Will Karma eventually punish those who have wronged us?
This article explores the issue of karma, if it exists, as to how it differs from cause and effect and why compassion, not retribution, is what will bring about balance in our lives.
When someone asks me if I believe in karma, more often than not, they have been recently wronged in a very hurtful and painful way. When someone displeases or disappoints us, it is one thing. It may leave a scratch or a rash but it feels it can be dealt with. However, when someone we feel we have opened our hearts to and cared for returns that love with lies, cunning and cowardliness . Then that’s another thing. It leaves a cut, it creates an emotional wound that bleeds.
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The life people lead..
It is at this level of pain that the person hopes and wants to believe that there is karma. What karma is in this context often means “punishment”, or “how will life make them suffer the way they made me suffer”. Karma is seen as a kind of cosmic justice, where the unseen forces of karma go about levelling things out and bringing balance. With this type of karma, we hope it goes about silently righting the wrongs that a person or people have been responsible for. So knowing Karma exists in this sense, soothes our angry and hurt feelings as our revenge is enacted by the just and divine forces which govern the universe. This means that thankfully, we haven’t had to get our hands dirty in this cosmic delivery of righteousness. The belief in this kind of karma is quite prevalent and somewhat universal. Imagine if you were to hear of a person who got run over who, only 4 years prior during a drunken, drug fuel bender, mounted the pavement, mowed down and killed a sweet 82 year old lollypop lady. Upon hearing this most people’s first thought would be “umm talk about karma” or another popular one would be somewhat like “yeah karma is a bitch”. Seeing as the newly run over person, had run someone over 4 years earlier, in our mind becomes “deserving” of getting run over. Yet what about the sweet old lollypop lady? What did she do that was so deserving of getting run over? It is here that karma as the “Charles Bronson of unseen universal justice”, can hit a few snags. Although we are happy to attribute “karma” to anecdotal stories where it appears someone has “got what was coming to them”, we do this without seriously questioning to see if this type of “karma” really does exist. If it does, then you would think that like the rain, it falls on all, both good and evil. So is “karma” evenly distributed across the world for both the rich and poor, young and old? On the surface of it at least, it appears it doesn’t. As it doesn’t take too much of a look around to see that many “bad” people, so to speak, do all sorts of horrible and atrocious things and go through life fairly unscathed by any form of social punishment or even bad luck. Then we all read of good natured people who spent years in jail for crimes they didn’t commit, had their families decimated by war etc. If there is such a system of cosmic punishment, it seems like “Mr Karma” is on a very long lunch break from planet earth.
A reasonable want…
Yet it is understandable to wish for that type of karma, some kind of payback. It’s a horrible feeling to feel taken advantage of. The kind of sense that another person has tapped into the better parts of who we are, the trusting parts, the kind parts, the non-cynical and open parts and used all of those to somehow advance an agenda that is in stark opposition to what we were told. All of this gives us a terrible sense of lacking control and power within situations. So it makes sense we would want to believe that there is some kind of unseen force that takes care of these things, when we are unable to do so ourselves. So if there isn’t any cosmic justice, does that mean bad people who do bad things are really going to get away with such hideous acts untarnished, unaffected and unpunished? Well, for me, I see it as a kind of yes and no answer. I recently read an astonishing statistic that 1 in every 5 woman in the USA have been a victim of some kind of sexual assault . I have no doubt that the majority of the perpetrators of these assaults are not in jail and have got away unpunished. This may be due to such events not being reported, an inadequately robust legal system and a number of other factors .Yet, the fact that a man can rape a woman and walk away unscathed or unpunished is just one example of how unfair and unjust life can feel like at times. That’s just reading about it, let alone being the victim of such a heinous crime. As for the rape victim, where is the karma for them? Where is payback? In a concrete visible sense, it appears to be nowhere. It looks as if on the face of it, people can do terrible acts, sadistic things and bad things may never happen to them and if they do, they may have happened anyway and be totally unrelated to the harm they have inflicted on others. Yet, this is just one way of looking at it. The “Truth” can sometimes have a number of layers and can exist on a number of levels. So in this concrete and visible way, karma appears random while on another level, there may be some bigger order to such randomness or it only looks random when we don’t have the full picture.
Is karma just a fancy name of simple cause and effect?
