from Amazon.com.

I own this book and it took me a few chapters to warm up to the idea that perhaps we have chosen our life's challenges. It really is a interesting and thought provoking read.

Thanks, Lydia, but that is not for me. I cannot believe in the eternal soul and planned suffering, either. Things like that are written to try to explain the unthinkable. While I can see that some of life's challenges may be chosen by a living individual, I could never think a soul would choose such random awfulness to discover deep meaning. By doing that, the soul is extending whatever the lesson is beyond itself to include all those who love it and must endure watching it suffer. Too cruel for me.

Your soul planning before birth your life challenges makes no sense to me.

So one guy got hit by a hockey puck after he'd made fun of the hockey player's injury. What about all the other fans who boo'd, hissed, or otherwise poked @ a player? Where's their Karma? (asked rhetorically)
I think Karma is where ever those who believe in it, want to see it.

I believe in the Golden Rule & I have a conscious. Don't need Karma.

I don't really believe in Karma. There are plenty of unfair , evil, just plain bad things that happen without consequence to the perpetrator(s). And our reward or punishment is not here on Earth. It's in the next life, where God judges.

Do you think God answers prayers? Some or all prayers? The prayers of certain people/religions? Can some people pray better than others, therefore their prayers are answered first? If your prayers aren't answered, does it shake your faith at all, or do you just say, oh well, maybe next time?

I agree with everything sherrmann wrote. If something turns out well, "praise the lord", and if it doesn't, "it was god's will". Makes no sense to me at all.

Juellie1962, yes, I've considered it. And also considered the idea of the "they're in a better place" that is so often stated after a death. But for many who believe in Heaven and Hell, apparently they feel Hell is a better place? Or is it as was discovered on Twilight Zone or Night Gallery - this is Hell?

A lot of interesting discussion. To add to what sherrmann and petra said, and viewing many of the posts here, apparently many believe God works by ballot. It must be with all the shoutouts for prayers. Your prayer alone won't do it so you need everyone else to pray for it to stand a chance of it happening the way it looks. So if 100 people pray for something to happen, perhaps it'll happen, but if only 99 pray for it, it won't. Someone will have to fill me in on what the minimum votes are, whether by number or percentage. And if only one prays for it, not much chance then is there? So then what about the person who was going to pray for the death of a forum member and she did die? Perhaps some have more powerful prayer? Or is it "Karma"? Or a coincidence.

Maybe more people prayed for a "9-11" event than prayed for the US to be protected so we lost the election. Or it was "will" or "karma". And of course there's the PTL chants when someone is healed but nothing said about the deity that gave them the disease, broken bones, etc. Selective worship or simply hypocrisy? Or maybe it's Karma! :D

One has to wonder why a nation needs laws, if in the end they're judged and rewarded/punished. Why have jails? If the rapists, murderers, thieves, scammers, drug dealers, telemarketers, etc, will all get what they have coming in the end, why waste the time, effort and money now?

Then too the question, do you have to "qualify" to pray? If someone is not a "believer" and decides to pray, are those prayers automatically ignored? So many questions, so little time.

"I love God. He's so deliciously evil!" - Stewie Griffin

Bad things happen to everyone good and bad.

I see Karma as separate from that. Karma is retribution I don't have to hand out myself. I can just sit back and watch it play itself out. Seen it happen all the time. Brings a sense of peace to me when I can walk away and know that they will get theirs and I can just move on.

Like the video. Guy laughed, Guy got smacked down. Not by the person he mocked but by what we call "karma" in the secular sense, not the religious one.

My understanding of Karma deals with cause and effect... and so I feel that a passage in Galations in the Bible says it well...."whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.".... and I believe that to be true whether good or bad..

Carolyn