Philosophical Question: Karma

[Yelajakitz]

From what I understand, karma is the belief that if someone does something wrong, karma will come back around and get them back for their wrong doing.

Now a hypothetical situation. Joe loses $100. Is this bad karma for Joe, or good karma for the person that finds Joe's money, or both?

Also, who sets the premises for what is good and what is bad? How does "karma" know when something is good or something is bad? Another hypothetical. Mary and Joe are dating and Mary finds another guy that she falls for, she dumps Joe and starts dating the new guy. In Joe's mind Mary did something wrong and has bad karma coming her way. In Mary's mind she did nothing wrong and the new guy is the result of good karma. Does she have bad karma coming her way?

Karma is an eastern philosophy, correct? I have read a little bit of eastern philosophy and from what I have read they generally don't believe in "good" and "bad." Instead, they believe things just are, yin and yang goes deeper into this, but you get the idea. How does karma fit into a philosophical system where good and bad are not recognized?

Am I just looking at karma through a western view?

 

[Blackman]

Now a hypothetical situation. Joe loses $100. Is this bad karma for Joe, or good karma for the person that finds Joe's money, or both?

QUOTE]


It's both. Joe probably just cursed out someone at work for no reason and lost the because the first act brought about bad karma for him. The second guy probably helped an old women across the street so his karma was good when he found the money.

This is a nursery school example but you get the idea.

Read some basic Taoist thought literature and you'll get the idea.

 

[no pepper]

The delight of finding a ?new guy? is not a result of Mary?s ?good? karma in your example. That?s just lucky shit that she stumbled onto. Karma isn?t the result as much as it is the notion. I think there has to be some kind of act to trigger bad karma. But I don't think you can trigger the good karma.

For example, if Harry asks me to play the bucs through my guy, and I don?t call it in because I am bent and surrounded in a tub full of asian hookers and it loses. Do you pocket his money and say tough luck? No, you say, Harry ? you lucky bastard I didn?t get the play down. It would be bad karma to pocket his money.

 

[SixFive]

There is no such thing as Karma.

If you'll do a search, I'm pretty sure there was a Karma thread here earlier in the year that Nick Douglas started.

 

[edludes]

The oft repeated line from "Unforgiven" "they must have had it comin' " is brought to mind.Sooner or later it seems there is a Karmic payback or backlash to people who have taken advantage of or mistreated others as a consistent philosopy or manner of relating to others.Conversely,mother teresa types usually don't get leprosy after a lifetime intermingling with lepers,they get sainthood.Some might say all this is a chain of random events and acts,the odds evening out.Just like handicapping,the more sure someone is that they've got it all figured out,the more closely they better examine the other side.Six Five-the idea of any of Nicks threads disproving that theres Karma is as likely as Beantown Jims threads disproving Einsteins theory of relativity.

 

[SixFive]

no ed, if I remember right, he believes in it. Just mentioning that this topic has been discussed before.