The choices we make through our life do have consequences. We all live in a cause and effect universe. Sometimes, these consequences are immediate i.e. I ate too much cake and now I feel sick. Sometimes, these consequences take time to unfold i.e. I ate too much cake my entire life and now I have heart disease at the age of 50 and I am about to die. Damn you cake!!! This is more the law of cause and effect, rather karmic justice. If you’re a person who is always stealing money from their family and never pays it back, rips off anyone they know for a few bucks, steals from any employer willing to hire them, would beat up a defenceless granny for a few bucks and it generally always involves some kind of scam. With time, his life is impacted by these choices. This type of person, with time, does have to deal with the consequences of their choices. Maybe their family wants nothing to do with them, they have no friends, and they have trouble finding work and end up living a very lonely and destitute life. That being the fact, is that karma or just what happens when you live a selfish and petty life? Now, in the society we live in, psychopathic behaviour is often rewarded. This means if you have been born into privilege, you’re white and a male, then you are cunning, deceitful, vengeful and overall, a vile human being. You more than likely rise up the corporate ladder and be applauded for being a monumental asshole (look no further than the top CEOs on Wall Street). The material consequences for this person with such choices, unlike the petty conman, mentioned above, is enormous wealth and power. Yet the relational costs I have no doubt will be the same. Now “Mr Moneybags” may have enough wealth that people suck up to them but beyond that, they would be despised, hated and loathed by anyone who has to spend any reasonable amount of time with them. So, although the external karmic consequences may vary, the inner world of a person who consistently hurts, torments and is cruel to others would look very much the same. Again, is this karma or just basic laws of cause and effect in a relational context? So we can see that if we want to call it karma we just can’t measure its workings based on external factors. The inner world of people is the world at heart that all of us dwell in. Whatever happens “out there”, it still has to be processed and filtered “in here”. If that “in here” environment consists with the absence of love, warmth and compassion, then that could be considered “karma”. The difference between the petty conman and the CEO is that one just has a higher standard of misery or inward poverty.
Judge why not..
Another thing to be aware of when we discuss karma, is its application isn’t brought about by some silent divine light that shines upon those who have been chosen for a “karmic beat down”. Normally, who is judged to be worthy of karma, comes from our own mouths, conversation and discussions. We quickly forget that our judgments will often be filtered through our own egos and it may inherit blindness and bias. Who am I to say this person needs to learn this lesson? All because they somehow wronged me? Was what happened to me really such a terrible thing? Is it possible that there are people in my own life I have wronged somehow, who like me, wish that karma would come along and teach me the lesson they never could? As inherit is the thinking, that someone else is deserving of things going wrong, is the assumption that our judgment is objective and reasonable. In the case of a person being murdered in cold blood, that could be correct but often, the more mundane issues of heartbreak, infidelity and betrayal are more complicated than the victim and villain narrative we set up in our minds to feel justified in our pain. The man who leaves his wife to be with someone else, from the ex-wife’s view is selfish, lying and perverted dirt bag that deserves karma in the form of STDs and financial ruin. From his point of view his ex-wife is a cold, uncaring, vain and materialistic hag who deserves to wither away in dire poverty. Everything is about perspective.
Can karma follow us after we die?
