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Karma

Polaris

AKA Nunki
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I believe in karma, yes, but not as some kind of cosmic punishment mechanism. Karma refers to the fact that working to fulfill your desire breeds more desire as an unintended consequence.
 

Snow Turtle

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I have no intention of continuing the book .. It from my opinion is trying to clump everything into a box and life isn't that simple. We are complex beings.

Karma tends to go hand in hand with reincarnation. It doesn't really make much sense to think about it otherwise.

Granted, it's never nice to hear that people are placed in a negative environment due to the negative environment they created a while back.

But, it's not a judgement based system. It's merely a reflection mechanism. It's akin to the spiritual idea floating around that when people pass away, they do a reflection on their entire life span and experience the pain of those they hurt and stuff so they can know what it felt like. It's not punishment, it's learning.
 

Moiety

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Karma tends to go hand in hand with reincarnation. It doesn't really make much sense to think about it otherwise.

Granted, it's never nice to hear that people are placed in a negative environment due to the negative environment they created a while back.

But, it's not a judgement based system. It's merely a reflection mechanism. It's akin to the spiritual idea floating around that when people pass away, they do a reflection on their entire life span and experience the pain of those they hurt and stuff so they can know what it felt like. It's not punishment, it's learning.

What's the point of learning if you are not aware of what you learned?

Why do people believe in this crap? Sorry, but every now and then I have to perform a little catharsis. I wonder if anyone in the west would "arrive" to the same "conclusions" if we had never had contact with eastern religions...
 

Snow Turtle

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What's the point of learning if you are not aware of what you learned?

Why do people believe in this crap? Sorry, but every now and then I have to perform a little catharsis. I wonder if anyone in the west would "arrive" to the same "conclusions" if we had never had contact with eastern religions...

Err... The point is that the soul is still learning? It chooses to incarnate to learn lessons. One path is to learn with knowledge, the other path is learn without the influence of previous knowledge. There are benefits to not knowing about your past while learning.

Sure, feel free to make fun of religion in general about how there is no proof of anything. I don't mind.

But I'd appreciate it if you actually bothered looking up Taoism/Buddhism and how it works exactly before you start making snide comments about how it doesn't make sense. It just makes you seem ignorant and closed minded about the possibility that there could be a logical explanation within it's own paradigm. Sort of like the athiest who comes in ranting about some theological problem that they didn't even bother looking into.

If you don't feel like doing that, then I'd appreciate you word your skeptical questioning in a non-hostile way. I would have then just answered the question in a straight forward manner. You can decide afterwards whether it works or not.

Karma is a concept from the east. If the eastern religions didn't meet the west. Karma as a concept would probably not be known. You'd needn't worry about the people in the west coming to such conclusions in that case. The problem lies in that most people use it interchangably with justice (My name is Earl probably doesn't help.) hence it's often perceived as a Punish/Reward system when it's totally not.
 

Moiety

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Err... The point is that the soul is learning? It chooses to incarnate to learn lessons. One path is to learn with knowledge, the other path is to come in with no knowledge and learn from a completely new perspective that isn't influenced.

Learning for what?

Sure, feel free to make fun of religion in general about how there is no proof of anything. I don't mind
.

Who said I was making fun of religion in general? This was directed at the concept of reincarnation.

But I'd appreciate it if you actually bothered looking up Taoism/Buddhism and how it works exactly before you start making snide comments about how it doesn't make sense. It just makes you seem ignorant of it's own logical system. Sort of like the athiest who comes in ranting about some theological problem that they didn't even bother looking into.

I don't mind being seen as ignorant. There is no shame in being ignorant. There is more shame in being adamant in one's following of other people's ideas about something as mysterious as what happens after death. Believing is just as arbitrary as not knowing. I don't know much about how it's supposed to work no, but then again, you didn't know that.

And if it makes enough sense for an ignorant buddhist (as opposed to a buddhist that is not ignorant) to believe, then it should prove enough for me too.

If you don't feel like doing that, then I'd appreciate you word your skeptical questioning in a non-hostile way. I would have then just answered the question in a straight forward manner. You can decide afterwards whether it works or not.

I feel bad for having to say sorry. I feel bad to have to tiptoe in a topic where people should be confident enough to not take offense. I don't take offense when people say my views are crap. But anyway, I'm sorry.

Karma is a concept from the east. If the eastern religions didn't meet the west. Karma as a concept would probably not be known. You'd needn't worry about the people in the west coming to such conclusions in that case. The problem lies in that most people use it interchangably with justice (My name is Earl probably doesn't help.) hence it's often perceived as a Punish/Reward system when it's totally not.

