Karma? What’s that?

Greetings and salutations!

Karma. Fate.  Divine Providence. Which one do you believe? A couple of friends and I had a conversation at work about karma, and religion. But first, a general definition of the 3.

Karma is the general thought that good actions cause good actions and that bad actions cause bad actions. That what you do has a direct bearing on what you experience in life. Thus, bad or evil actions can result in bad karma, while positive actions can result in good karma. That actions cause other actions, etc.

Fate, or destiny, I believe, is the general thought that while things are predestined to occur in your life, you can’t really stop them, but more importantly…there is no higher power involved. There is no God.

Providence, or Divine Providence…is that your life is controlled to a certain extent by God. That we are not wandering around life like aimless fishes swimming in a pool, but God is controlling our path based on His plan for us, and while we may have some choices, we don’t have many.

Again, these are not philosophical definitions, but definitions that I’m using.

So, onto the conversation.

I stirred up a hornets nest  when I declared that I don’t believe in Karma, partially because it conflicts with my spiritual beliefs, and partially because life isn’t just that fair, just, or well organized.

Christianity believes that you can’t barter your way through life by doing good things and expecting good things to happen in return. You do good…and you can be S**T on. HARD. You could do bad things…and have a completely normal and excellent life filled with many pleasures. The point is that in Christianity, things happen, but there is no specific quid pro quo

Now, agreed, this is one aspect of Christianity, and one viewpoint. There are others. But most of them would firmly reject the ideal of doing good works in order to guarantee that your lot in life will improve. Simply because it takes something that is in God’s hands…and places it somewhere else.

The second part is that I think people want explanations and want the good feelings of doing good, and getting good returned, or doing bad, and having bad things happen. It makes life easier to handle and deal with. It makes it seem that life is fair and just, and that we don’t have to mete out punishment and revenge, because karma will do that.

And while that’s a nice view to have, in theory…in reality, it doesn’t work that way. Evil people glide through life without any punishment for the things they do while decent, hardworking people get the shaft. That’s life. And no amount of karma is going to change that.

So do I try to do good? Of course! Do I do it to avoid bad things in life? As a consequence of my actions, yes. That is,  I don’t want to be mean to a co-worker, because I have to work with him or her and they could make my life difficult. However, do I do good things because I expect to be protected from the evil karma floating around? Nope. Am I paralyzed by a fear that if I AM mean to a co-worker, karma is going to somehow raise its ugly head and get me back somehow? No.

Do good because you want to do good. Avoid doing bad. But remember that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people, and no amount of karma is going to change that.