Another factor to be aware of when we look at karma is the need to look within the bigger picture of life. As life unfolds, more laterally than linearly at times, people’s hurtful choices may appear to have no negative impact on their life. Yet, when you look at their life as a whole, will it be possible for them to escape from the impact of those choices? Not due to a divine punisher, rather due to basic cause and effect that all our choice and actions ripple outwards, as do everyone else’s and our lives are constantly in the process of navigating, responding, reacting, replying and reflecting on what we do and what others do. What fundamental drives those actions and responses, will shape much of how we feel about ourselves and the world. If we are willing to consider the possibility that consciousness never ends, rather just keeps changing shape and location, then the inevitable ripple’s back-effect of our choices would truly be “inescapable”. Then what happens to a person, who has lived a life full of cruelty and sadism, would be felt in some way, at some time in their existence. A Hare-Krishna once told me at a market stall, as I mindlessly chomped away on my ham sandwich, that as result of me choosing to eat a pig, I would return in my next life as flea hanging off a piece poo dangling from a pig’s bum. A thought I could carry with me to remind myself that things could be worse (and would be, once I died). How he knew this, I don’t know. Maybe, in his previous life, he ate bacon butty and this very existence he so vividly described. Either way for him “karma” was not felt in this life but the next. For many religions, the “afterlife” is a critical part of their teachings. With this basic belief in some version of heaven and hell, the good will be rewarded with harps and angels flying around as they are handfed grapes in plush lounges of heaven whilst the sinful and wicked amongst us will burn in the fiery flames of damnation, not just for a few weeks, but for all eternity. Crickey!! Karma really is a mega-bitch if you believe that. Yet the manipulative set up behind this way of seeing what awaits us, doesn’t take Colombo to undercover. Heaven and Hell soon ended up as a means of control and of negating all the injustices, on the fact that the baddie will get their dues when St Pete sends them to the basement level on the celestial elevator. Yet if we allow ourselves to see beyond this simplistic view of an afterlife, then it is possible that the flow of our choices here on earth, does impact where or how we end up, where it is we go, once we die. If you believe we go nowhere and just cease to exist, then any further speculation is mute. Yet if you believe or feel intuitively there is “something” but you’re not exactly sure of what that something is (such as myself), the question of where our choices lead us in “post” life on earth can offer some small comfort. As it opens up the possibility, at least there may be some form of justice or some kind of cosmic hall of mirrors, were we are forced to face all of what we have done without the layers of rationalisation, justification or denial. If there is life after death, what we know is no one will take their status, bank account, wealth or power. As the Greek emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “Both the stable boy and the king meet the same fate when they die”. They will be stripped bare of all tangible things, including their body, and will be left with the feelings they have inside. How those accumulated feelings impact, or carry forward into the life after death, I have no idea. Yet, I think to leave this world being surrounded by people that love me, knowing I did all I could to be a kind and loving person. This must feel quite different to a person who has done nothing for anybody, that has no one to care for them and has few loving memories to recall.
Time for a different question….
So will people’s karma eventually catch up with them? My most honest answer would be an I don’t know. As it’s not a question where I can give a definitive “no” or “yes” as to do so, requires knowledge of things that for me, remain unknown. Yet, another interesting question to ask is “Why do I want to know?” Do we really live in a world of “bad people” skirting and skiving out of their karmic debts? Where does this way of thinking about justice, punishment and vengeful retribution actually come from? Maybe karmic reckoning isn’t what the world needs. As in my heart, I don’t believe most people’s bad actions arise from the fact that they are bad people. There is a very small percentage of psychopaths that are like alien creatures to anyone who feels love and empathy. These psychopaths have seemed to have accrued much more power and control in the world than they ever should, yet they are still the minority. For the majority of us “non-aliens”, we hurt others because we ourselves, are hurt. We do wrong out of ignorance, fear, insecurity and shame. There has been extensive research showing most abusers have been abused, most violent acts are committed by people who themselves have been subject to violence. This doesn’t excuse or justify people’s bad actions, it just puts them with a context. Rather than some karmic punisher, serving justice on those who hurt us, I think a better force to enlist would be a force of cosmic compassion, showing them love, forgiveness and empathy. Giving to them what they were unable to give to others. Showing them how, what they do to others, they ultimately do to themselves. I think it is something that only makes sense in the lines of what Jesus may have been talking about when he asked his disciples to “Love thy enemy”. I don’t think most of us need more reminders of how bad and hurtful we are. Most of us do a good job of that by ourselves, as our incessant negative self-talk can be hard to shut off. I don’t think that most of us need to be punished “more” harshly, because we didn’t learn our lessons the first time. As at heart, we are not bad people trying to find goodness in ourselves, we are good people forgetting we our inherently loving in nature and in turn, forgetting the goodness and loving nature of others. As when we disconnect from others, when we forget their humanity, their pain, their hearts, when we dehumanise them, categorise them, we then enable all sorts of horrors to be unleashed. As doing so to them it makes it easy, almost understandable to hurt, inflict pain and not care how they feel. As they stop being a “someone” and become a “something”. So what I know is, when I have been hurt by someone, once the initial flurry of anger subsides, I don’t want to wish bad karma to fall upon them. I know that whatever judgments I make about them, I will do so with most often a very small part of their true story. I know that without anyone deserving bad things, life can be pretty tough and hard for many people, just as it is. I keep in mind the fact that I have wronged and hurt others and I am deserving of what others are deserving as well. That doesn’t mean I am on par with child killers or sadist dictators and how the universe brings balance to those horrible acts and people, I don’t really understand. What I know is, that given a choice between being “randomly murdered” or being a “random murderer”, the choice is easy as I couldn’t think of a more hellish existence to be someone who has killed a stranger for no reason.
