karma

[KJOokami]

I also think that there is no such thing as a perfect "good" or "evil". Whatever you do, no matter how or why, there will ALWAYS be someone that believes this to be a good thing. Always someone that believes it is a bad thing.

Buy your mate a gift out of pure love and affection. Good, yes? No. Not if children slaved in China to make it. Bad? No. Maybe one of these children are keeping their siblings alive with their work? Good? No. Poor children litter the streets and cause criminality to rise. Bad? No. I bet someone out there would be dead if they didn't make money though crime... And so on.

Well said. I definitely think most will agree that certain actions are more or less universally "good" or "bad", but it's easy enough to see that no there is no tangible line that human morality follows. There's always another side of the coin to consider.

To add an example of my own: murder. Generally, most people will tell you that murder is wrong; it's practically a knee-jerk reaction. Yet ask them how they feel about killing a bandit or rapist in self-defense, or what they think about killing a person they don't know to save another that they consider a close friend. Interestingly enough, you'll find plenty of people change their mind and make exceptions for such situations. So is murder wrong? Maybe, under certain circumstances. But is it a definitive rule? Not at all.

[Puncia]

So then what makes karma good or bad? Your intention?

[Daemon]

more or less. actually, it is what really affects karma, but karma is kinda weird in that if you do something bad that turns out good, something bad will hapen to you, unless that good TOTALLY counters the bad. as in you robbing a bank of a stuck-up millionaire and giving it all to charity or something. at least, that is how I see it.

[KJOokami]

So then what makes karma good or bad? Your intention?

Well, I don't actually believe in karma, so that's not really the best question to ask me. As far as I'm concerned, anything good or bad that happens to you is a completely separate situation from any previous actions. Even when a criminal is "brought to justice", that's just a response by people enforcing laws that we created. There's no force outside of humanity involved.

A better question would be what makes any particular action a person takes good or bad. And my answer to that would be that it's completely subjective, depending on the opinion of the individual, and it varies further depending on the details of the specific situation.

[icy wolf]

well it all depends on how you look at it , lets say you help out some one... and this person remembers you and tells other people about you and then one day when your in need of help some one helps you for no resin at all.

how would you see that?

[KJOokami]

well it all depends on how you look at it , lets say you help out some one... and this person remembers you and tells other people about you and then one day when your in need of help some one helps you for no resin at all.

how would you see that?

That's not really how it would work. If a person you help tells others about you and then they decide to help you, it is more than likely in response to the help you offered the person that told them about you. That's not "for no reason at all". It's a natural inclination of humans to provide aid to others who need it, and that inclination is only magnified when you know that the person has in the past done things that would merit praise (such as helping another person). That's still completely in the realm of humanity; it requires no outside forces.

In simpler terms: if you help those in their time of need, people are more inclined to help you when you're in a similar situation. If you don't help others, someone may still help you out of the goodness of their heart, but it's less likely. It's the whole "respect is not given; it's earned" thing. In other words, not karma.

[Puncia]

I like to remember the respect rule of thumb that is mentioned above here. However, it won't always work to your benefit. Like if you treat someone with as little respect that they show you, by never holding something if they need a hand, never moving if they're in your way, never doing you a small favour, you might be labelled just as disrespectful/distasteful yourself. And if you confront this person, you might be told that you're just the same yourself.

[KJOokami]

I like to remember the respect rule of thumb that is mentioned above here. However, it won't always work to your benefit. Like if you treat someone with as little respect that they show you, by never holding something if they need a hand, never moving if they're in your way, never doing you a small favour, you might be labelled just as disrespectful/distasteful yourself. And if you confront this person, you might be told that you're just the same yourself.

Point. Though I do feel that the population who go above and beyond the rule, for one reason or another, does serve to balance out the likelihood of someone being branded as "disrespectful" for merely remaining respectfully inactive towards others who have yet to "prove themselves," so the speak. If it came down to such a situation, wherein I was being called disrespectful for not helping others as much as I could, I'd probably do one of two things. I'd either 1) take it as initiative to go out of my way more to help others where I can, so as to avoid such a confrontation from reoccurring, or more likely 2) take it as the person not being worth my time anyway if they can't judge me by merits outside of how much I help other people. Call it a character flaw, if you wish. I'm working on it, but being as introverted as I am, it's no easy task.

[Lizzy]

I for one as a believer in Karma don't believe there is a cosmic force that surrounds us and see's justice is done. i believe it is up to individuals in society to produce the cause and effect we call Karma. i believe that there are some people that participate in the cycle giving credit when credit is due going out of their way to reward goodness and not giving jerks the time of day, but i think there are just as many people that do not participate in the cycle and thusly the flow is interrupted. This however is human nature and for Karma to work under my definition to the fullest extent we would have to live in a utopia but we don't and if we living in a utopia there would be no evil so Karma would be a mute point.

[TechRoo]

I Dont really believe in karma.
Like the comments above, a lot of bad stuff (Crimes/murder/theft) happens to people and families who dont deserve it.
I Believe more in the fact that one should help out other people around him/her, and just be nice to each other. Together we can create our own good karma. 

[icy wolf]

well also with karma, if you do believe in past life(s) what has happend in this life could be because of what you did there. 

[Drakos]

I've made a lot of mistakes in life and more often than not those mistakes have come back to haunt me later on. Same goes with the good things I've done in life. I've done good things (Hopefully more good than bad) and I've been rewarded later on. Do I believe in karma? Absolutely. And I couldn't agree more with what White said at the beginning of this thread: "What goes around comes around."

[icy wolf]

this is why i try to base most of my action on doing good.

[KJOokami]

I've made a lot of mistakes in life and more often than not those mistakes have come back to haunt me later on. Same goes with the good things I've done in life. I've done good things (Hopefully more good than bad) and I've been rewarded later on. Do I believe in karma? Absolutely. And I couldn't agree more with what White said at the beginning of this thread: "What goes around comes around."

Could you clarify for me: do you believe in karma as in the supernatural force which governs the good and bad things that happen to us throughout life based on the respective acts we've done in the past, or do you think of karma as more of a physical, human-based thing? I've heard people voice opinions of both, but I'm not quite sure which side you're taking.

By the assurance in the tone of your post, I'm guessing you're more in favor of the supernatural explanation; however, you say that "in your life" more often than not your mistakes come back to haunt you. And vice versa with the "good" things you've done. If you're standing for a supernatural karma, why then don't all of your actions come back to "haunt" or "bless" you? Just something to think about.

[Drakos]

I've made a lot of mistakes in life and more often than not those mistakes have come back to haunt me later on. Same goes with the good things I've done in life. I've done good things (Hopefully more good than bad) and I've been rewarded later on. Do I believe in karma? Absolutely. And I couldn't agree more with what White said at the beginning of this thread: "What goes around comes around."

Could you clarify for me: do you believe in karma as in the supernatural force which governs the good and bad things that happen to us throughout life based on the respective acts we've done in the past, or do you think of karma as more of a physical, human-based thing? I've heard people voice opinions of both, but I'm not quite sure which side you're taking.

By the assurance in the tone of your post, I'm guessing you're more in favor of the supernatural explanation; however, you say that "in your life" more often than not your mistakes come back to haunt you. And vice versa with the "good" things you've done. If you're standing for a supernatural karma, why then don't all of your actions come back to "haunt" or "bless" you? Just something to think about.

I stand from a supernatural sense of karma. And as for "all" of my actions coming back to haunt or bless me, I'm thinking now that they probably have and I just didn't start noticing until a little while ago. A good question though I must say .