Oh, but I do. It is too convenient. Why don't people from different parts of the world, different eras ever agree when it comes to religion, unless there has been communication between them....these phenomenons or facts of life should be verifiable everywhere in the world. Like discovering fire, or something.
 

Snow Turtle

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Learning for what?

Let's see...
Perhaps self-realisation? To better the world? Why do people bother learning in this world?

Who said I was making fun of religion in general? This was directed at the concept of reincarnation.

I meant if you are going to make snide comments about religious concepts, and in a sense the religion that it comes from. I'd suggest researching about how it could work before screaming 'Who the hell believes in this?!'

Otherwise, I could equally make a claim 'Who the hell believes that people only have one chance at life and if they fail goes to hell?!'

I don't mind being seen as ignorant. There is no shame in being ignorant. There is more shame in being adamant in one's following of other people's ideas about something as mysterious as what happens after death. Believing is just as arbitrary as not knowing. I don't know much about how it's supposed to work no, but then again, you didn't know that.

What? Just because I merely pointed out that Karma is usually connected to reincarnation?

I never claimed that I knew what happened after death. I'm just throwing out one of the known ideas that might potentially offer further insight by viewing things through a different lens. FYI I'm agnostic.

Meh whatever. I don't really care if you think the idea of reincarnation is rubbish, because they aren't exactly my own personal views. Eitherway I'm still going to think it's ridiculous to insult something without having looked into it properly. That applies to everything. It's just reminds me of individuals who occasionally come into TypeC attempting to debunk the MBTI with the argument. It's rubbish. /END

Oh, but I do. It is too convenient. Why don't people from different parts of the world, different eras ever agree when it comes to religion, unless there has been communication between them....these phenomenons or facts of life should be verifiable everywhere in the world. Like discovering fire, or something.

All I can say is that even within christian theology. There are some christians who believe that there is:

a) No such thing as hell. Translation errors.
b) There used to chapters regarding reincarnation within the bible.
c) The same applies for vegetarianism.

But otherwise I don't disagree with the notion that religions shouldn't disagree with each other. In fact, that's one of the main reasons I'm not a follower a religion.

If you are curious about a non-religion but spiritual perspective, just look towards the communities that claim to be psychic or intuitive. You'll find most places share a very similar idea, that all individuals are connected, and people are here to learn about love etc before returning to a source. But whatever. I won't bother anymore with this thread. Salsou should know what I'm talking about if she's dabbled with the tarot cards/paranormal etc.
 

Moiety

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Let's see...
Perhaps self-realisation? To better the world? Why do people bother learning in this world?

People learn to be happier while they can. And then they die having been happy or not. That's how I see it. I'm agnostic about anything else.


Otherwise, I could equally make a claim 'Who the hell believes that people only have one chance at life and if they fail goes to hell?!'

I've read the Bible, and went to sunday school for years etc etc....and it all boiled down to believing or not. Religions rarely appeal to reason, because that's what faith is all about. Indiscriminate faith is ludicrous and arbitrary imo, hence my comment. I already said I was sorry. You're right, in this world, no one will take you seriously the minute you show some frustration.


What? Just because I merely pointed out that Karma is usually connected to reincarnation?

I never claimed that I knew what happened after death. I'm just throwing out one of the known ideas that might potentially offer further insight by viewing things through a different lens. FYI I'm agnostic.

I wasn't talking about. Just hinting at how, being ignorant or not doesn't matter much in the end as far as what your beliefs are. You can be ignorant and still believe.


Meh whatever. I don't really care if you think the idea of reincarnation is rubbish, because they aren't exactly my own personal views. All I'm still going to think it's ridiculous to insult something without having looked into it properly. That applies to everything. It's just reminds me of individuals who come in here attempting to debunk the MBTI with the argument. It's rubbish. /END.

You're focusing too much on my crap comment and too little on what I also said on that same post. The question I was asking was to prove why I think it's crap.


If you are curious about a non-religious perspective, just look towards the communities that claim to be psychic, intuitive or spiritual. You'll find most places share an idea, that all individuals are connected, and people are here to learn about love etc before returning to a source. But whatever. I won't bother anymore with this thread. Salsou should know what I'm talking about if she's dabbled with the tarot cards etc. It means she's looked into the community and their ideas.

I'm aware of how some those coincidences came to be historically. Tarot cards are an example. Drugs. etc And I'm not a complete ignorant, I do and have read about religions. I don't know everything there is to know about every religion, but I have a better understanding than your average joe. But anyway, it's ok, I don't have much else to say either.
 

