Karma

Yesterday was a snow day. Yesterday was a slow day. And I had some time to ponder. What did I ponder about? Karma. Here are some of the thoughts I had. As usual, my mind came up with questions which I tried to answer, but in the end, I'm not sure how right I am. Let me know what you think.

• How does it work?
• The causal relationship
• Good deeds → good karma. Bad deeds → bad karma (The Principle). When people talk about karma they usually give the previous formula. However, in practice, people generally reason from the effect (whatever bad or good is currently going on) back to the cause. They say, "I'm having this kind of karma. Therefore, I must have had these types of deeds." So we give the following forumula.
• Good karma → good deeds. Bad karma → bad deeds. (The Practice) Because these two formulas are not contradictory, we can combine them to form the following formula to get a sufficient formula.
• Therefore: Good karma ↔ good deeds. Bad karma ↔ bad deeds.
• A plausible principle?
• In general, karma seems to make sense (if we’re not alone, or there are universal principles governing human affairs; if we’re alone, everything is just coincidence).
• On the surface, karma seems plausible and fair. I’m sure whoever originally articulated the concept was trying to make sense of the good and bad circumstances in our lives; they must correspond to our actions (after all, our actions are causes which produce effects or consequences). Suppose my finances are not real great; I recall that I did cheat that person in the market last week; thus, I’m repaid for my misdeed in bad karma.)
• The problem comes when I have too much good or too much bad, that is, when the karma seems disproportionate to my deeds. (Cf. Grey’s Anatomy where George believes he’s getting way more than his share). The solution some will give is that karma is inextricably tied to reincarnation, which means that the bad I suffer or the good I enjoy in this life is based on my actions from a previous life…which brings up the next question.
• A fair (just) principle?
• I would like to say that karma does not seem fair, because of my belief that each person should be judged for what they do in this life. This belief stems from 2 sources: scripture and memory.
• The Bible is clear that each person is to die once, and then they are judged. There are no do-overs, second chances, or multiple rounds.
• All that I remember is from this life. I have no memory of a previous life. In western philosophy, there is usually a dualism between mind and body. If my body dies, perhaps my mind (or spirit, if you want to call it that) continues to live on somewhere in a disembodied state. So, I conclude that given my mind is what makes me me and it is now in this new body, if I was reincarnated, surely some left-over memories or trace from my previous life would survive. But since there are no left-over memories, I must not have been reincarnated (or my mind is not what makes me, me). People who believe in reincarnation choose the second option (your mind is not you).

Despite my beliefs, karma seems to be fair, given reincarnation. Whatever it is that makes you who you are (not a mind, but something else) continues on in each body you take up. And you are given what you deserve. The disproportionate karma is explained by your previous lives. I think I have shown that karma is plausible and just on its own terms. Some problems arise when one tries to mesh a western belief or point of view with the concepts of reincarnation and karma. Before moving on, I want to point to but not solve two other problems I have with the concept of karma as I understand it.

§         It seems that there could be an argument against the rationality of karma in that animals may not have a sense of right and wrong: if I were an animal in a previous life how could I knowingly commit bad deeds w/o a knowledge of “bad”? )

§         What about genocidal karma? It seems that there are some groups of people that have horrible things happening to them as one group. Is this because they existed as a group before (as a school of fish?) and did some horrible things?

• Christian karma
• There are those out there that believe in a “Christian karma.” To these individuals there is some a type of Christian theology that resembles some rudimentary aspects of karma. Since Christians do not believe in reincarnation and because Christians do believe in a personal God who wills things to happen (and so they do), this version of karma is at the outset very different than an eastern conception of karma.
• There is at least one strong connection I can see between the concept of “karma” and Christian theology. The Bible teaches that at The Judgment men will be recompensed for the deeds and misdeeds they have done in this life. And these deeds have some bearing on their eternal state. Those who have faith and “did the will of the Father” as Jesus says or lived a life of “demonstrated obedience” as medieval theologians might have said, enter into heaven. The others enter into hell. In short, our deeds and our faith determine what (or more correctly where) we will be in the next life.
• Another connection might be what is called “reaping what you sow.” This principle says that you get out what you put in. So, one might say, “If I sow bad deeds, I will reap bad things; if I sow good deeds, I will reap good things.” The way this principle departs from karma is that each deed does not have a corresponding effect. What the Bible seems to be getting at with “reaping what you sow” is that making good, wise, upright choices will produce a life that is good and vice versa. It’s not that every seed sown (each deed) has a specific fruit or weed attached to it.