Will
I guess we all have to accept that life throughout the world is unfair. Bad people do bad things to good and undeserving people all of the time. Most of the wars waged in the last fifty years, the majority of deaths have been civilians. Families torn, broken, murdered and ravaged, all for the crime of just being born in the wrong country at the wrong time .This happens and is still happening. From the petty criminal to the politician who sends others to kill and be killed, there isn’t any obvious justice or karma. If in the afterlife, there is some justice and some cost of those choices, I have no idea. I would like to think there would have to be an idea but I don’t know. So what I do know, is I have very little or no control in how justice is administered in life, how karma gets done. What I do know and what I do assert is some control over my own karmic foot print, my own cause and effect. It is so easy and lazy to focus on the bad deeds of others and how utterly deserving they are of bad stuff to fall upon them than it is to really look long and hard at myself. Yet, it is here that if I truly wish to make some difference in the balance of “good vs bad”, that I can actually make an impact. My karma is the karma that counts for me. It’s the karma I need to be most aware of. It’s the karma what I need to take responsibility for. It is the karma I have to live with and die with. Knowing that bad people have got away with bad things is easier to the stomach. Knowing, I as a good person, did good things. That the ripple I set off in the pool of life, when it touches others, their response will invoke more ripples of warmth, kindness and care across the pool of life. That’s the only karma I can afford to think about. Therefore, I have to ask the truly tough and confronting question, which is not “What will their karma be? Rather “What will my karma be? This one I can impact, the other, I just have to wait and see.
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UPDATE: November 13th 2015: I have been taking break from covering some of the more heavy subjects and focusing solely on satire.
I have no doubt I’ll come back to the serious but feel the need to be a bit more playful, silly and of course scathing on those worthy of it.
I am taking shots at inane articles you see on relationship advice, looking at absurdstories in the news, highlighting the opinion of people I would consider morons and just getting stuff off my chest like I do here.
So please check it out and see what you think.
Things that matter 
…and what kind of Karma does Abu Gharib and Guantanamo “ripples” do just for starters? Interesting to know what kind of Karma awaits those really brave soldiers who think it real cool to post photos of themselves with infants who’s faces they’ve just shot off?
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Its a good question Chen,one that I have explored and tried to answer the best I can. What does await those soldiers and thousands of other who commit even larger and more horrific crimes? My conclusion was I really don’t know. I would hope there is some karmic reconcilations on some level.As just on the surface of it bad people to bad things and they can live their lives relatively unscathed. Yet to believe that you then need to believe in some level of reality above and beyond the one we now inhabit. That there is some kind of “order” or meaningfulness contained within the apparent randomness of life. I think these are very complicated questions. What are you thoughts?
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Sounds like feminist bullshit.
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What part in particular do you consider “feminist bullshit”? I is committing violent revenge”musculine truth” ?
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This is an incredibly thoughtful, insightful, and honest discussion. I’ve been grappling with these issues lately, and this is the most intelligent and nuanced article I’ve come across on this subject so far. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this important aspect of what it means to live in this world.
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Thanks Celeste for the positive feedback and I am glad you liked it 🙂 It is complicated subject as we all want injustices to righted but at the same time how that gets done, by whom or what is not easy to answer. What I do feel at least is seeing “Compassion is Justice” could be good start to counter balance the paradigm than revenge is justified as long as its righteous. Of course what is righteous is conveniently being decided by the revenger themselves.
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I bealive in karma I did something bad it hit me hard I’m still paying a very high price
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Celeste
I agree. This has been a major struggle for me lately and this helps to put things in perspective. Just gotta keep this in the forefront of mind and hope life puts me in the path a truly good people.
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You’re welcome! It is complicated. As much as I struggle with it in personal situations, what is most difficult for me to reconcile is the sociopathic behavior of large corporations, governments, etc, who seem to get away endlessly with heinous acts. I do think that, in personal situations, compassion is certainly key, as you say; and forgiveness, to me, seems to hold the key to freedom from the continual perpetuation of tit-for-tat, and for peace of mind (not that it is always easy). When it comes to institutions (and their leaders) that knowingly do wrong, again and again, though, it is less clear to me what my attitudes should be. Still, you have given me a lot to think about. And it is certainly true that institutions are made of of individuals, each of which is going to have to live with the decisions they make every day and the actions they carry out. Very true that the karma we need to pay most attention to is our own.