Chloe

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May 1, 2009
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this is not exactly karma.. but it's the worst day of my life, and soooo weird.

I was 17/18, last year of HS; didnt feel like studying so i skipped school when we had geography test. Like it was usual back then , if i stay home one day, i get semi-depressed and stay more. So i didnt go to school for 3 days and frankly; was being typical dramatic teenager whining about my life.
So, 4th day, saturday morning, i woke up around 9 a.m. ... felt unusually good. Very positive. As.. never in my life that positive. I was always atheist etc.,... but i felt like there's some unusual power that i "received", some [obviously minor] enlightenment. i was 17 and it never ever happened before.
so it was 9 am i even called my 2 best friends and woke them up with this "fantastic news", they were like "errrr..mkay...can i go to bed now?"

so.. with this realization how my life is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC..: i decided to be productive, sat and took book to study exam i missed.
after 30 minutes of studying.... i felt another *unusual* realization, that again came out of nowhere.. and thought, without re-thinking it, not very conscious, it only came to my mind......"something extremely bad will happen today! it's too good to be true for now"..

so i sat there for about 45 minutes more and study..

and then my mom come to home, asked me and my sister to sit down, and told me that my dad will die within few months, and there's nothing we can do. prior to that i didnt know my dad is sick at all, so, no, i didnt subcosciously know it.


....
i am tempted to change my nickname into "bad karma".. but that would be bad for my karma..... right
 

Synapse

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Wants more point of views.


[youtube="EqP3wT5lpa4"]John Lennon - Instant Karma[/youtube]

What does fate and destiny mean in relation to Karma?
 

Moiety

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Well if I did believe in karma I'd say karma is to causality what destiny is to determinism.

But karma actually kind of goes against causality depending on your definition.
 

Condor

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I am currently reading The Power of Karma by Mary Browne

Quote - Karma is justice. It does not punish or reward. We will suffer for the pain we have caused and we will reap from the good we've produced.

So if each individual is solely responsible for their own karma, be it good or bad how then can it be justified when bad shit happens to good people other than a bloody hard learning curve.

Children learn from their role models ..If the role model is not an exceptionally good one such as a mother or father (so pretty much stuck with them) Then is this somehow the kids karma.

I am aware if i put karma into the realm of life paths then it makes more sense but this book (at present) isn't going there so i am curious as to your thoughts on the subject.

Do you believe in karma?

Not in the least.
 

Synapse

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Karma does sound more of a J thing than a P think. Negative and positive Karma got me thinking of synchronicity and intention and whether the actions that manifest in positive intervals are brought forward as the focus as much as our negative intervals and their focus on who we are in terms of our subconscious impressions.

I do have to wonder what karmic debt and past lives means, for something strange did happen to me in recent weeks that does seem like a manifestation of patterns that run deep. While at the same time things important to our growth that have been left undone in a previous time frame or a hurt or damage that you have inflicted on another and must be resolved before further growth can take place implies the karmic debts so the saying goes. I'm taking this with a wide birth however to indulge myself I'll look into it.

This site about Karma is interesting.

It is said that all the action-reaction-responses that we experience in life are from the force our karmic debt accumulations (karma quotient). These are said to include the results of all activities that one does in any state, whether in knowledge, ignorance, or by chance, accident or otherwise. In other words all work, activity or energy debts are karmic (action) debts.

This necessarily means that to balance out the accumulations of action-reaction, the individual consciousness needs to 're-incarnate' since the results of the actions cannot balance out in one lifetime.

This action reaction does sound much like negative positive intentional states and the focus we give them, like self fulfilling prophecy, if you give rise to the action the reaction returns in kind later for the focus, the energy that is given is reinterpreted back as the intentional reality that is given focus to.

So then what about reincarnation?

Age of Cells

Using sophisticated carbon 14 dating methods, Dr. Frisen and his team of a stem cell researchers in the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, found that the average age of cells in an adult body would be between seven and ten years.

Most molecules in a cell are constantly being replaced but the DNA is not. All the carbon 14 in a cell's DNA is acquired on the cell's birth date, the day its parent cell divided. Hence the extent of carbon 14 enrichment could be used to figure out the cell's age, Dr. Frisen surmised. In practice, the method has to be performed on tissues, not individual cells, because not enough carbon 14 gets into any single cell to signal its age.

Then if our body replenishes every 7 to 10 years then does our consciousness?

