Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Nov. 20th, 2003 06:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerMy wife is taking a gen ed religion class, and combined with various and varying life fu, I’ve been thinking a bit more about my beliefs. (Or lack thereof.)
I like the idea of karma - it’s a good ethical precept.
I wish I could believe that it happens.
I think the reason that it’s part of most major religions is that it appeals to our sense of fair play and justice. Do unto others, because what goes around comes around. It’s an enticing rule –easy to conceptualize, balanced, black and white.
But we live in a world defined by shades of gray.
And I don’t believe the universe is fair, or just. Just… random. And impersonal.
Good people do bad things, and have bad things happen to them. Bad people prosper. Or they don’t. I don’t see any symmetry of consequences.
The downside of free will, I suppose.
On a side note: wouldn’t karmic reincarnation be more meaningful if we could remember previous lives? It’s hard to learn from your past mistakes when you don’t know what they were.
I like the idea of karma - it’s a good ethical precept.
I wish I could believe that it happens.
I think the reason that it’s part of most major religions is that it appeals to our sense of fair play and justice. Do unto others, because what goes around comes around. It’s an enticing rule –easy to conceptualize, balanced, black and white.
But we live in a world defined by shades of gray.
And I don’t believe the universe is fair, or just. Just… random. And impersonal.
Good people do bad things, and have bad things happen to them. Bad people prosper. Or they don’t. I don’t see any symmetry of consequences.
The downside of free will, I suppose.
On a side note: wouldn’t karmic reincarnation be more meaningful if we could remember previous lives? It’s hard to learn from your past mistakes when you don’t know what they were.