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I think Celeste you have capture exactly the dilemma I have many much of the time. Coming from that position of compassion does make more sense to me but even so I still find the very same things, reconciling the cruel and murderous wrong doings of dominate status quo can be hard to wrap my head around. Yet in my own personal life I have had similar dilemma’s. How can you have compassion for person that seems to have create so much pain and hurt in your life? I know its in my best interest that I do foster compassion and forgivingness but it still at times doesn’t mean it feels fair or makes sense.
So on good day I try come back to that compassion but normally I feel torn and somewhat cynical and end up writing articles like this https://things-that-matter.net/2015/01/17/arms-manufacturer-lockheed-martin-what-they-say-and-what-they-really-mean/ .
It’s the great things about a personal blog I have no interest or worrying about who reads it, I can vent and share whatever grip or inspiration I happen to be feeling. If you ever want to shout out to the world your welcome to make a guest post, I have no doubt you have some insightful and ireverant to say 🙂
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“Larger and more horrific crimes” ?? Children being raped IN FRONT of their parents, civilians including children being Raped by German shepherd dogs IN american bases and THIS in aid of whose DemonCracy??? Now these particular Nasty Roosters have indeed come home to Roost IN the land of the….the….uh….uh….er…am, free? and we all still wanna deal IN Denial BIG Time every time we (at this present time without a Pass Book ) walk through the front door armed to the teeth with inalienable rights to DO as we’re told even if it kills us, well that’s Karma and it’s a Vicious Birch.
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I kind of think I know what your saying. What is your point so to speak? That bad things happen now to the USA due to crimes they have committed? Yet what the degree of crimes perpetrated isn’t equalled by the degree of crimes committed against? How can that be karma if its so unevenly balanced?
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If you kind of understand, then there is no need for elaboration. We are here so naturally we deal with what affects our environment. As for bad things happening and “degrees” of this or that, for and “against” etc etc, is simply looking for a way Out of dealing with and taking Any kind of responsibility period. The Atrocities are so heinous, we’d rather blank it out, and attempt to blame others isn’t going to stop Karma. Karma can be dealt with, but trying to bypass it is definitely not the answer.
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Maybe partially understanding would have been a better way of saying it , hence the need to elaborate or clarify.
“As for bad things happening and “degrees” of this or that, for and “against” etc etc, is simply looking for a way Out of dealing with and taking Any kind of responsibility period.”
Maybe its myself that needs to clarify as you seem to be responding to something I am not evening claiming. The focus of the article was exploring the question of karma’s existence, in of itself. Western governments and corporations violent and lawless actions of over the last 50 years have gone relativity unpunished and appears to be getting more brazen and rapacious. So on the surface there is no karma, certainly not in any obvious way. As cause and effect isn’t the same as karma, or is it? These question I am not answering definitely rather just exploring. I am happy to admit I don’t actually know the answer. Regarding who is looking for way out of dealing with these issues or avoiding any responsibility I don’t know what your point is? How is the question of who is or isn’t responsible related to the questions explored in the article?
“The Atrocities are so heinous, we’d rather blank it out, and attempt to blame others isn’t going to stop Karma. Karma can be dealt with, but trying to bypass it is definitely not the answer.”
Who is trying to blank them out? Who is blaming others? Who says there is karma in the first place we need to stop? Where in the article I am attempting to bypass anything? Your comment are a response to what’s written, so please let us know what I have written that you think is off track or you disagree with, so at least we are on the same page.
Thanks
EF
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I didn’t “write in” to disagree with you. Karma IS uncomfortable for many and for the past few years a group of us have been discussing this of and on. The fact that you are going there is a very good thing, however from a personal view point, I have found dealing With the harshness and insanity of what is going on does incapacitate it somewhat. You won’t do those Horrid things, obviously, but it seems that you have to do you first, those that Do such things have a choice, they do not need to be Inhumane, that’s Their Karma, not yours. Hope that clears what I meant to say.
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I do know what your saying ummmm I think 😐 If you have the time it would be great if you could clarify a couple things your saying. I am not trying to pedantic, just trying to better understand your perceptive. If there is forum or place you have written on this more would great to give us the link.
“ I have found dealing With the harshness and insanity of what is going on does incapacitate it somewhat..”