Our consciousness of who we are remains unchanging. Our identification of ourselves, the 'I-consciousness' (I-con) factor remains constant and unchanging. Even though we may develop our likes and dislikes and thinking over the years, we always know who we are in the sense of personal continuity or personal 'being-ness'.

Who knows.
 

jtanSis1

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people believe karma as a tit for tat philosophy, when it's actually more like undoing what already happened without balancing it out. When something has affected you, you eventually deal with it and move on, be it good or bad. If you realize this, then you only need to deal with it yourself internally without an external event to bring it to your attention or balance it out.
 

Scott N Denver

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Err... The point is that the soul is still learning? It chooses to incarnate to learn lessons. One path is to learn with knowledge, the other path is learn without the influence of previous knowledge. There are benefits to not knowing about your past while learning.

Sure, feel free to make fun of religion in general about how there is no proof of anything. I don't mind.

But I'd appreciate it if you actually bothered looking up Taoism/Buddhism and how it works exactly before you start making snide comments about how it doesn't make sense. It just makes you seem ignorant and closed minded about the possibility that there could be a logical explanation within it's own paradigm. Sort of like the athiest who comes in ranting about some theological problem that they didn't even bother looking into.

If you don't feel like doing that, then I'd appreciate you word your skeptical questioning in a non-hostile way. I would have then just answered the question in a straight forward manner. You can decide afterwards whether it works or not.

Karma is a concept from the east. If the eastern religions didn't meet the west. Karma as a concept would probably not be known. You'd needn't worry about the people in the west coming to such conclusions in that case. The problem lies in that most people use it interchangably with justice (My name is Earl probably doesn't help.) hence it's often perceived as a Punish/Reward system when it's totally not.

I concur with probably all of this post.

Karma goes hand and hand with reincarnation, especially if we view karma as "conditioning" or "impact from previous actions."

I've read before, in books on Buddhism or Hinduism, that ALL karma takes affect in future lifetimes/existences.

Personally I think of karma as being like momentum. It takes time and effort to alter momentum. Sustained time and effort.

I've seen LOTS of references to karma and reincarnation in various western teachings, particularly amongst(neo-)pagans. and "magic(k)al" groups.
 

Synapse

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Karma goes hand and hand with reincarnation, especially if we view karma as "conditioning" or "impact from previous actions."

I've read before, in books on Buddhism or Hinduism, that ALL karma takes affect in future lifetimes/existences.

Personally I think of karma as being like momentum. It takes time and effort to alter momentum. Sustained time and effort.


How much Karma is involved in a past life now were past lives hypothetically possible? Probably imagination at play but you never know.
Would I have lots of Karma issues if I saw myself as a tribal elder whose tribe got wiped out after we tried to defend our homes. When I tried to save the women and children they too were wiped out by the foreigners and I was captured only to see my wife buried alive and my children sold to slavery and I escaped to rally other tribes to save my children out of anger.
 

Falcon

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I don't believe in karma as it is explained in the belief system it comes from. Rather, I believe in something similar which is rooted in psychology. Having integrity has many repercussions that our consciousness can not always foresee. Studies have shown, for example, that people who lie to their SO start to trust their SO less and think they lie more too, creating a self-defeating situation. Our actions shape the way that we view the world. So, I think that you train yourself, so to speak, to have a certain worldview through your own actions which will determine the next series of actions you will take.

Good karma could then be seen as following a course of action which is seen as preserving trust between people and a worldview that is positive.
 

rav3n

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It's impossible for me to believe in the overarching premise of karma. The assumption that mankind is anything but particles interacting is difficult to believe. The assumption that mankind is so important, is like having a blankie to comfort.
 

Stanton Moore

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Karma is poetic. All we need to do to believe in Karma is suspend our disbelief.

Karma is exactly the same as transubstantiation. For transubstantiation is pure poetry and all we need to do is suspend our disbelief for poetry to work its magic.

So Karma and transubstantiation are beautiful magical poetry.

But alas they are not compatible. For those that believe in Karma don't believe in transubstantiation; and those who believe in transubstantiation don't believe in Karma.

And although they tell me poetry does nothing, poetry is so powerful. Why just the other day, I mentioned transubstantiation to an Anglican priest and he bristled because the big difference between Catholics and Anglicans is transubstantiation. And only a short time ago they were killing each other over transubstantiation. So it is not too much to say that poetry is a matter of life and death.

Reason, we know, can never kill a poem. It takes a poem to kill another poem.

They say my God is a jealous God, and each poem is mad with jealousy of every other poem.

Brilliant.
 
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