Could you explain in a little more detail what you means by that? How does dealing with the harshness incapacitate the harshness?
And this part
those that Do such things have a choice, they do not need to be Inhumane, that’s Their Karma, not yours.
Are you saying choosing to be inhuman is their karma? Isn’t karma a consequence of choice , rather than the choice itself?
Of course all of this assumes there is such a thing as karma. What I see that unless we have a continued existence after death with the framework of some kind of mystical order, the world as it stands doesn’t seem to have karma, in the sense of a balancing force working against that which brings things out of balance. I appreciate your time in discussing this
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In dealing With the harshness, I am less daunted (incapacitated) by it. It no longer seems all that powerful or overwhelming. I’m not saying it gets rid of it, but it’s a start.
No I’m not saying that choosing TO BE inhumane Is their Karma, that Is Silly and you know this. We all have a choice to treat others and yes, ourselves in a good and respectful manner.
Yes, I can see why you see the world this way. There appears to be so much insanity and sheer lunacy it’s not very difficult to really wonder, why there appears to be no Justice. You reminded me of a character, I once saw in a movie many years ago, where the character said, that he wasn’t much into social justice in this world, but he’ll definitely demand it on the other side!
This world as we have now come to know it, and everything that happens in it, does have a consequence of actions whether good or bad. There is No Free Meal at the end of the day.
And yes there was an article done a very long time ago on this and similar. Lots of topics,but that site no longer exists.
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Hi Chen,
Ok now I know what you are saying. You will find that if you go through the blog most of the articles are about facing the harshness, trying to bring some awareness about its impact and effects. Here are just a few exmaples
Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin: What they say and what they really mean.
How the Abbott government shamelessly shapes the narrative of a tragedy for its own convenient ends.
Terrorism: The word that now only means violence which isn’t ours.
So I understanding maybe reading that article “in of itself” it could come across that way. Some of the blog is made up of commentary of current events, like the posts above and others like this, are more exploring and pondering out loud some of these harder to grapple questions.
So I agree we can’t address and fix problem until we first acknowledge and face up to them. I also think to face the ugliness in the world we need to be able to see our own. I certainly wouldn’t recommend we kick back and just wait for the rapture or judgement day to come. Here and now is the only reality that counts, its the only one that in fact exists. So if anything needs to be done is I agree we can’t put it off on the off chance some external deity will fix it later down the track. Yet when it comes to address those wrongs and injustices we left with our the need take responsibility for what we contribute to the world, to those around us and society at large. Otherwise I agree it can be overwhelming and create this need for denial or disconnection. My point about an afterlife is more related to how karma may play itself out when it appears a person or persons seemed to have lived life unscathed by the cruel choices they have made. If we continued to exist after dying , then that’s where some of the karma may play itself out. Whether we do I or no have no idea, its just one possible answer to that moral conundrum of how to bad people getting away with doing bad things.
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…..and to clarify, I am not saying that you don’t care for social justice…….
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Thanks much, the Abbot govt can shaped all they like until they’re blue in the face! They however, and many like them must NEVER be allowed to SHAPE You, this is Your Life and Your Power. Will read the rest later and catch up later.
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Finally! Have read through the articles and they are very well written and informative. The last article “”Terrorism : The word that only means violence, which isn’t ours” is excellent and can be readily grasped by anyone who have from time to time struggled with issues of, morality inequality, rights and wrongs etc etc. The law makers who brain wash the public for their own greedy ends, often leave many feeling guilty for what THEY DO, and many people trying to do the right thing, often carry a burden they Should Not. This article most clarifies and covers a lo try of ground simply AND to the point.
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I think the actions of the west are getting back in the form of degradation of society on the whole, with loss of morals, crimes, drugs are rampant in schools and the whole nine yards
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Karma doesn’t exist in this life…I have watched evil people get more powerful and do the most evil things and never been knocked off the horse. Don’t expect it to happen in this life… however the person may not be so lucky in their next life (if they even make it to that point) because life is short ~however eternity is forever. Sometimes there is no explanation for why we are screwed over…or ripped off…just trust that eventually they have to pay the piper…like I said it may just not be in this life so just go on with your life and ignore them.
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KARMA does exist. I have seen it work on couple of occasions where I have been wronged. I’m waiting to see it’s effects again to the 49 year old Captain, firefighter from Peterborough Ontario, that was seeing me and another woman at the same time. He is full of deceit, cover ups and lies. He is a swinger, wife swapper and gangbanged his last girlfriend that he was going to leave his wife for, until she dumped him in March and they ended up in court when he posted a picture of her being gangbanged on Craigslist. His wife knows and he is still living at home.
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IF KARMA DOESN’T EXIST. GOD DOES EXIST and HE CATCHES EVERYONE WHO THINKS THEY ARE CLEVER AND LET SATAN USE THEM AS A PUPPET. THEY WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR WICKEDNESS ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY TRY TO USE SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO MAKE IT IN THIS WORLD. I HOPE THE PERSON WHO USED ME FOR $10,300 WHO KEPT SAYING THEY WOULD PAY ME BACK BUT HASNT. READS THIS. I AM PUTTING IT OUT IN THE UNIVERSE. THE MORE YOU PUT IT OUT IN THE UNIVERSE, THE MORE ENORMOUS THEIR PUNISHMENT..PHASE..
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I loved this article. Absolutely loved it. The only karma that should really matter should be your own and how you impact the world; the ultimate goal, if any, is to make sure that the most karmic action we want to see is POSITIVE.
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Your article was just what I needed at this time; it is honest, direct, yet multidimensional. I am struggling with a horrific event involving blatant racism, sexism, slander, lies and professional sabotage meted out by administrators and colleagues without being given an opportunity to respond or have due process before these untruths were used to justify loss of my career position. Loss of a career is one thing, loss of one’s self esteem, trust, faith and passion for living is another. My focusing on the Highest Good lost miserably to those focused on the lowest denominator for malice and inhumanity.
Your statement that the only karma on which you want to focus is your own and not what the karma will be for others who wronged you, hit home. Waiting for karma to work its magic on others may never come to pass since we can never know what is going on with people– who knows, they very well may be experiencing karmic justice in spite of their outward appearance of being unscathed by their “evil deeds”. For all we know, working on our own individual karma may be what sets in motion, karmic justice throughout this planet. I hope to focus more on the latter as the alternative (being poisoned with rage, resentment and revenge) will not serve my personal and spiritual development. For me, this quest has been the most challenging, yet may be the most life changing…..
I want to thank you for your insight-
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Ok so I dated a guy for 7 months & he would hang out with female “friends” but he started a relationship with another girl the same day he broke up with me he always said they were just friends & even asked me if he can hang out with her..they are so happy together he acts like he hit the lottery but I spent almost 3 months crying, 1 month trying to pick up the pieces & move on gracefully holding on to a bucket of ice cream sobbing to a friend. I cant help but wonder if his actions deserve bad karma I know me hoping that he gets it is definite grounds for bad karma anyway any thoughts would be appreciated
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Well i certainly hope so.
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Your heart will be broken many times, so move on. Always have that defensive wall up and never trust a man 100%. Take it from me.
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I think Terence McKenna videos can suffice the topic and various arguments through out this thread. But, this doesn’t mean I am biased to his views because so far I have seen the explanations behind laws of karma is more convincing in his video’s
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There are matters where we are perfectly justified to make the kind of judge-mental call. I would never do it for the recent zoo incident but I have a right to do so here because this was living with a compulsive liar. I will be happy to explain the full story to you if you want to hear it. I am currently seeking therapy because I don’t ever want to meet this kind of person again. The person in question not only hurt me but others as well. Whats worse is the personal relationship it gave me with a relative that (despite being told not to listen to the person) still listened anyway. It not only gave me and others horrible and insulting allegations but got at least two of us threatened.
It also has me reflecting on beliefs I’ve had about certain individuals in my life that were never fully confirmed until they did this to me. I now believe some of these things to be factual and there is no unconvincing me.
I won’t tell you the story because I made one very very big mistake which is literally the only mistake I made here. On behalf of the others he got in trouble as well believe me, it is all that person’s fault. That is why the story would sound so blooming preposterous. The person literally drags you into things whether you want to get involved or not and they are very obsessive.
I am also annoyed at a second individual that listened to the person as the person who listened got ME locked in a room despite knowing I was doing NOTHING! I swear if I am not allowed to say I have the right to judge a person after the things I covered their backside for and they ditched me for a phone what can I not do? I only have certain bright sides here.
This was my only truthful mistake. My brother once told me: “anyone can stab you in the back” and I never understood what he meant by that….. until THIS happened.
If you can’t trust the person you considered your best friend and your own mum, who exactly can you trust?
Believe me, when you are living with a compulsive liar, you absolutely have the right to make this judgement. They don’t care about you or anything you do.
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Yes karma is full on truth .I faced the music many times . It takes time .some come rite after u do something bad others may take as long as 5 years or more .but eventually all the wrong deeds come back to u. But at that time u won’t realise dat it was because of ur bad karma ..U will feel like other people are responsible for ur bad things ..so never do anything bad to others. Even a small lies catch u after sometime.hurting people intentionally will cause major distress to u at the end . Try ur best to be good n good karma will come to u
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Fuck you, there is no such thing as white priviledfeword “privilege ” that an angry black woman made up because she is lazy . That’s all. Blacks and mexicans are all lazy criminals that can’t get ahead so they will complain and are shocked to see how white people do it. They can grasp the concept of working hard, going to school, not committing crimes and becoming successful. So how do they explain their lazy lives they chose to live? By blaming others. That’s what minorities do. Then their is the trickle effect that trickels to democratic professors that catch wind of the word “privileged” to justify their anger and hatred for successful republicans and enforce the concept into their classrooms in universities, force children to use the word , and it eventually trickles everywhere. It’s called the trickle effect.
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Haha Tasha- I guess you were hoping Trump would have chosen David Duke as his running mate? I think you have been watching way too much Fox News and you may have some serious anger issues, I hope you don’t have access to firearms. Have you ever considered you may also have been impacted by the “trickle effect” as you call it? Yet instead of liberal progressive speak you spew forth ignorant, hateful and moronic jingoism that didn’t even make sense in the 1950s let alone 2016. If you want to address facts instead of just being echo chamber for the stupid, look it up, white privilege is a thing. If anything is “lazy” here it’s your thinking and ideas, boring, lazy and unoriginal. Get a time machine and go back to 1774 where you belong. Anyway this an article about karma, not white privilege.
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On a small scale – Tasha – the original poster who spewed ignorance left trash on the internet.
Things-that-matter.net burned Tasha with an intelligent reply.
Who looks ignorant and dumb? Karma
But what if Things-that-matter.net never responded?
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Well written and thought out – thanks. For the angry people leaving inane comments – it’s ironic they’d be reading an article on karma. It’s also probably due to their anger towards the concept rather than towards you. Thanks again and take care.
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It depends, if you have no past accumulated karma, chances are, they will get punished. But, if you have past accumulated bad karma (whether in this life or your past life), then people wronging you is only a method of paying back for your bad karma. Enemies, believe it or not, is helping you pay back your karma (ill treating you because of how you ill treated others, losing because you stole from others etc.). I can tell you about karma because my whole life has only been about paying back karma, karma has always sided with my enemies against me, so Im not such a big fan of karma nor very trusting of it for this reason.
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It’s good that this article is on the web. I strongly agree with the author’s “I don’t know”. I think some of the deeper aspects of karma are simply unknowable for now. The law of cause and effect works in mysterious ways! As human beings have been on this planet for millenia (at least), lots and lots of the so-called ripples were set in motion ages ago. I think one of the greatest dangers is to ignore one’s own responsibility. It is so much easier to point at others. The better question (like Charles mentioned) is, what kind of previous behavior of mine could have led another human being to behave towards me in a specific way? It does not really make that much of a difference whether the original cause was in this life or a previous one. In both cases, people tend to forget. But as the saying goes, don’t worry about the important issues in your life, they’ll come back to you anyways.
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So I might as well give up waiting for karma and take things into my own hands. The ex husband who cheated, the woman who killed my brother and the parents that disowned me will never be punished unless I do it!
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Could it be possible to be born innocent but the universe decides to give you bad karma just to see how you handle it? Like a test? If you can pay for your crimes and clear your karma, you’re free to thrive but if you choose to continue accumulating karma, then certainly you fail.
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When I was in grade school I had a lot of hate. A kid was acting like a fool to a few girls. So I grabbed him around the neck, started choking him and punching him in the head . When I was in jr high school: I went to a foot ball game at the high school. A kid came up to me and grabbed me around the neck and started choking me and punching me In the same way. I was so tripping out that I couldn’t fight back. It was in the exact way I hurt the kid in grade school. Yes: there is Karma. You’ll see.
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